Personalizing Educational Development for Online Music Educators: A Coaching Approach

Background

Terms such as faculty development, educational development and professional development are often used in reference to developing the capacity and potential of instructors. Educational development refers to “all the work that is done systematically to help faculty members to do their best to foster student learning” (Knight & Wilcox, 1998, p. 98). According to Bédard, Clement, and Taylor (2010), educational development is “broader than faculty development, in that it encompassed instructional, curriculum, organizational, and some aspects of faculty development. In another sense, the term was narrower in that it focused on the teaching domain, as opposed to all aspects of academic career development” (p.177). Felten, Kalish, Pingree, and Plank (2007) argued it is “helping colleges and universities function effectively as teaching and learning communities” (p. 93). Educational development is a “key lever for ensuring institutional quality and supporting institutional change” (Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy, & Beach, 2005, p. xi). It is about taking action that is “aimed at enhancing teaching” (Amundsen & Wilson, 2012, p. 90).