Abstract:
Even in difficult fiscal times it's essential for institutions to invest in faculty development to provide faculty with the necessary skills and training to advance them professionally, especially their teaching, which students consider the most important job of faculty. This study examined the professional development needs of faculty in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology at California State University, Fresno. It looked at their perceived level of teaching skill and their interest in teaching improvement. Faculty indicated "good" levels of skill in performing traditional teaching practices; however, in over half of the educational technologies examined faculty reported little to no skill. Respondents expressed at least some interest in improving on all of the instructional activities. Less interest was shown in further training related to the educational technology areas. The Borich needs assessment model was used to establish priority areas for future faculty development. The instructional priority areas were, using alternative teaching methods, effectively evaluating student learning, discovery learning methods, improving student reading and writing skills, and faculty selfevaluation of teaching effectiveness. The educational technology priority areas were, creating and editing digital videos, using interactive teaching technology, using multimedia tools, using Internet discussion groups, and utilizing video conferencing technology.
Keywords:
professional development needs
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