A Novel Tool to Assess Faculty Development Needs Utilizing Student Evaluations

Background Contemporary academic institutions confront substantial challenges in professional development amid rapid technological advancements. Historically, faculty professional development has relied on individual initiatives or peer assistance. Our medical school encountered analogous obstacles in implementing an innovative curriculum. Consequently, we established a faculty development program predicated on a needs assessment survey, student evaluations, and faculty performance appraisals. This study aimed to elucidate the development, implementation, and outcomes of our faculty professional development program interventions. Methods The faculty development program was initially constructed based on a survey of 17 founding faculty members. A descriptive analysis of the results was conducted and utilized to formulate a structured faculty development program. The implementation of the initial plan was primarily achieved through seminars and hands-on workshops. This was subsequently evaluated using end-of-course student feedback to determine the necessity for further faculty development. Based on these findings, additional faculty development sessions were implemented by external sources. Student evaluations were again employed to assess the efficacy of the faculty development sessions. Results Among the four main categories, the areas deemed most critical were as follows: (1) curriculum development themes, including the development of integrated courses and team-teaching courses (100%), designing student learning experiences (95%), and effective writing assignments (90%); (2) teaching skills, specifically obtaining training for effective team-based learning (100%); (3) assessment and evaluation, encompassing writing test questions (96%), assessing assignments (95%), and responding to students' self-assessments (95%); and (4) technology in academia, including online teaching resources, video conferencing, and webcasting skills (100%), creating voice-over PowerPoint(Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA) presentations (95%), and training in online assessment platforms (96%). Student survey results indicated improved faculty performance in flipped classroom and laboratory session instruction. The program continues to evolve based on faculty and student input. Conclusion In addition to traditional faculty self-reflection and needs assessment methodologies, we discovered that student feedback provides a comprehensive perspective on faculty improvement and professional development requirements. Overall, the faculty development program demonstrated effectiveness and satisfaction among participants.