Professors Choose Teaching Methods Similar To Their Personalities

December 3, 2002

University Park, Pa. --- Professors who see themselves as collaborative and good at solving problems are likely to use group teaching practices more and lecture less, according to a Penn State study.

"A number of factors influence college teachers' willingness to use innovative teaching methods," says Dr. Carol L. Colbeck, director of Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education and associate professor of education. "Faculty with more confidence in their interpersonal skills and ability to grapple with ambiguous, ill-defined problems are more inclined to get students working together to solve real-world problems."

Using collaborative teaching practices requires a greater commitment of time and resources than delivering lectures and assigning textbook problem sets, notes Robert J. Marine, assistant professor and director of medical education research in the Department of Anesthesiology in Penn State's College of Medicine.

"If universities want professors to use more innovative approaches in their classes, administrators should invest in additional clerical and technical support," he adds.

Colbeck and Marine presented their findings in the paper, "Faculty Motivation to Use Alternative Teaching Methods," at the recent American Educational Research Association annual meeting. Their co-author is Dr. Alberto F. Cabrera, formerly of Penn State and now professor of educational administration at the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The researchers based their findings on a survey of 426 tenured and tenure-track engineering faculty at Penn State, the University of Maryland and the University of Washington.

"We queried the faculty about demographic characteristics, experience in industry and academe, teaching goals, their own skills, perceptions of departmental rewards for teaching, beliefs about the adequacy of resources for teaching and teaching practices used in undergraduate classes," Marine notes.

The lecture, still the primary teaching approach for college faculty, works well for immediate delivery of information, Colbeck says. Lectures are time-efficient, which suits faculty pressed for time and faced with the constant pressure of grant proposals and publishing deadlines. The culture of many universities, with their emphasis on research and research publications, often tends to promote the straightforward lecture method.

However, faculty are more apt to try other teaching methods once they refocus their goals, secure added instructional resources and enhance their own self-image as accomplished team-builders and problem-solvers, they note.

The researchers' findings made clear that those engineering professors most prone to lecture are those whose primary goal is to teach their students to understand and apply fundamentals of mathematics and engineering science, says Marine. On the other hand, faculty who involve students in their own instruction also have a number of other priorities. It is vital to them that their students learn how to function in multidisciplinary teams and resolve conflicts in groups; demonstrate sensitivity to the needs and viewpoints of fellow students regardless of gender and ethnic background; grasp the importance of lifelong learning; and attain a broad understanding of contemporary issues.

When professors assign group projects, Colbeck notes, "They have to look harder at what end results they want from students."

Teaching becomes less of a performance and more of an exercise in helping students acquire critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills, and personal and professional confidence. Within its own bailiwick, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) is already attempting to expand the range of teaching goals for engineering administrators and faculty, says Colbeck.

"Interestingly enough, there is every indication that college faculty use teaching techniques that reflect their perceptions of their own skill strengths," Colbeck says. “Faculty might be pleasantly surprised to learn that bolstering problem-solving, interpersonal and communication skills can help them be both productive researchers and versatile, confident teachers.

"Our findings can be applied to any discipline, not just engineering," she adds.

**pab**

Contacts:

Paul Blaum (814) 865-9481 pab15@psu.edu

Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 vfong@psu.edu

EDITORS: Dr. Colbeck is at (814) 865-9740 or clc15@psu.edu by email; Mr. Marine is at (717) 531-5937 or marine@psu.edu by email.