Revitalizing Teaching Skills through Blended Mode of Faculty Development Programme

Abstract

Empowering faculty members through structured training programme will reform the educational ecosystem with value added input to the students. In general, faculty development programme could be grouped into three major clusters viz., (a) Refresher courses (b) Pedagogy & Technology tool courses and (c) Instructional Pedagogy courses. In the refresher courses, the latest development in the content area is provided and there is gain in better insight to the faculty members. In the case of pedagogy and technology tools courses, the main focus is understanding the nuances of pedagogy and implementation through integrating technology tools in the classroom. The third category of training is purely integrated and focus how to deliver the content in accordance to the fundamental principles of teaching and they mostly focus on particular subject with focus on how to deliver it. The concept of faculty development programme predominantly adopted by the faculty members in the government sector due to stipulated review mechanism for promotion, however there exists a void in attending the programme by the faculty members working in private institutions. The major constraint seems to be course fee, permission from the education institute and location of the training programme. In order to address the constraint and to adopt inclusive approach in providing training to all the faculty members both government and private sector, blended approach was adopted. At NITTTR Chennai, training programme to faculty members in the area of instructional design and delivery was carried out through blended mode. The framework was designed to enhance the effectiveness of the training programme. The nodal centers were connected through online lecturing followed by face to face lecture in the end of the training programme. Technology paved the way to provide training to all the faculty members and in turn enhanced the teaching skills. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications associated with implementation and follow up.