Every business organization benefits from putting its employees through constant and relevant training. This is true even if one is talking about academic institutions. Of course, the mode of training and the end goals of such training programs will certainly differ when we are talking about a business organization and an economic entity.
But, faculty development as far as the academic field is concerned is a hugely critical and essential task that must be performed.
Depending on the Institute and the program concerned, the end goals of faculty development will include aspects such as:
- Enabling innovation in teaching methods
- Fostering the learning of new skills and knowledge
- Upgrading the skill set of the teacher in order to include technological advancements
- Allowing the opportunity for a teacher to interact with others to find out what is happening in the educational field
- Making a teacher aware of and sensitive to cultural mores and sensibilities
There are plenty of ways in which such development can be rendered. Some essential aspects go into making up a pretty comprehensive list of ideas for faculty development.
Including feedback and response
Every program must include feedback from the participants and the response from the trainers. This goes a long way in getting the faculty to enjoy their program and to find meaning and relevance in the same. If the program is a one-sided affair where the trainers are talking about the things that need to be done but do not react to and get feedback from their potential teachers, then the program is not going to be extremely effective.
Using technology
It is also extremely important to use technology because an increasing number of academic institutions are turning to the use of online teaching and local area networks and even going in for presentations which necessitate a teacher knowing about technology. Therefore, it is important that a faculty development program imparts technological knowledge to teachers as well.
There definitely are quite a few other ideas that can be incorporated into programs. And when a program has been built comprehensively, then it can result in many benefits.
Career enhancement
There is no doubt whatsoever that a well fleshed out faculty development program can go a long way in helping a teacher enjoy better career prospects. When a teacher is equipped with new skills and knowledge levels, then he or she becomes a huge asset to the academic institution. Therefore, it is in the interest of both, the teacher and the academic institution, to undertake a development program.
Network creation
Most faculty development programs also result in the establishment of a network of skills, resources, experts and so on that can go a long way in helping a teacher constantly update his expertise. Professional development can then become a constant process rather than something limited to the classroom in a training module. When resources and knowledge levels are shared, then it results in being a force multiplier as far as teachers are concerned. In turn, this benefits students as well.
