Instructional Development Processes as Individually and Socioculturally Interdependent: Investigating Faculty “Lived” Experiences

• In Event: Elements of Successful Faculty Development

Abstract

Instructional development is an important focus of quality improvement in higher education. Such development must be better understood from the educators’ perspectives and within the context of everyday practice. Using descriptive phenomenological inquiry, this study investigates the question: How do college educators experience the process of instructional development? The study adds to our understanding of epistemological and ontological change over time, and of individual and social interdependence. Elements of the process that have emerged include values alignment, disturbances, alternative visions, connections, expanded understanding, and increased comfort. The study adds to our understanding of the instructional development process, as experienced by the faculty themselves, and can therefore inform the design of instructional development efforts within higher education.

Author

• Cheryl L. Amundsen, Simon Fraser University