ERIC Review: Community College Teaching-Toward Collegiality and Community

Abstract

This review of the literature focuses on community college faculty and their teaching practices. After summarizing faculty demographic changes since the 1970s, the author describes both obstacles to effective teaching and the innovations that faculty use to overcome them. Although isolation, growing reliance on part-timers, pressure to produce research, underprepared students, and inadequate resources for development continue to challenge community college faculty, they have responded by using innovative methods such as learning communities, collaborative learning, and self-directed learning. The review concludes with descriptions of institution-wide efforts that have transformed teaching and produced innovative curricula.