Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Dissertation

Keywords

College teachers, Part-time--Training of--Iowa; Reflective teaching--Iowa;

Abstract

Part-time and adjunct faculty members have been present in institutions of higher learning since the founding of this country. These groups of faculty provide a variety of unique professional experiences to their students; they offer financial savings and scheduling flexibility for their colleges and on many levels, adjuncts offer a range of other valuable contributions to their institutions. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences that community college adjunct faculty had with college teaching and implementation of the Teacher Work Sample. Another objective was to see how the completion of Teacher Work Sample contributed to the adjuncts' reflective thinking about teaching and learning and whether the TWS experience prompted them to new ways to look at their teaching practices. Teacher Work Sample methodology was chosen to be the foundation of this experience due to its growing popularity with education programs.

This was a qualitative case study in which data were gathered through individual face-to-face interviews, focus group interviews, observation of the TWS training workshop and the overall ratings of adjunct TWS units (on a scale of 1 to 3) through the use of the TWS scoring rubrics. The study involved a total of six adjunct participants that were subject to the part-time provisional certification requirements of the Des Moines Area Community College, and who were currently teaching associate degree and technical diploma level courses at the community college.

This study indicated that the Teacher Work Sample methodology was perceived to be an effective tool to assist in the professional growth of adjunct faculty members. This study is consistent in its findings with other studies that suggest that the TWS is an assessment method that is a valid tool to assist in the training of modern teachers. Previously Teacher Work Sample methodology has only been used to demonstrate teaching preparedness of the teacher candidates. This research presented adjunct community college faculty members to be a new target audience of the TWS method.

Year of Submission

2010

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Postsecondary Education

First Advisor

Victoria Robinson, Chair

Date Original

5-2010

Object Description

1 PDF file (viii, 156 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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