Portfolios are an effective method to encourage teachers to evaluate their abilities and enhance their skills. Portfolios contain written documentation of planning, content or curriculum, organization and presentation method, type and extent of interactions with students and parents, assessment uses and methods, classroom-management approaches,…

Describes a study in which 30 faculty-development program directors from four-year American universities were asked how instructional technology has affected their programs. Concludes that technology has caused the programs to reorganize and/or to alter their services, effecting an increase in collaboration with other departments. (VWC)

Describes the type and extent of instructional technology available for faculty development at a sample of community colleges with differing student enrollments and annual budgets. States that rural colleges are least likely to report faculty training in instructional technology. Identifies four community college programs that offer the best in…

Discusses how 34 Finnish teachers participating in a teacher-development program view efforts to renew classroom practices--especially alterations of teacher/student power relations. Despite intensive national and institution-level initiatives, teachers tend to retain traditional classroom practices, even when slowly shifting beliefs to a…

Explores the characteristics and attitudes of faculty participating in college learning communities, what faculty value about the experience, opportunities for intellectual inquiry offered by the models, issues encountered in teaching in this context, and implications for the future of faculty work. (MSE)

Suggests ways that teachers can inspire their colleagues to do quality work, noting what to do and what to avoid. The suggestions include: sharing information but not preaching, walking the talk, creating and sustaining energy within the building, developing a collegial communication style, making connections beyond the building, and promoting…

Describes research in progress that examines the personal and professional experiences of faculty from colleges and universities in North America and abroad after they engage in academic visits and exchanges at other higher-learning institutions. The research goal is to improve the quality of faculty visits and exchanges. (CDS)

Explores the various responses of four first-year English teachers to a state-mandated mentor program in New Jersey and implications for Wisconsin's proposal for a distinct mentor-supported license stage for beginning teachers. Suggests that mentors must appreciate their responsibilities and that school administrators must support the…

Assesses the effectiveness of an after-school, hands-on science program offered for two years for the purpose of stimulating in-service elementary school teachers to increase their use of the hands-on approach to the teaching of science and mathematics. (Author/CCM)

Argues that concern for the needs of science department faculty in small colleges and universities is lacking in the science education research literature. Claims that such faculty's duties often include educating science majors and science education majors, and the unique problems arising from this dual role should be more thoroughly studied.…

Describes a model to help teachers implement reform initiatives that integrate pedagogy and content and to integrate these reform practices into the current curriculum. (ASK)

A content-specific staff development summer institute upgraded teachers' knowledge of chemistry concepts, increased familiarity with pedagogical strategies, and facilitated transfer of program initiatives into the classroom. A 2.5-year study indicated that the program was beneficial. Three essential program components were modeling and practicing…

Describes the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI), which bases teacher professional development designed to improve student reading achievement on reading research. Members of the ARI reviewed the research and called for a balanced approach to reading instruction that focuses on the individual needs of each child. Explains how the ARI Plan is being…

A three-stage research project in Iceland traced the development of interpersonal competence of 8- to 11-year-old students in solving communication conflicts, developed an intervention and prevention program, and studied the professional development of 14 teachers in relation to students' sociomoral and interpersonal competence development. (SLD)

Classroom observation evokes feelings of fear and vulnerability, but the method can have developmental value for faculty. Visits by colleagues from other disciplines and supportive relationships with peer coaches can help improve teaching techniques and teacher quality. (SK)