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Teaching university teachers to become better teachers : the effects of pedagogical training courses at six Swedish universities

Ödalen, Jörgen ; Brommesson, Douglas LU ; Erlingsson, Gissur LU ; Schaffer, Johan Karlsson and Fogelgren, Mattias (2019) In Higher Education Research and Development 38(2). p.339-353
Abstract

Do pedagogical training courses for university teachers have desirable effects on the participants? We set out to answer this question by following a panel of 183 university teachers from Sweden’s six largest universities, who participated in pedagogical training courses. Our study reveals that the participants’ self-reported confidence in their role as teachers increased slightly, and their self-assessed pedagogical skills increased notably after they had finished their courses. Even though the courses were rather short, we could also observe some changes in fundamental approaches to teaching in some of the subgroups of respondents, both toward more student-centeredness and, perplexingly, toward more teacher-centeredness. Additionally,... (More)

Do pedagogical training courses for university teachers have desirable effects on the participants? We set out to answer this question by following a panel of 183 university teachers from Sweden’s six largest universities, who participated in pedagogical training courses. Our study reveals that the participants’ self-reported confidence in their role as teachers increased slightly, and their self-assessed pedagogical skills increased notably after they had finished their courses. Even though the courses were rather short, we could also observe some changes in fundamental approaches to teaching in some of the subgroups of respondents, both toward more student-centeredness and, perplexingly, toward more teacher-centeredness. Additionally, most respondents (7 out of 10) found the courses useful or very useful. Course satisfaction was most notable among participants with less than three years of teaching experience. Considering the fact that we find the positive effects of pedagogical training courses to be present mainly in the group of participants with less than three years of teaching experience, we discuss whether a policy of making these courses mandatory for all university teachers implies an overestimation of their impact.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Approaches to teaching, higher education, mandatory pedagogical training, pedagogical training courses, university teachers
categories
Higher Education
in
Higher Education Research and Development
volume
38
issue
2
pages
339 - 353
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85053229426
ISSN
0729-4360
DOI
10.1080/07294360.2018.1512955
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
627c462d-2345-40fa-926d-048a4d80c9d1
date added to LUP
2018-10-22 16:28:09
date last changed
2022-04-25 17:59:08
@article{627c462d-2345-40fa-926d-048a4d80c9d1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Do pedagogical training courses for university teachers have desirable effects on the participants? We set out to answer this question by following a panel of 183 university teachers from Sweden’s six largest universities, who participated in pedagogical training courses. Our study reveals that the participants’ self-reported confidence in their role as teachers increased slightly, and their self-assessed pedagogical skills increased notably after they had finished their courses. Even though the courses were rather short, we could also observe some changes in fundamental approaches to teaching in some of the subgroups of respondents, both toward more student-centeredness and, perplexingly, toward more teacher-centeredness. Additionally, most respondents (7 out of 10) found the courses useful or very useful. Course satisfaction was most notable among participants with less than three years of teaching experience. Considering the fact that we find the positive effects of pedagogical training courses to be present mainly in the group of participants with less than three years of teaching experience, we discuss whether a policy of making these courses mandatory for all university teachers implies an overestimation of their impact.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ödalen, Jörgen and Brommesson, Douglas and Erlingsson, Gissur and Schaffer, Johan Karlsson and Fogelgren, Mattias}},
  issn         = {{0729-4360}},
  keywords     = {{Approaches to teaching; higher education; mandatory pedagogical training; pedagogical training courses; university teachers}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{339--353}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Higher Education Research and Development}},
  title        = {{Teaching university teachers to become better teachers : the effects of pedagogical training courses at six Swedish universities}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1512955}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/07294360.2018.1512955}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}