Technology has become an integral part of the educational experience for many students and teachers, and institutions of higher education have invested heavily in its acquisition. Instructors tend to adopt new technologies when they perceive the benefits and usefulness of this implementation for their teaching. To facilitate the adoption process and following use, institutions offer professional development opportunities for their faculty. These opportunities provide the tools, guidance, support, and direction to help instructors understand the technologies and to promote effective learning and instruction with them. The main goal of this study is to explore the learning processes and procedures in which higher education instructors engage to be able to use the technology available to them effectively at their institutions. Two overall questions lead this investigation: 1. How do instructors learn how to use the technology available at their institutions? 2. How do instructors use the available technology in their courses? To address these questions, this dissertation examines important aspects of faculty professional development. Effective technology use should be based on sound educational theory. Chapter 2 explores a specific theoretical framework, cognitivism, examining how it can inform instructional practices when using digital technology in higher education. Chapter 3 elaborates further on andragogical and self-directed learning models as a way to provide the foundation knowledge for the understanding of the adult learner and to inform professional development design and implementation. Support, time, and recognition are important factors that contribute to one's use of technology and they are reflected in the availability of helpful training. Chapter 4 examines instructors' perceptions of the available technical and pedagogical training on the learning management system at a Southwestern university. If further training is required to use the technology, instructors usually need to learn more on their own. Chapter 5 investigates the role of instructor self-direction by analyzing what instructors do to learn more about the technologies after they have attended professional development sessions at a Southwestern community college. In chapter 6, the findings from these studies are discussed and they intend to inform the design, implementation, and delivery of effective faculty professional development programs.

There currently exists a challenge in higher education to improve undergraduate education. The development and more adequate preparation of future faculty, who are current graduate students, is one of several options identified as a viable strategy to address this challenge. This dissertation explored the quality of motivation as a factor affecting the preparation or socialization of future faculty at two top-tier universities. The quality of motivation is believed salient to preparation and socialization. This study focused on the motivation types of teaching-focused future faculty preparation program (FFPP) completers, their programmatic experiences, and various personal and social factors, such as gender, program, and academic discipline, as reason for motivation type. This mixed methods research study was based on the tenets of self-determination theory and revealed quantitatively, through inferential statistics, that a significant difference exists in the motivation type of participants based on gender, program, and academic discipline. Qualitative findings, from focus group interviews, were that FFPP design characteristics included elements to satisfy the innate psychological need for competence but fell short in meeting the need for relatedness. The findings offer insights into aspects that affect the quality of motivation in program participants. They also suggest that in order to more adequately prepare and socialize future faculty, consideration must be given to the importance of satisfying innate psychological needs in an effort to enhance the quality of participant motivation. Both findings support the importance of relatedness in affecting the quality of motivation. The findings of this study support the notion that certain demographic or contextual factors, as well as the satisfaction of innate psychological needs are critical to motivation quality, internalization, behavior, and socialization. The results of this study will contribute to program developers' awareness of motivation quality and its effect on behavior to enhance the design of teaching-focused future faculty preparation programs and socialization. Through the use of motivation quality, this study serves as a catalyst for the more adequate preparation of future faculty to improve undergraduate education.

Communication across the curriculum (CXC) programs are becoming increasingly common as institutions of higher learning recognize the need for improving communication skills in college students. Consequently, the University of Kentucky (UK) is piloting Presentation U, a multimodal communication across the curriculum (MCXC) program. This study examines the degree to which the Faculty Fellows program succeeds in helping faculty across the university integrate effective communication instruction and assignments into their courses. For this study, all faculty members participating in cohort #2 of the program responded to surveys and wrote reflection papers regarding their experiences. Their responses were analyzed and conclusions drawn. The study, grounded in the adult theory of transformative learning, found evidence of worldview transformation among faculty fellows as a result of their participation in the program.

Nursing programs have traditionally used teacher-developed multiple-choice (MCQ) examinations to prepare students for licensure. Researchers have determined that poorly constructed MCQ tests used as formative and summative evaluations may penalize nursing students and impact progression and retention in nursing programs. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to examine issues related to the use of teacher-developed MCQ examinations as the only method of student assessment in the theory component of nursing courses. The National League for Nursing Core Competencies for Nurse Educators and the revised Bloom's Taxonomy were used as the conceptual frameworks for this study. The Director of the Nursing Program and 9 faculty members participated. Data were collected from a review of documents, 2 focus groups, faculty-maintained diaries, and an interview. During data analysis, categories were identified and themes emerged, revealing the key findings. Using a single method alone to assess student learning limited the opportunity for formative assessment, the ability to assess higher order thinking, and the development of metacognition on the part of students. To assist faculty in creating assessments of student learning that would address these themes, a 3-day faculty professional development project followed by 4 monthly lunch and learn sessions was designed. Providing additional faculty development in assessment methods may promote positive social change as it may ultimately increase the retention of qualified students to meet the demand for registered nurses within the community.

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