The Influence of Departmental Affiliation and Pedagogical Training on Faculty Adoption of Innovative Pedagogical Methods in Georgia Technical Colleges

This quantitative study used factorial design and survey research to examine the influence of departmental affiliation and pedagogical training on full-time faculty members’ (n = 2193) working in the Technical College System of Georgia. The tool for data collections was a web-survey instrument, modified with permission from the Faculty Survey on Teaching, Learning and Assessment” (Matney, 2001). Two independent variables (departmental affiliation and level of pedagogical training in active learning practices) and three dependent variables (participation in the scholarship of teaching and learning, introduction of new teaching techniques, and active learning practices) were measured by responses on a 5-point Likert-scale. Descriptive statistics and a one-way ANOVA demonstrated whether there were differences among groups. Possible interactions between the two independent variables were considered by employing a two-factor ANOVA. It was determined that the faculty was highly inclined to include active-learning techniques in their teaching and their disciplinary area had no apparent impact on such decisions. Faculty departmental affiliation had a statistically significant impact on instructors’ decisions to use active-learning assessment and to participate in the scholarship of teaching and learning activities. Interpretation of the data demonstrated a significant difference among the levels of pedagogical training (professional development or college courses) and faculty persons’ participation in the scholarship of teaching and learning and subsequent use of active-learning techniques and assessments. The findings have implications to provide formal and informal faculty-development programs, and such learning experiences need to be of a defined duration. Advisor: Sheldon L. Stic