AQPC

Author : Diane Bateman
Dianne Bateman, Coordinator of Teaching Institute
Champlain Regional College St. Lambert
On behalf of the Consortium of Anglophone Colleges
(Champlain, Dawson, John Abbott and Vanier)

Introduction

Services Offered

The world of higher education continues to become an ever more demanding working environment. Today’s faculties are being pressured to become more productive and accountable as they integrate new ways of teaching and new technologies into their college classrooms. Many of the same teachers who are trying to remain up to date are also planning for retirement and before long a large number of new faculty members will need to be integrated into the college teaching community. The demand to address the needs of new faculty members will increase in the next decade as nearly half of all full-time faculty members reach their fifties and sixties. Faculty developers, therefore, face an unprecedented challenge as they try to meet the needs of one group of faculty members, who are at risk of becoming disengaged, and another group of faculty members, who are just beginning to learn their craft as teacher-scholars (Menges, et al., 1999).

The Cégep system in Quebec is affected by these sociological changes. Within the next decade there will be a mass exodus of experienced teachers retiring from the system; the anticipated rapid turnover raises many questions for Cégep educators. What will happen to the expertise developed and accumulated by the teachers who are retiring? Who will help the new teachers come to understand the unique place that the Cégep system holds in Quebec's educational ladder? What will happen to the efforts of the last decade, which have focused on building competency-based curriculums at departmental, program and institutional levels?

The "New Teachers' Program” or NTP as it has come to be known is a professional development initiative intended to prepare for the challenges that will emerge during this massive turnover. Its structure is intentionally designed to meet the reciprocal needs of the two distinct yet intimately connected teaching groups that will be at the center of this evolutionary process, the experienced teachers and the new teachers. To provide for the reciprocal needs of both groups, the "New Teachers' Program" uses a traditional apprenticeship model but adds to it a complete academic framework. The expertise of the "more experienced" members of the faculty was honored, captured and challenged by inviting them to identify what effective Cégep teachers know and are able to do. They were then asked to create a series of specifically designed coherent courses, which would enable new teachers to acquire that knowledge and develop those abilities in a supportive, collegial environment.

The purpose of this article is to describe the essential characteristics of the program's design as well as a brief history of how it began, its purpose and underlying assumptions, its impact to date, and plans for the future.

The new teacher's program

Adding a New Dimension to Professional Solidarity

The NTP uses the accumulated wisdom of experienced teachers to integrate new teachers into the teaching community. The design and delivery of these courses models the current thinking of how an effective collegial program works (Giard, 1997). An exit profile describing the knowledge, competencies, and personal qualities exhibited by an effective Cégep teacher was formed and served as the focus in curriculum design with each of eight courses contributing to the development of one or many of these characteristics. Ten fundamental characteristics were identified and confirmed as the program was constructed. These characteristics (competencies) were categorized into four major areas of expertise: professionalism, content knowledge, content - specific pedagogical knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge. An abbreviated version of the exit profile appears below.

The new teacher's program

Professionalism

* Is committed to the profession

Content knowledge

* Knows the subject matter

Content-specific pedagogical knowledge

* Understands the conceptual distinction between knowing their subject and teaching their subject

General pedagogical knowledge

* Designs and implements basic course plans
* Uses principles of educational psychology in the design and delivery of instruction
* Uses a variety of appropriate instructional strategies
* Assesses student learning adequately, meaningfully and fairly
* Creates a learning environment based on an understanding of the psychology of the emerging adult
* Manages a classroom
* Integrates information technology into the college classroom

The Curriculum

The overall objective of the program’s curriculum is to develop in each new teacher the ability to simultaneously observe, monitor, analyze and adjust when necessary, the complex intellectual, psychological and emotional processes that occur in their respective classrooms. This requires a respect for, an awareness of and an understanding of these processes, processes that a master teacher orchestrates in each student separately and in each class collectively.

To achieve this goal, the curriculum provides a historical overview of the principles and vision that created the Cégep system and direct its operation today. The participants are then directed through an in-depth analysis of the cognitive nature of learning and how learning occurs, the psychological, emotional and social factors that influence the learner, and the classroom processes that influence the learning. Throughout the process, the new teachers are asked to identify and examine their personal beliefs and philosophies about teaching and learning and how these beliefs influence their teaching. Teaching is not viewed as a simple matter of standing and delivering, but as a process of ongoing inquiry and reflection, a continuous process of examining and advancing one's knowledge and practice (Boyer, 1990; Hutchings, 1996). The final course in the program, a portfolio course, includes a series of integrative activities in which the teacher-learner demonstrates their understanding and ability to deal with the complexities of teaching and learning in the college classroom.

Background of the project

Conducting a needs assessment

In the Fall of 1998, two pedagogical counselors, Denise Bourgeois (John Abbott College), Bruno Geslain (Dawson College) and a teacher consultant, Dianne Bateman (Champlain College) designed a questionnaire polling new teachers on how they were supported and/or how they wished they had been supported as new faculty members. The questionnaire sought to determine if there was a need to create professional development services that would address the needs of new faculty during the anticipated rapid turnover period. The results of the questionnaire were stratified into two categories (pre-university and professional programs) and are presented in a report entitled, The Changing of the Guard: An Exploratory Study of New Faculty in the Anglophone Cégeps and the Impact on Professional Development (Bateman, 1999). Although many of the surveyed teachers reported that their department heads or colleagues had offered special tips and encouragement, they also reported that they would have benefited from more formal assistance.

Receiving timely financial support

To continue the process of trying to meet the needs of new teachers in the system, John Abbott College hired Dianne Bateman to work with Denise Bourgeois on the design of an eventual program. As the proposal for a program neared completion, Dianne and Denise were joined by Bruno Geslain (Dawson) and Brian Smalridge (Champlain) to present the proposal, and to seek endorsement and financial support to develop and pilot the entire program from the Anglophone Colleges' Deans Committee. The goal was to use structures that were already in place, especially the PERFORMA Program, which is accredited by the University of Sherbrooke. At the same time, a grant was received from the Regroupement des coll(ges Performa to aid in the development of the program with special interest in the portfolio component.

Given that the proposed program design called for a competency-based model to be followed, it would have been impossible and pedagogically unsound to develop the portfolio course in isolation from or prior to formulating the rest of the curriculum. Fortunately, the Anglophone Colleges’ Deans Committee recommended the endorsement of the project to the Anglophone Colleges Steering Committee and substantial financial support was received which ensured the evolution and continued development of the entire project. David Johnson, the Academic Dean at Vanier College, joined the program committee as the Deans' representative, Dianne Bateman was officially hired as the curriculum coordinator and eight course committees were established, which permitted the curriculum development work leading to the portfolio course to be accomplished. The New Teachers' Program was launched!

Purpose and underlying assumptions

Assisting those just learning to teach

The first objective of this program is to offer direct assistance to those just learning to teach. At the post-secondary level, teachers are normally hired because of their expertise in a specific discipline; evidence of teaching expertise is not required. However, current research suggests that teachers who participate in formal pre-service preparation programs are more likely to be effective teachers (as judged by principal or researcher ratings, or by pupil achievement scores) than those who do not have such training. Therefore, an underlying assumption of this project is that expertise in how to teach is equally important to expertise in a specific discipline (Evertson, et al., 1985). An in-service program has the potential to be even more effective than a pre-service program because the participants can be more motivated due to their current real life experience and immediate teaching needs.

Shortening the time it takes to become an expert teacher

A second objective is to reduce the trial-and-error learning that many new teachers undergo on their way to becoming expert teachers. Research on the difference between expert and novice teachers indicates that expert teachers are primarily concerned with the intellectual abilities that their students are acquiring. In contrast, novice teachers are concerned first with classroom management and second with their own knowledge of the subject matter (Clark & Peterson, 1986). The past decade has seen dramatic changes in our understanding about how learning occurs (Donovan, et al., 1999). The acquisition of this knowledge with its implications for classroom practice cannot be left to chance. Given the current emphasis in post-secondary education on helping students develop higher level thinking skills, the new teacher has to be shown how to quickly master classroom management issues in order to focus on helping their students develop general and discipline-specific intellectual abilities. The role of the experienced teachers can be crucial in this process by facilitating and quickening the evolution of the novice into becoming an expert teacher.

Reducing the professional isolation of new and experienced teachers

The third objective is to reduce the professional isolation of both new and experienced teachers. Many people believe that teachers learn on-the-job, but learning on-the-job often means learning in isolation. Isolation in an academic environment is related to reduced productivity, dissatisfaction with the academy and feelings of discontent (Shulman, 1993). Experienced teachers can also face professional isolation. Many faculty members have worked together for over twenty years and as with some mid-life marriages, indifference and distance --(classic symptoms of burnout)--characterize mid-life departmental relationships. The objective then is to pool collective wisdom and to join forces once more in the interest of "raising the children." As a result, some old wounds may heal and a spirit of collegiality will be created between experienced teachers, between new teachers, and between new teachers and experienced teachers within and across the different Cégeps. The goal is to replace norms of privacy and competition with norms of community and collegiality.

Honoring experienced teachers

An important goal of the NTP is to formalize the accumulated wisdom of experienced teachers and pass it down to the next generation of teachers. While this process is happening, experienced teachers are simultaneously being recognized and valued for the immeasurable contributions their careers have made to generations of students and to the Cégep teaching community. A much-welcomed but unplanned outcome of this objective has been that those teachers involved have had the opportunity to reflect on their own practice in all three of the domains that have been identified for the program as a whole - professionalism, content knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge. This has stimulated not only discussion in the course committees themselves but also a request for more interactions with colleagues on their own campus and, in some cases, an adjusting of their own cégep-level courses. At the same time the intercollegiate committee format has provided an opportunity to create a spirit of collegiality across the participating colleges.

The design

Role of the Program Steering Committee

The Program Steering Committee shares the tasks of administering the program. This committee consists of a representative from the Deans of the Anglophone Colleges, the Performa Representative from each college, and a curriculum coordinator.

Role of the Course Curriculum Committees

To ensure coherence within and between courses, a course committee, comprised of experienced teachers, was established for each course in the program. Course committee members designed the curriculum and may eventually become the faculty of this teaching program. Each college was invited to send one faculty member to each course committee. The course committees were usually made up of four teachers from different colleges. If a college did not appoint someone to the committee, the coordinator filled the vacancy with a member from a different college. Each committee met a minimum of four times to identify the course's general and specific instructional objectives, formulate a recommended reading list, suggest classroom learning activities, and create a meaningful process for evaluation.

As each course is completed, it is sent to the University of Sherbrooke for approval within its Performa Programme. To date, 30 faculty members have helped to design the following courses: Introduction to College Teaching, Psychology of Learning for the College Classroom, Instructional Strategies for the College Classroom, Developmental Psychology: The Emerging Adult Assessment, Classroom Management, Information Technology for the College Classroom, and Preparation and Presentation of a Teaching Portfolio: An Integrating Activity.

The curriculum review process

The program will be in its pilot phase until December 2002. During this period the program committee is getting extensive feedback from the teachers who are designing, giving and taking the courses. Their recommendations regarding the usefulness and effectiveness of each course's instructional objectives, the class activities, the reading materials, and the assessments are discussed with the curriculum committee that designed the course and the necessary changes are made. The incorporation of these changes is discussed with the teacher-learners and serves as a model for the constant curriculum examination process that is inherent in all successful Cégep programs.

The impact of the program and Plans for the Future

Sixty-three new teachers from the participating colleges have enrolled in the program to date. The two courses that have been offered so far, Introduction to College Teaching and Psychology of Learning for the College Classroom seem to have had an extremely positive affect on the participants. Their comments reflect their learning and a deep commitment to the teaching profession. Teachers have remarked on and written in their journals and course evaluations about increases

in their understanding of the teaching and learning process

* I learned the basics of college teaching – theories of teaching and learning - which I never had a chance to learn academically.
* I am better able to articulate the objectives for the course. Consequently, I am better able to design the course around those objectives.
* I am a little more relaxed and less content-driven; I am more interested in making sure that certain skills are acquired as opposed to covering a certain amount of material - though the two are, of course, inextricably linked.
* I allow the class to flow at a less controlled pace than I had been using. I now focus more on what the students are learning than on making sure that I cover a set amount of material in one class time.

in their repertoire of teaching strategies

* I have learned about a variety of teaching methods without one or the another being put forward as the "right" way.
* Class discussions and group work are effective tools; I use them more now, to the delight of my students.
* Now I can teach in a way that makes it easier for the students to remember.

in their self-confidence

* I am already doing a lot of good things in the classroom.
* I trust myself.

Most importantly, however, are changes in the way they view themselves and their role in the college classroom,

After taking these courses I can see where the knowledge of how people learn can help me in my teaching. I now have a better understanding of why different teaching methods work, why you should use a variety of strategies in a class, why students don't all learn the same thing from the same lesson, why making the information relevant is important, why teachers should be flexible, why we should be consistent and yet leave ourselves an "out", how assessment affects the students attitude, why some students give up and others don't, why presenting too much material all at once is not good, what is means by different types of knowledge, etc. Having a better understanding of the students' thinking and learning process will enable me to better judge the effect of my teaching and hopefully enable me to make adjustments in presentation as needed. All teachers could benefit from knowledge about what learning is, how learners learn, and what factors are involved in the learning and teaching process.

in their self-confidence

Louise Robinson, Vanier College,
Electrical Engineering Electronics

The professional involvement evidenced in the preceding comments has been reinforced by the interest that many of the new teachers have expressed in pursuing a Masters of Arts in Education. Therefore, future plans include discussions with officials at the University of Sherbrooke to determine what, if any adjustments would have to be made in order to offer these courses at a master's level. If all goes well, we will be adding a course in the Philosophy of Education and one in Research Methods and Design. The addition of these courses would ensure the continued development of a community of teacher-scholars who support on each other as they reflect on their practice and advance professionally.

Conclusion

Learning at all level demands a community. "The New Teachers' Program" will hopefully ensure that new teachers are not left alone with their anxieties, questions and concerns. It will provide a safe environment where their knowledge about teaching and learning can be expanded, their ideas can be tested, and their successes and frustrations can be shared. Clearly, our new faculty can only benefit from the professional support and guidance of their more experienced colleagues as they develop their course plans, become active departmental members, and come to understand the role that their discipline plays in the various collegial programs. With the expertise, experience and support of the generation that has come before them, new teachers will come to understand and celebrate their unique role in the overall development of successful college graduates.
References

Bateman, D. (1999). Changing of the guard: An exploratory study of new faculty in the Anglophone Cégeps and the impact on professional development. A report submitted to the anglophone colleges.

Clark, C., & Peterson, P. (1986). Teacher's thought processes. In M.C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 155-296). NewYork: MacMillan.

Donovan, M.S., Bransford, J. D., & Pellegrino, J.W. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn: Bridging research and practice. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Evertson, C/M., Hawley,W. D., & Zlotnik,M.(1985). Making a difference in educational quality through teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education 36(3), 2-12.

Giard, J.T., (March 21, 1997). Design of a local program. Champlain Regional College.

Menges, R. J. (1999). Faculty in new jobs: A guide to settling in, becoming established , and building institutional support. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Shulman, L.S. (1993). Teaching as community property: Putting an end to pedagogical solitude. Change 25, 6, 3 – 4.

The french version of the text has been done by Marie Gravel, with the participation of Andrée Couture.

Volume 14, number 3 of Pédagogie collégiale , a publication of l'AQPC, Association québécoise de pédagogie collégiale