Faculty Professional Learning: An Examination of Online Development and Assessment Environments - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 69

in the number of years they have worked in
higher education, and in the length of time
remaining before retirement'. Nevertheless,
faculty participation in development courses
depends upon such variables as the age,
status and rank of academic staff.
(2) Understanding and improving faculty pro-
fessional learning (FPL) , following any of
the following types:
a. Instructional (i.e., the program em-
phasizes the development of faculty
technological literacy),
b. Professional (i.e., the program un-
derlines the development of faculty
professional roles and functions),
c. Organizational (i.e., the program high-
lights the mission of the university as
a learning organization),
d. Career (i.e., the program stresses fac-
ulty gains from training courses), and
e. Personal (i.e., the program maximizes
managing communication skills, and
advocates values clarification, and
interpersonal skills training) (Camblin
& Steger, 2000, p. 3).

student interest and attention high, ability to
promote student learning, overall effective-
ness of the course, course and instructional
objectives, and course and instructional orga-
nization”. One form of faculty empowering
is typically concerned with the advancement
of subject matter competence and the mastery
of one's own discipline as it relates to teach-
ing, thereby building criteria and models to
enable them to become masters of their own
learning.
(4) Increasing control by faculty members over
their professional learning . As Caffarella and
Zinn (1999) have pointed out, an enabling
factor that enhances professional develop-
ment is the following personal characteristic:
“Strong personal beliefs and values about
the value of continuous professional devel-
opment; a sense of obligation to be active
teachers, scholars, and learners throughout
the career” (p. 248). Thus, by mapping their
own road to professional proficiency, novice
faculty teachers sustain desired learning over
time.
(5) Expanding faculty members' critical abili-
ties . Scholarly teaching requires a systematic
process of inquiry into one's own teach-
ing practices and into students' learning.
Implications of research conducted by
Goldstein and Benassi (2006, p. 706) con-
cluded: “Our results suggest that it would
be constructive to assess the extent to which
individual students believe that a teacher's
organization, clarity, etc. are important to
good teaching and to examine these assess-
ments in relation to the teacher's assessment
of the same dimensions”. On this point, Koch
et al. (2002) grouped the various sources
used in evaluating one's effectiveness into
four discrete, but interrelated, approaches
to quality assessment: 'reflective critique,
student feedback, analysis of student work,
and classroom observations' (p. 84). Thus,
the infusion of these reflective activities into

Many universities are establishing FPL pro-
grams in order to strengthen pedagogical content
knowledge. In this respect, the research of Major
and Palmer (2006) is grounded in Shulman's
(1986, 1987) discourse, when they say: “…
teacher knowledge is comprised of several layers
of knowledge, including both subject knowledge
and pedagogical knowledge” (p. 620). In sum, they
recognize that practical knowledge is not limited
to grounds that derive only from practical experi-
ence and teaching action. Also, practical faculty
knowledge is stuffed with hypothetical, evocative,
essential and normative assertions.

(3) Self-evaluating teaching approaches .
According to Aleamoni (1997, p. 35), “such
self-evaluation could deal with course con-
tent, method of instruction, ability to keep