Faculty Professional Learning: An Examination of Online Development and Assessment Environments - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 68

international public organizations, quality assur-
ance agencies, professional organizations and
researchers are concerned with promoting ad-
equate and safe work environments. Significant
efforts to develop high-quality and convergent
university curricula aligned with evaluation
standards are under way in most European coun-
tries. Additionally, research efforts are focusing
on improving the perceived usefulness, ease of
use, and compatibility (with current practices)
of online systems and software applications, as
well as improving the self-efficacy of faculty with
emerging technological tools. Hence, in striving
for the professionalization of academics, higher
education institutions embrace different types of
excellence models (Sandbrook, 2001).
While general value systems show pedagogi-
cal promise, at least four quality values need to
facilitate the adoption of a quality agenda for
improving teaching and learning in higher edu-
cation. The key quality values selected by Van
Kemenade, Pupius and Hardjono (2008, p. 178)
are the bases for a change strategy, which we have
adopted for staff learning success:

ing outcomes. It represents a long process
composed of the following:
a. Principles or its basic epistemol-
ogy (i.e., cultures of discipline-based
inquiry);
b. Standards or the ontology (i.e., faculty
work against explicit norms, teaching
competences, assessment criteria or
course guidelines);
c. Performance management or the
methodology (i.e., communication and
interaction with mentors in an environ-
ment of work and support); and
d. External review of the impact or the
teleology (i.e., the mission of the uni-
versity is teaching versus research)
(Gray & Radloff, 2006, p. 83).
(3) Commitment . It is fundamental to success
that the university authorities, including
deans and all types of academic scholars,
fully understand the philosophy behind the
university's mission. Faculty commitment is
both a cognitive and an emotional process,
and it is achieved through both intrinsic mo-
tivation and external rewards and incentives.
(4) Breakthrough . It consists of a radical change
in the teaching routines, a deep innovation,
in other words, teaching strategies that are
based on problem-based teaching to achieve
breakthrough performance initiatives (i.e.,
effecting radical classroom learning redesign
for improving teaching processes in a given
time period).

(1) Process control . Currently, accreditation
systems are the means of examining profes-
sional portfolios for promotion purposes (i.e.,
tenure status). On the contrary, reflective
dossier processes develop the capacity of
staff for improvement, which is required by
a university excellence model. Practitioners,
colleagues, university executive manage-
ment and the academic development com-
munity should have a voice in recruiting,
maintaining and improving the staff's
learning to assure university quality (Gray
& Radloff, 2006).
(2) Continuous improvement . We refer to this
value system with staff teachers to provide
a reflective cycle to ensure continuous
improvement of teaching and learning pro-
cesses, which relate to strategic direction,
that is, the improvement of students' learn-

Our analysis of the literature has yielded the
following broad quality characteristics of faculty
development programs:

(1) Increasing the number of faculty members
(junior and experienced teachers) partici-
pating in the programs . As Romano et al.
(2004, p. 26) note, 'the Mid-Career Teaching
Program (MCTP) attracted a group of expe-
rienced faculty who are quite diverse in age,