One purpose of this study was to examine faculty development practices offered in the last three years by Florida's 22 public community colleges and to determine if the total number of different practices offered as well as the different types of practices were related to institutional size as measured by the number of full-time faculty. A second purpose was to assess and compare the relative perceived value of these practices as viewed by full-time faculty, faculty development practitioners, and academic administrators in these institutions. A third purpose was to assess and compare the relative perceived value of faculty development practices as viewed by full-time faculty within six different discipline areas.
An original web-based questionnaire was used to gather data from Florida's 22 public community colleges. The three populations under investigation were: chief academic officers, faculty development practitioners, and full-time faculty.
Chief Academic Officers of 18 of the institutions reported that all 42 faculty development practices included in the survey were offered by at least one institution in the last three years. Survey results revealed clearly that on all campuses, many full-time faculty were unaware of the availability of these practices. No significant relationship was found between the total number of practices offered at an institution and the number of full-time faculty employed by that institution. A relationship was detected between the size of the institution and the cluster of faculty development practices labeled general teaching enhancement practices. Descriptive statistics were collected on the mean perceived value for each respondent group on each of the separate 42 faculty development practices and three of the six clusters revealed significant differences in mean perceived value of the practices as viewed by full-time faculty and their chief academic officers. In each of six clusters of faculty development practices surveyed, a relationship was observed between the perceived value ratings of faculty across six different discipline groups.
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