Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item How part-time untrained teachers of adults learn to be effective teachers(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1996) Waring, SuzanneIn most communities adult education opportunities are available through local universities or colleges, community colleges, or public school adult education programs. In addition, business and industry, labor unions, government, park and recreation departments, museums, health care facilities, and libraries, to name a few, provide courses and training. Like no other time in history, adults are interested in lifelong learning and make use of these institutions and agencies for providing learning opportunities. As a result, many teachers of adults are needed. Teachers of adults are knowledgeable in their subject field; therefore, that requirement has often been the sole criterion for an agency to hire a particular individual - often without a job interview. Furthermore, many individuals who teach for those agencies and institutions are untrained as teachers of adults. Nevertheless, many of them become effective teachers. The purpose of this qualitative research, using the case study approach, was to discover how untrained, part-time teachers learn to become effective teachers. The data were gathered by surveying the supervisors and students of effective teachers and by surveying and interviewing the effective teachers themselves. First, it was determined that the characteristics and practices encouraged by the adult education field were the same as those stressed by not only the students of these effective teachers, but also the effective teachers themselves. Jointly, the teachers and students spoke of enthusiasm for teaching and for the subject, respect/concern for the students, and patience as outstanding teacher characteristics. The effective teachers displayed a self-assurance that provided a foundation for the outstanding characteristics and practices they utilized as they went about their teaching responsibilities Effective teachers in this study often reflected on their teaching. They thought about their own effective teachers from high school and college and attempted to model after them They reflected on their own experiences in the classroom to determine what techniques or procedures were or were not effective for providing adults with worthwhile learning experiences. This ability to reflect on their own experiences as students and to think and react to their own teaching may be a key to these teachers’ effectiveness.Item A study of adjunct faculty(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2011) Bergmann, Donna Mae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Betsy PalmerAdjunct faculty who teach part-time comprise about half the professoriate, making them essential to the operation of academic programs. On campuses which utilize adjunct faculty extensively, underestimating the support needs of adjunct faculty could translate into difficulty creating and maintaining a highly qualified adjunct workforce and diminished educational experiences for students. A review of the literature revealed there was very little data investigating the variables affecting the perceptions adjunct faculty had regarding support and services provided to them in relation to their performance as teachers. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative descriptive research study was to investigate the services and support provided to, and utilized by adjunct faculty at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT), and how they perceived that various types of support affected their teaching. In addition, this study investigated whether adjunct faculty perceptions of services and support provided by OIT differed on the basis of demographic variables such as age, gender, number of years employed as an adjunct, educational degrees, and department or discipline. The sample for this research included 106 adjunct faculty who taught at OIT's Klamath Falls and Portland campuses. An on-line survey was sent to each of these adjunct faculty. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square analysis were used in this research study. Results indicated most of the respondents did not engage in support activities at OIT, although they reported feedback on their teaching and developing curriculum improved their teaching. There was no significant difference of perceptions of services and support on the basis of the demographic variables.