Observations on a Faculty Development Program Based on Practice-Centered Inquiry.

Although reports of recent action research projects have been appearing with increasing frequency, to date these have focused on elementary and secondary settings. The program described below was an attempt to explore the usefulness of action research (called practice-centered inquiry in this program)1 for the improvement of teaching in a higher education setting. Like our staff development colleagues in elementary and secondary education, we found that the ideas expressed in the action research literature resonated with many of our understandings about teaching and research. We were also particularly intrigued by the possibility of simultaneously achieving richer teacher understandings, improvements in practice, and the enrichment of educational theory. This report discusses how we conceptualized the program, how it progressed, how faculty used inquiry through the program, and what effects the program had.