Graduation Year

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Higher Ed/Community College Ed

Major Professor

Donald A. Dellow, Ed.D.

Co-Major Professor

Judith A. Ponticell, Ph.D

Committee Member

Yi-Hsin Chen, Ph.D.

Committee Member

W. Robert Sullins, Ed.D.

Keywords

community college, faculty development, part-time faculty

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore adjunct faculty perceptions of factors that influence participation in faculty development at a multi-campus Florida state college. To improve Florida state college adjunct faculty participation in faculty development, it was necessary to examine their faculty development needs and the incentives and barriers that influence their participation in faculty development. This study extended the research on characteristics of adjunct faculty and their faculty development interests. This quantitative study addressed the gap in the literature related to the scheduling, format, and communication preferences of a Florida state college adjunct faculty, related to faculty development.

A survey research design was used to explore faculty development preferences of adjunct faculty who had taught for a minimum of one semester. An online survey was used to collect the data via Qualtrics. Adjunct faculty who taught in fall 2018 from all academic areas, and all four campuses were included in the sample. The response rate for this survey was 20%.

A frequency distribution was constructed for the demographic data. Multiple regression was used to analyze the relationship between adjunct faculty participation in faculty development and background characteristics. Measures of central tendency were used to calculate the mean and standard deviation to identify faculty development needs, preferred conditions for faculty development, incentives that may encourage participation, and barriers that may hinder participation in faculty development opportunities, as perceived by respondents.

The results indicate that the adjunct faculty who responded to the survey need faculty development training related to the following topics: instructional technology, student engagement, and instructional strategies. They indicated weekday evenings was the preferred time for faculty development, one to two hours workshops was the most feasible format, and college-wide email was their preferred method of communication for faculty development. There was no consensus on the preferred location, online or campus. Professional growth and life-long learning were the two incentives identified, by the majority of the adjunct faculty, which significantly or moderately encourages their participation in faculty development. Most of the adjunct faculty identified time and full-time job as the barriers which significantly or moderately hinders their participation in faculty development.

Download

Share

COinS