AIM Faculty Development

AIM recognizes its faculty as critical resources, and supports the professional development of its faculty complement, through a dedicated Faculty Development Office (FDO) under the Office of the Dean. FDO strategically focuses on the development of its core faculty as learning facilitators, mentors, and practitioner-leaders in their disciplines and in their communities.

 

FDO is concerned with the following objectives:

 

1.To support AIM faculty members’ professional development through a variety of programs, activities, and resources, that are in line with the Institute’s strategies;

2.To build a community of learners through faculty development programs and activities;

3.To provide information, knowledge and skills in teaching, learning, and research that will enhance individual and institutional capacity, and;

4.To encourage learner-centered education and research, through self and peer assessment activities.

 

Working towards faculty development, we value the following principles:

 

1. Practitioner-oriented learning. We value current and real-world experience in the classroom, and scholarly work which contributes to a             community of business and development management practice;

 

2. Full-circle, 360 degree feedback. We listen to all stakeholders to ensure that faculty performance is on the right track – that in line with               the Institute’s mission, they contribute to “developing professional, entrepreneurial, and socially responsible leaders and managers.”

 

        a. Individual assessment. We realize that development and change start with knowing one’s capabilities and limitations through the                        practice of critical self-reflection. Thus,  we encourage faculty to continuously document and reflect on their own academic                                  performance, and on ways by which they can improve their teaching and research competencies. We encourage faculty to                                  conscientiously track their academic activities throughout the school year, eventually building up their own faculty                                                portfolios.

       b. Peer feedback. We value collegial support in individual and organizational development, thus feedback from peers, or colleagues in                       the academic community is important. Faculty work with peers in different teams, thus their colleagues can be valuable sources of                   feedback on faculty contributions to academic practice. Feedback from program directors, oftentimes co-faculty, is considered as                     peer feedback. 

       c.  Students’ feedback. Students regularly accomplish faculty and course evaluation surveys for degree programs.  Results of these                           surveys, when taken collectively with feedback from other sources, can provide faculty with helpful insights on how they can                               improve their teaching performance.  

       d.  Non-teaching academic staff.  Faculty work closely with non-teaching academic staff; thus, the staff can provide feedback on how                      the faculty performs his or her academic duties. Does the faculty member submit course outlines on time? Does he or she                                  submit grades on time? Do students approach staff with complaints about the faculty? These are some questions that non-                                academic staff can respond to.  

      e.    Deans’ feedback. The School, Research, and Institute Deans come across various sources of information about the faculty. Deans                        can provide feedback to faculty, based on progress towards faculty members’ performance commitments.

       f.    External community. Feedback can come from various sources, such as citations from academic and research bodies, for example.                  Clients of non-degree programs may also be  sources of feedback.    

 

3. Multiple learning methodologies. Although we believe in case discussion as a primary learning methodology, we subscribe to different learning methods to accommodate different learning styles and preferences. We particularly focus on learning methods that are participant-centered, or those that ensure students’ learning.