An analysis of the in-service education needs to develop instructional skills of part-time business faculty

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the in-service education needs for developing instructional skills of part-time business faculty. The population included part-time business faculty teaching credit courses at 24 community college campuses in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida during fall 1988. A total of 138 (63.9%) respondents returned a 62-item questionnaire. The average age of the respondents was 44.7 years, and 59.2% had a master's degree or higher. The average number of years of full-time teaching experience was 1.6 years, and the average number of years of part-time teaching experience was 5.5 years. Respondents were classified according to Tuckman's Taxonomy of part-time faculty_ Sufficient numbers of respondents could be placed only in three of the seven classifications for analysis purposes. In-service education needs were analyzed within the three classifications of part-time business faculty for the six categories of instructional skills. Respondents in all three classifications expressed a need for 2 of the 57 instructional skills in the top 10 ranking of statements. When analyzing the differences within the three classifications, one significant F-value of 5.11 with a probability of significance at .0001 resulted for the full-mooners. They had a statistically significant higher need for instructional skills in the Miscellaneous and Students categories but no practically different needs. In addition, significant relationships between characteristics of the respondents and the need for instructional skills in categories were found. First, the lower the level of education, the more the respondents had a need for in-service education for skills in the Planning to Teach category. Second, the lower the age, the more the respondents had a need for in-service education for skills in the Planning to Teach category. Third, the lower the age, the more the respondents had a need for in-service education for skills in the Miscellaneous category. Outcomes from these analyses revealed statistically different but not practically different needs. Those planning in-service education for part-time business faculty should offer activities found among the top 10 ranked instructional skill statements for each classification. In-service education activities should not be based on instructional skill categories or part-time business faculty characteristics of educational level, years of full-time and part-time teaching experience, or age.