Why teacher upskilling is the need of the hour

Faculty development should lie at the heart of any higher education institution to create and emphasise learner-centred teaching.

A mid-career Computer Science faculty at a university recently spoke of the intriguing new jargon she was hearing. They were all related to cybersecurity and blockchain technology but were not limited to these areas and were quite widespread in other fields. There was no escaping them and she began to feel the need the upgrade her knowledge. She is not alone. The main idea behind Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs) across the world is “upskill”. The curricula of various programmes at many universities are updated to keep pace with the changing demands of the industry. Students too join the courses with expectations of learning the latest curriculum. While younger faculty who have graduated more recently may be better skilled, the experienced ones are the backbone of the teaching-learning environment and academic administration at the universities. Hence, it becomes imperative to provide them with opportunities to upgrade their skills to meet the current expectations. There are many ways for faculty to upskill themselves: attending conferences and training programmes, getting involved in research projects, earning online certification through various MOOC portals and by through relevant FDPs. Well-planned and curated FDPs are an investment in human resources, and ultimately result in enhanced teaching and learning experience. In Faculty Development and Student Learning: Assessing the Connections, the authors discuss the findings of the Tracer Project, which was designed to assess how FDPs impact student learning. The results clearly showed that when faculty attended formal development opportunities, engaged in self-directed improvement processes, or even underwent routine evaluations, their practices changed considerably.