Malinda Matney

Discussion of undergraduate teaching often lacks an empirical base; few publications focus on faculty receptivity to new teaching practices. This study draws on Bandura's Social Learning Theory, Senge's Learning Organization, and Stark and Lattuca's Content/Context/Form model to study undergraduate teaching innovations. This study's purpose was to determine what factors are likely to influence faculty in innovation and improvement of undergraduate teaching and learning practices, viewing factors through faculty perceptions of institutional structures, faculty teaching practices, communication with students about teaching, and interrelationships between various behaviors and perceptions. This study employs a cross-sectional survey design. Previous literature predominately studies salary and promotion trends comparing teaching and research output (using large-scale survey methods), or emerging faculty development efforts (using qualitative interview techniques with a few, mostly self-selected subjects). This study overcomes the limitations of both methods, creating a perspective highlighting teaching strengths and deficits through broader and deeper attention to context and its evidence within the data. Factor analysis and multiple regression techniques were employed. A pool of 136 subjects responded from varied institutional types (ranging from Research-Extensive to Associate of Arts institutions). Faculty and administrator interviews and document analysis were used to inform survey creation and describe more completely the teaching environment. The model presented had great explanatory power. Behavioral good practice variables created most of the difference explained by the model; of particular note, faculty development participation had strong, statistically significant impacts. The environmental perception variables explained a small portion of change for each dependent variable, having the greatest influence on shaping the scholarship of teaching . Two environmental perception variables (resources for teaching development and rewards for teaching) failed to have statistically significant associations with any dependent variable, which may indicate a lack of faculty awareness of the indirect impacts of such resources (particularly through faculty development opportunities). Key findings emphasize that faculty perceptions of institutional teaching norms are based on departmental norms for teaching. Faculty may choose to pursue teaching innovations if surrounded by supportive networks of other faculty. Faculty responses indicate motivation from an internal drive to gain more knowledge about teaching and learning.Ph.D.Curriculum developmentEducationHigher educationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128178/2/3029390.pd

This paper presents results from a study which tested the validity of a conceptual model which proposes six dimensions of integrative knowledge and learning that result from students engaging in the core activities associated with the Integrative Knowledge Portfolio Process and Generative Knowledge Interviewing. These methods facilitate learning experiences that help students to identify, connect, synthesize and demonstrate knowledge and skills they are gaining from all areas of life. Six hundred and twenty students (both traditional and non-traditional) from 14 different learning environments across two campuses responded to pre/post surveys before and after they engaged with these methods. Results showed that students made significant gains on all six dimensions of integrative knowledge and learning which resulted in their increased capacity to: 1. identify, demonstrate and adapt knowledge gained within/across different contexts; 2. adapt to differences (i.e. in people and situati...

The University of Michigan’s disciplinary process requires bringing charges against individual students. An unexpected situation of nine simultaneous hazing cases during the 2004 fall term magnified the challenge of identifying responsible individuals in such cases. While the institution could have charged the leaders of the fraternities or sororities involved, instead it created and implemented the Community Education and Development Model to change the ingrained behavior and culture of the organizations. The focus was on enlivening the communitybuilding potential of fraternities and sororities. What follows is a discussion of the intervention and subsequent assessment, which illustrates potential challenges and opportunities with this approach. During the 2004 fall term, nine different fraternities and sororities were identified by members of the campus community as having engaged in hazing. The staff in the Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) confronted serious barriers ...

Malinda M. Matney is senior research associate, coordinating research and assessment initiatives for the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Michigan. She is also a lecturer in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. The University of Michigan Division of Student Affairs is engaged in an iterative strategic planning process. One critical component of this process has been the creation and implementation of long-range division-wide goals meant to last from five to seven years. This "strategic journey:" begun in 2000, continues to evolve, uniting the guiding framework of strategic planning steps with a reflective process that includes a prominent assessment component employed within each step and a group process approach that supports individual growth in the service of organizational change.This model has advanced the division's strategic direction, allowing divisional leadership to manage from an informed perspective and shape a sha...

This paper presents results from a study which tested the validity of a conceptual model which proposes six dimensions of integrative knowledge and learning that result from students engaging in the core activities associated with the Integrative Knowledge Portfolio Process and Generative Knowledge Interviewing. These methods facilitate learning experiences that help students to identify, connect, synthesize and demonstrate knowledge and skills they are gaining from all areas of life. Six hundred and twenty students (both traditional and non-traditional) from 14 different learning environments across two campuses responded to pre/post surveys before and after they engaged with these methods. Results showed that students made significant gains on all six dimensions of integrative knowledge and learning which resulted in their increased capacity to: 1. identify, demonstrate and adapt knowledge gained within/across different contexts; 2. adapt to differences (i.e. in people and situati...

... http://www.theijep.com ISSN 2157-622X Fostering Integrative Knowledge through ePortfolios Melissa Peet, Steven Lonn, Patricia Gurin, K. Page Boyer Malinda Matney, Tiffany Marra, Simone Himbeault Taylor, and Andrea Daley University of Michigan ...