Pedagogical Technology Experiences of Successful Late-Career Faculty

Abstract

A small-scale phenomenological study reveals interesting and suggestive insights into the pedagogical technology experiences of late-career faculty with institutional recognition as successful instructors. Referred to in much of the literature as “resistant” and assumed to lack training in pedagogical technology and/or to adhere to passive learning strategies, the faculty in this study described attempts, successful and unsuccessful, to integrate technology into their teaching. Their experiences and perceptions point out the questionable effects of taking a “toolism” approach to faculty development and the risk associated with proceeding with unexamined assumptions about such faculty and their technology use.

Keywords:

• educational environments, faculty, instruction, motivation, pedagogy, professional development, research, teaching methods, technology