Teaching improvement and institutional renewal efforts often face pessimism about change, if not suspicion and resistance, but faculty teams can overcome these problems through an action-oriented but low-profile "organic" approach. The need for personal invitations by colleagues is shown. (Author/LBH)

Professional development programs for faculty have been tested and have been proven to work. They are shown to represent an important new human technology for achieving educational improvement, personal growth, and institutional renewal. (Author/LBH)

Findings from the Project on Institutional Renewal through the Improvement of Teaching (PIRIT) support those from other studies showing that faculty development programs can benefit both their participants and the overall campus climate. Data were gathered from a survey of faculty at 14 of the PIRIT institutions. (Author/LBH)

Many teaching improvement programs proceed with only minimal student participation, but students can make important contributions at each stage of program development--from assessing the changes needed to evaluating the results.