Critical Reflection on a Faculty Development Research Project

Abstract: Critical reflection is imperative for the practitioner who seeks to grow and improve in the important work of teaching. This paper is a critical reflection of one author’s experience in creating a faculty development initiative. Dental educators are plucked from the ranks of exceptional clinicians and researchers, with the expectation they are able to facilitate the learning of others. They teach the way they were taught (Centra, 1978): turning out the lights, turning on the slides and telling the class or audience what they do. The expectation is that the telling deposits knowledge in the learner, which translates into skill. Faculty development is “a tool for improving the educational vitality of our institutions through attention to the competencies needed by... teachers and to the institutional policies required to promote academic excellence... the goal of faculty development is to empower faculty members to excel in their roles as educators ” (Wilkerson & Irby, 1998). Formal faculty development in colleges and universities began in the 1960s. Dental and medical schools were influenced by their parent institutions and explored faculty development as well, although informally and less intentionally (Swanson, 1993). In the early 1990s, The American Dental