Integrating Teacher Behaviors with Character Strengths and Virtues for Faculty Development

Abstract

We describe a model for new and senior faculty members, integrating a behavioral approach to enhancing teaching skills with research from the field of positive psychology on virtues and character strengths. The Teacher Behaviors Checklist (Keeley, Smith, & Buskist, 2006) identifies target behaviors amenable to modification, derived from qualitative descriptors associated with teaching exemplars. The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005) is a self-assessment instrument that yields priority rankings on 24 character strengths and 6 trait-like virtues identified from multidisciplinary and multicultural literature. Used together, the feedback from both instruments offers well-researched stimuli for faculty to be more reflective and deliberate about their teaching and learning strategies.