POD Session: Educational gobbledygook: Does language discourage faculty from becoming faculty developers?

David Green from Seattle University led this session sharing the results of a comparison study of educational research literature to discipline based literature. Faculty from the U.S. and the U.K. participated in the study. The session participants were asked to show on a grid as to how they prefer to gain their knowledge based on the scales of simple to complex language and simple to complex ideas. The was a correlation of responses between the study’s and the session’s participants.

How this applies to our work as CTL system and campus faculty developers is to be sure that we use a more simple language to describe the simple and complex ideas which is what faculty prefer. Providing this language, is critical to help other faculty feel comfortable to join our ranks as faculty developers and supporters. Few faculty have the time to learn a new complex language, whether perceived or real. Once again, we hear that the KISS philosophy applies in the language we use in discussing educational research.