Profiles of Change in Conceptions and Motivation Regarding Teaching in Higher Education Within Professional Development

• In Event: Navigating the Pathway to the Professoriate

Abstract

The current proposal describes a study employing an emergent theoretical model of teaching motivation to investigate the change in conception of teaching in higher education of graduate student instructors participating in a higher education professional development (PD) seminar. Qualitative content analysis of pre-PD and post-PD reflective essays of a diverse sample of 15 graduate student instructors highlighted the diversity of change patterns in the model components, including goals, self-perceptions, teaching beliefs, and action possibilities, with four identified change profiles: “Transformation,” “Elaboration,” “Stagnation,” and “Omission.” The model proved useful in conceptualizing the change in participants’ conceptions of teaching and may provide a guide for future research and for designing and evaluating teaching PD in higher education.

Authors

• Adalet B Gunersel, Temple University

• Avi Kaplan, Temple University

• Pamela Barnett, Temple University

• Mary Etienne, Temple University

• Annette Roche Ponnock, Temple University