IDENTIFYING AND SOLVING COMMON PROBLEMS OF CLASSROOM TEACHING

part of the continuing faculty development effort at Mercer, a signifi cant portion of the annual faculty retreat was devoted to common probl ems encountered by faculty in the undergraduate classroom. Prior to th e retreat faculty were asked to submit critical incidents which had pr oven to be problematic for them in the classroom. Thirteen situations were obtained from this solicitation. Faculty and students rated the s eriousness of each classroom problem. Six problems were perceived to b e significantly different. The two most serious problems as perceived by faculty relate to the lack of student time to prepare for class act ivities and examinations. Problems as perceived more serious by studen ts included not enough time in class to cover material and perceived l ack of action on student evaluations of faculty. Case studies were the n developed for each problem. A two hour discussion was held at the fa culty retreat and several potential solutions were proposed for each p roblem. Later, the solutions were prioritized by faculty as to their r elative effectiveness. Through the student government, students evalua ted the effectiveness of the solutions. These student perceptions of e ffectiveness were then compared to faculty perceptions. Many differenc es were noted between student and faculty perceptions of how best to s olve the classroom problems. Final recommendations were formulated and distributed to faculty and students. Faculty rated the exercise as ve ry beneficial, and younger faculty, in particular, benefited greatly f rom the experience. Students gained a better appreciation and understa nding of and sensitivity to faculty problems. The process, as well as case studies and solutions are transferable to other schools for use i n faculty development.