Faculty Perceptions of Relevance in Teaching and Learning

In this study, we analyzed a selection of extensive inquiries into teaching and learning made by faculty who were participating in a year-long, substantial faculty development program by examining the questions they raised, their rationale, their methods, and their outcomes. Specifically, we explored how these faculty members understand relevance, mapping that understanding to their goals as teachers and the kind of reflective judgment they seek to elicit in their students. As we suggest in this paper, how faculty think about relevance--in terms of why they believe their course matters, as well as what they think their students should learn, how they should develop, and the kind of reflective judgment-making they expect to see in their students--may have significant implications for how these faculty think about teaching and, consequently, how they teach. (Contains 3 tables.)