Need of Faculty Training in Engineering

(SUBJECT DOMAIN AND PEDAGOGY)

Dr. J. N. Jha

Professor and Head (Civil Engg.)

Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Punjab India

Email: jagadanand@gmail.com

Effect of Training

Job Done in a Wrong way unknowingly(Before Training)

Job Done in a Right way knowingly(After Training)

Job Done in a Right way unknowingly(Training and Updating)

Faculty Training (Subject domain and Pedagogy)

Broad objectives (Pedagogy Training) Assist faculty to become more effective

teachers which will enable them to improve the learning outcomes of their students.

Job-requirements and employer expectations from the newly graduate engineers within the developing Indian economy and available international opportunities and link these to the current learner requirements and teaching-learning process.

To equip the faculty with the latest tools and techniques for effective teaching

Training through discussions, group work, lectures, laboratory work, workshop exercises, assignments, projects, etc.,

To prepare faculty for their role as motivators and guides within and outside classrooms for helping students achieve their post education goals.

Challenges of Faculty Training

Pre World War II of 19th century: Engineering education- Emphasized

training at Shop floor, Drafting and Laboratory courses for industrial practice (Industry oriented)

Post World War II of 19th century: Engineering Education: More emphasis from

practice to theory toward scientific and mathematical fundamentals (Shift from practice to theory in the curriculum)

Practice to Theory Learning- Aftereffects

Chorus of complaints (began to arise from the employers of engineering graduates) - New hires lacked skills in areas as critical and creative thinking, communication, and teamwork

Theory-oriented lecture-based instruction (dominating engineering education ) - Failed to address both the development of skills desired by industry and the learning needs of much of the student population

How to overcome?

Meaningful engineering education reform (Understanding the need for change)

To explore alternative approaches to teaching (Preparing the faculty to teach utilizing the new methods and technologies -A word of caution : Do not overemphasize Digital technology - Result in an e-version of the whole curriculum!)

Transforming faculty from “knowledge imparters”(Discrete lectures designed to tell students what they need to know) “knowledge developers”(Guiding students to become active learners, skill development in gathering and evaluating information)

Traditional reluctance of faculty members to participate in professional development /Training

Apprehension that FD program/training created and maintained with TEQIP funding may disappear once the funding ends

Faculty Development/Training Programme

Component of FD Programme - Instructional development and support Campus infrastructure and climate

Instructional development and support

Programs open to all faculty, Programs specifically for new faculty

members, and Programs for graduate students

Campus infrastructure and climate

Appointment of Faculty coordinator: To organise, coordinate the faculty development/Training efforts based on Training Need Analysis

Teaching Resource Centre: Sources For pedagogical expertise along with it should compliment the discipline specific expertise

Incentive, reward and involvement of Faculty: Provisions for the faculty incentive and reward system Who not only supports but brings the improvements in teaching and educational method

Training Programs for New Faculty

College teaching only skilled vocation that neither requires prior training for its practitioners before joining the job nor is being provided by the employer after or during the job

Typical time required for new faculty membersto become as productive in research and effective in teaching are generally 4–5 years (Self Learning Process)

A good faculty Training program can reduce the learning curve to 1–2 years “quick starters”

Types of Training Programs open to all faculty

Workshops : Designed specifically for engineering and science faculty covering various aspects of pedagogy

Seminars : Teaching methodology and use of modern technology, Learning outcomes assessment,

Teaching Inter disciplinary Subjects : Design introduce need based multidisciplinary subjects and other topics

Sensitization: Supporting women , minorities and physically disable in engineering for inclusive growth

Special Training Programs for graduate student

Learning curve for new Faculty can also be shortened by providing them with some training while they are still in graduate school

Suggested Topics : Addressing different student learning styles, Effective lecturing techniques, Active and cooperative learning, Dealing with common student problems, Success strategies

Important Factors Required for successful Faculty Training Programme

Emphasize discipline specific relevance in Training programs

Discipline specific relevance is perhaps the single most important feature of any training that induces engineers/Faculty to take them seriously

Workshops/Seminars: Recommend specific discipline wise examples for devising effective teaching strategies.

Tailor made presentation as per the needs of the targeted audience (explicit about the promotional materials)

Engineers/Participants/Faculty likely to come to a Training workshop if there is some plan to address their specific needs and problems

Insert the Practicality Aspect in the Training second most critical characteristic of successful

engineering Training programs is their perceived practicality

Most Faculty/Participants who attend Training on teaching workshops want to know what they can do next Monday to make their classes work better (Not seeking philosophical discussions about the nature of learning)

Some material (especially research data) should be part of the presentation to support the practical ideas

Include both pedagogical expertise and disciplinary expertise

Construct some practical examples and exercises with some insertion of technical content/terms like “partial differential equations” and “entropy” during introduction of the training programme.

Participants when hear these familiar magic words, they tend to be more willing to listen to the presenters

Many engineering faculty members who come to the Training workshops do so because they know that one of the facilitators is willing to discuss discipline specific expertise

Cite the research input in the Training Most engineers are “thinkers” tending to make

decisions based on facts, logic, and hard evidence Teaching workshops must have solid theoretical

foundations extensively supported by empirical research, (Science, mathematics, engineering and technology)

Workshop handouts should include summaries of relevant research results and references for those who wish to check the research for themselves for further development

Avoid appearing prescriptive, dogmatic, or evangelical

Presenter while recommending the methods teaching (solid evidence to back them up) must not imply that they are providing a recipe which is the only acceptable way for effective teaching

Most professors resent being told that what they have been doing in their classes for so many years is wrong and now must be done differently

Professor should be encouraged to take a gradual approach, trying one or two new techniques at a time rather than trying to do everything at once,

Practice what you preach Participants are acutely conscious of whether or not

presenters do what they are recommending Some suggested recommendation If one recommendation is to write instructional objectives for

courses, then presenter must also define and write a set of objectives for the present workshop/Training

If the importance of presenting visual information is being emphasized- Presenter should make sure that the graphics presentation of workshop looks professional

If active learning is advocated, the Training/workshop should include large number of group exercises for different type of specific problems

Assessment of Program Effectiveness

Goal of Faculty Training Programme: Ascertaining participant satisfaction Judging the impact of training programs

on the teaching of the participants Discovering whether the programs had

an impact on student’s learning (Rarely bothered)

A Case Study

An e-mail survey conducted to the active engineering faculty (1999) by sending a structured questionnaire to 1621 faculty (e-mail addresses) who had attended Some sort of Faculty Training Program

A follow-up survey was sent a month later to the non-respondents

After elimination of blank and duplicates forms from the returns, number of valid and usable surveys form was only 586, (a return rate of 36%)

75 were again excluded from most analyses because the respondent had not taught undergraduates in the last three years

Actual number of respondent for analysis was only 511.

Main survey results (FDP- All analysis based on only 511 respondent)

Participation in faculty development activities: 82% of the respondents reported attending one

or more teaching workshops on their campuses, 64% attended a meeting or brown-bag lunch

dealing with teaching, 62% consulted books, 59% consulted a newsletter or a web site, 40% observed a videotape, 35% participated in a mentoring program, 13% worked with a teaching consultant

Use of active learning: 60% assigned small group exercises for

brief intervals in their classes with 22% doing so once a week or more,

37% used active learning for most of the classperiod and 8% doing active learning so once a week or more

Use of team-based learning: 73% gave assignments on which students

had the option of working in teams with 35% doing so weekly or more often

54% gave assignments on which teams were required with 16% doing so weekly or more often

82% reported assigning a major team project in some or all of the courses they taught

Writing instructional objectives: 65% reported usually or always writing

formal instructional objectives for their courses.

Giving writing assignments: 88% gave writing assignments in their

engineering classes 21% gave assignments weekly or more

often

Impact of FDP on instructional methods 59% reported that they either began or

increased their use of active learning, 43% wrote instructional objectives, 43% used team-based learning, 28% provided study guides before tests, 18% participated in a mentoring

program

Impact of FDP on Student’s Learning 69% of respondents reported

improvements 6% said they could see no improvement, 25% indicated that they had not made any

efforts

Some Suggestion for In house Faculty Training under TEQIP-II

Some tailor‐made programmes to suit the faculty members’ requirements (Experts from other institutions and industry can be involved)

One week in house course for faculty at the beginning of every semester by each department (Involving outside subject experts to give necessary exposure and depth of knowledge for teaching various courses effectively)

One week pedagogical training for conducting experiments in various lab to all the newly joined faculty members

Training on some state‐of‐the‐art technology Finishing school for engineering graduates Training programme about the use of software available

at the institute for all fresh and newly‐recruited faculty members

Training for in house software development for purposes such as laboratory experiment simulation, assistance for smooth conduct of university examinations etc.

Needs of women teachers kept in mind while finalizing training(Computer Science and Engineering, Information Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering)

Final Comments

Adopting above suggestions should significantly enhance the chances of making a Training Programme more attractive and persuasive to a broad spectrum of the faculty.

But offer no guarantee of success of the FDP if the above suggestions are adopted

Faculty development programs are like any other college courses and Faculty are also like students: no matter what you do, someone won’t like it.

Acknowledgement

Wishes to acknowledge the various sources used during the preparation of this presentation which may have aided and enhanced the quality of information

Any Question ………..?

The End

Thanks for your attention