Exploring Application of the Training of Trainers (ToT) Model on Faculty Professional Development and Teaching Practices in a Summer Learning Community

Introduction

How professionals in the academy continue to learn is a topic that is often undervalued, under-researched, and not well understood (Haras, 2018). Pursuing continuous learning provides the basis for seeing things in a new light and trying out novel approaches, ultimately leading to innovation. New knowledge, skills, and ideas happen when unanticipated challenges arise or when we challenge ourselves. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic presented unforeseen difficulties for both teachers and learners, causing a tremendous upheaval in teaching and learning across institutions. These unexpected adversities prompted many faculty to acknowledge the necessity to do more instead of simply “making do.” Some settled in to reflect more deeply through research and renewed efforts as it became even more evident that higher education institutions should lead in innovating beyond the status quo. The immediacy of the modality shift was not without obstacles, both inherent to the pivot and incidental. It was not enough to package course activities and a syllabus in the usual way with added virtual zoom meetings, and adjustments for achieving the learning outcomes. Instructors and professors had to consider that their standard teaching methods in the face-to-face classroom setting needed to be adapted for online delivery. While it was not novel that pandemic instructional spaces saw students with various learning styles and preferences, expectations around the quality of the learning experience are more salient than ever.

The mass and abrupt mandatory transition to virtual instruction exposed gaps and solidified a sense of urgency for embracing the virtual modality. Students and their instructors needed to feel engaged and inspired in the teaching and learning equation. Even the best educators were challenged to modify their teaching styles through curricula and strategies that more fully addressed the needs of a diverse student population. The resultant focus was a new, more nuanced consideration of the educational environment and learners' academic performance. Essentially, the pandemic served as a real-time reminder of the value of assessing, training, and developing higher education faculty to strengthen their pedagogical techniques continuously and actively.

Without institutional support for continuous learning, processes do not change, innovation does not happen, and nothing genuinely compelling can be accomplished. The relationship between faculty professional development and enhanced teaching practices is well documented in the literature. Effectual professional development activities allow faculty to expand their skill sets in endless ways that incorporate practice and feedback with adequate time for implementation, self-reflection, and follow-up support (Buczynski & Hansen, 2009; Darling-Hammond, 2000; OECD, 2005; Ricci, L. A., Haras, C., & Kelly, K., 2020). As a component of productive professional development, continuous learning may be engaged in and pursued in formal, social, and self-directed ways. When approached as a part of the institutional environment, continuous learning can be solidified as an expected feature of a supportive culture.

This chapter provides readers with insights gleaned from the firsthand experiences of faculty who participated in a year-long professional development opportunity, which resulted in their earning a national credential in evidence-based teaching practice offered by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). As the author’s contemplated the offering of summer professional development opportunities for faculty, several stand-out credentialed faculty were identified based on their enthusiasm and initiative around implementing strategies learned in the year-long program. Those selected credentialed faculty were then tasked with developing and facilitating instructional sessions in the summer faculty learning community. The Training of Trainers (ToT) model was an organically identified approach. This model is based on employing expert (i.e., credentialed) trainers to facilitate and guide the coaching of new potential trainers who are less experienced with a particular skill or topic. This analysis provides an additional lens, affording insight into the design and delivery of a transformational professional development course using an empirically grounded model and discussing its impact on the authors (trainees who became trainers) and course participants (trainees as potential future trainers).