Date of Submission
8-9-2022
Document Type
OIP
Degree
Doctor of Education
Department
Education
Keywords
mid-career faculty (MCF), retention, professional development, educational developer, leadership, scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL)
Abstract
Mid-career faculty (MCF) currently comprise a predominant number of faculty at higher education institutions. Mid-career faculty applies to those individuals who have been teaching within post-secondary education for more than five years but are still more than five years from retirement. As faculty move into this middle phase of their career, there tends to be fewer opportunities for professional development, reduced opportunities for advancement or leadership, and a lack of mentorship. These decreased opportunities lead to a decrease in MCF job satisfaction. At Riverside College (a pseudonym) a significant percentage of the faculty leaving the college in the last few years have been MCF. In this organizational improvement plan (OIP), I explore what strategies will support the development of MCF at a mid-sized community college in Western Canada, that will lead to increased engagement and retention. Within the OIP I will use a combination of Appreciative Inquiry, the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle, and ADKAR® to guide the change. I will draw on perspectives from an interpretive lens and use both distributive and authentic leadership approaches. The solution chosen to address the problem of practice is to develop specific MCF professional development and mentorship as a retention strategy. One example of professional development is the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Scholarship of teaching and learning is a process for faculty to focus their professional development in mid-career. Educational developers responsible for faculty professional development support MCF to examine their teaching practices and move from scholarly teaching to scholarship of teaching and learning.
Keywords: mid-career faculty (MCF), retention, professional development, educational developer, leadership, scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).
Recommended Citation
Hamilton, M. J. (2022). Re-Invigorating Mid-Career Faculty at a Canadian Mid-Sized College: Strategies for Professional Development and Mentorship. The Organizational Improvement Plan at Western University, 267. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/267