A constructive replication with modification of factors that influence curricular and pedagogical choices at public two-year community, state, and technical colleges in Ohio

This was a constructive replication study of Portmann\u27s (2000) work. It sought to investigate full time faculty perspectives on learning, and factors influencing their selection of course goals and objectives, and the pedagogical choices made. The location was Ohio\u27s 22 two year public community colleges, state, and technical colleges. The investigator supplemented the Portmann\u27s (2000) study by adding a qualitative component (micro level) that asked respondents to describe personal teaching and learning behaviors, and beliefs about student learning in their college classrooms. The original survey instrument was an adaptation of the Course Planning Exploration for Program Self-Study developed by the National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning (NCRIPTL, 1991). Research into the factors influencing faculty pedagogical and curricular choices addressed two educational issues. Pedagogical tasks involved faculty subjective norms and values in course design, planning, and presentation. Instructional tasks were objective and concerned with students obtaining content knowledge and skill development. Also influencing faculty pedagogical and curricular decisions were changes in classroom learning paradigms. Traditional pedagogy posited faculty as conveyer of knowledge to a passive student audience. Non-traditional pedagogy posited faculty as facilitators of knowledge acquisition to active student audiences. Data analysis led to positing multiple variables influenced all aspects of instructor work and expectations from students, and they varied by discipline and instructor preparation level. Persons responsible for institutional assessment and accountability need to consider those differences. Failing to do so can lead to inconsistencies in reported outcomes. This replicated study findings agreed with the findings in Portmann\u27s (2000) study on six of the original seven hypotheses tested. Thus, the results indicated the selected faculty characteristics tested of two-year community college faculty in the State of Washington State was similar to those from two-year community, state, and technical college faculty in the State of Ohio. Also, it was determined that two-year community, state, and technical college faculty in the State of Ohio had not lowered course content or standards, as indicated in the literature