Changing the way we teach in college : faculty motivation in Azerbaijan

"This study employed qualitative interview approach to explore faculty teaching motivation for engaging in innovative teaching methods in Azerbaijani higher education context. Despite the ongoing reforms in Azerbaijani higher education system, many faculty at higher education institutions still resist the change in teaching and learning processes encouraged my many institutions. Therefore, traditional teaching methods that are arguably less effective in developing students' critical thinking and analysis skills are a dominant practice characterizing the nature of teaching and learning in Azerbaijani undergraduate classes. This study explored one overarching research question: What factors influence faculty motivation in Azerbaijani higher education institutions for engaging in innovative teaching methods? The sub-questions embedded in this study were: (1) What motivational factors are more common among faculty in Azerbaijan?, (2) What are the most common inhibitors of teaching motivation?, and (3) How do these faculty overcome inhibiting factors? To address the above-stated questions, faculty who are known to engage in innovative teaching methods in Azerbaijani higher education institutions were selected and recruited. Ten faculty members were interviewed twice, which resulted in approximately 20 hours of interviews. The first cycle of the interviews took place in late June and early July of 2018. After the data were transcribed and the first cycle data analysis was done, the second cycle interviews followed in late July and August of 2018. Data triangulation was done through document analysis and memoing. Data analysis resulted in three overarching categories: (a) faculty teaching beliefs, skills, and knowledge, (b) faculty well-being, and (c) faculty personality traits. The findings suggest participants' teaching beliefs, skills, and knowledge promoted their engagement in innovative teaching methods. In addition, faculty well-being and their personality traits were among the most influential categories of factors influencing faculty teaching behavior. The data also suggest a number of environmental, institutional, and individual-level factors can either promote or obstruct faculty engagement in a particular method of teaching. The data are consistent with the conceptual framework, the Faculty Teaching Motivation Model, I developed for this study. The model posits embedded in the environment, a number of individual and institutional-level factors influence faculty teaching motivation. The model highlights the role of faculty self-control strength in faculty teaching behavior. After the discussion of the emerged themes, implications for practice and research are presented."--Pages ii-iii.