Journal 3-Review

Title: Teaching teams: creating the context for faculty action research
The author: Elezabeth Bondy and Dorene Ross
Innovative Higher Education, Vol.22, No 3, Spring 1998

Abstract
Action research and classroom assessment, school-based strategies for professionalizing teaching and reforming schools, have begun to receive attention as a strategy for accomplishing similar goals in higher education. In this article, the authors describe the important role that context plays in supporting teacher's action research efforts. The description of the context that support action research in one university will be useful to higher education faculty and administrators who are working to create similar contexts to support action research or classroom assessment by faculty.

Sample:
-A group of instructors and university students
-The research take three years period

Setting:
-College of Education at the university of Florida

Method:

• Collaboration problem solving
• self determination
• long term orientation
• collegiality
• activities
  

Procedures:
-by using the collaborative instructors
-assigned to sections of the same course and collaborate in the planning, implementation, and evaluations.
-team group created the context to describe the nature of teaching
-teaching team work together to plan, implement, and evaluate the course
-during planning phase:

• critique course drowning on students feedback
• evaluation of student's understanding and misunderstanding of concept
• team member present idea for new reading and instructional activities
• draw on informal and formal assessment to the student's learning
• interpret data and making revisions

-during implement phase:

• participate in a service learning project in which they work with children and youth
• do the interview, video, assessment and discussion

-during evaluation phase:

• analyzing data
• teaching team meet regularly to discuss teaching issues and concern about student learning.

Finding:
-teaching team having to create course for a restructured teacher education program
-after teaching team established, team have become institutionalized for three course and rarely attempt for other course.
-some recommendations provided which are:

• assemble team deliberatively
• use team building strategies
• value communications and conflict
• encourages members to express uncertainly and the questions assumptions
• make assessment and data collection a priority