Mourlam, D. J. (2015).  The ongoing faculty development system: A case study exploring content methods teacher education faculty technological, pedagogical, content knowledge development [Doctoral dissertation, University of Northern Iowa].  UNI Scholarworks. http://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1191&context=etd

Abstract:

“Society has changed from manufacturing to information-based, resulting in an emphasis in different knowledge and skills. When entering the profession, new teachers will be expected prepare learners for key 21st century skills using digital technologies. At a time when near technological ubiquity exists, development of these skills using digital tools has become an expectation. As teacher education programs have responded to the demands for more new teachers that can leverage technologies to develop 21st century skills, much of this preparation has occurred in instructional technology focused courses. However, in recent years attention has shifted to developing these skills in content methods courses, which have the potential to more deeply contextualize the use of digital technologies within individual disciplines. As faculty have requested more faculty development support, often decontextualized technology-focused workshops have been the misguided response. This has resulted in faculty disenchantment with development offerings due to a lack of applicability within their courses.

The purpose of this study was to explore a different approach to faculty development grounded in Technological, Pedagogical, Content Knowledge (TPACK), social constructivism, adult learning theory, and systems theory. An embedded mixed method exploratory case study was used to examine a cohort- and design-based faculty development experience, how faculty implemented TPACK-based instruction, and changes to faculty and preservice teacher TPACK. Data was collected using faculty interviews, participant observation, and a candidate survey and was analyzed using Grounded Theory and Constant Comparison, as well as descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicated the emergence of an ongoing faculty development system where faculty progressed through the entire instructional design process while engaging in development activities throughout the study. Key themes identified were the differences faculty described between “one shot” and ongoing faculty development, as well as the value of faculty developer support as being both personalized and dispositional in nature, allowing for more faculty comfort and risk taking. There were also increases in faculty TPACK, as well as statistically significant increases in some candidate TPACK domains. Given the ongoing nature of faculty development that emerged in this study, attention is given to the implications of this phenomenon within higher education.”