The three main duties of university teachers are teaching,research and
service. Professors need to produce knowledge and give service to society, and this is where university teachers are different from teachers at other levels of education. Because professors are required to assume different kinds of duties,they are always juggling multiple tasks (Commonwealth,2012;
Du,2002; Dunkin, 1994; Green,2008; Parker, 2008; Vardi & Quin,2011;
Wei& Che嗯，2006). This situation has become more and more severe when
the higher education began to promote improvement exercise in recent years (Chen,2001; Du,2002; Song& Chang,2008). Universities try to help teachers by offering professional development strategies. Professors are a group of people who have professional knowledge and work independently.
Besides teaching, they spend lots of time doing research to explore the uncharted territories and to produce knowledge. The type of strategy and the way to carry it out are two important issues for higher education professional development.
Nowadays,most universities in Taiwan invite outstanding speakers to give academic talk or to share their life experience as the major activities for professional improvement. Some universities require teachers to attend those activities up to a certain number of hours. Consequently,they fulfill the hour requirements,but they show no interest in the activities, which do not really help improve their teaching ability and increase effectiveness.The activities have a weak connection to the needs of teachers,and cause teachers to refuse to learn (Beavers,2009). Even if they try to learn,their achievement
《當代教育研究季刊》第三十三卷第三期
38 Contemporary Educational Research Quarterly Vo1.22,No.2
is shallow and short-lived (Gregson & Sturko, 2007). Professors are adult learners who have accepted professional training. Their learning needs are highly practical and what they learn should be immediately useful to their work. The professional development strategy0仟eredto adult learners should respect their experience and profession,combine their work needs,offer flexibility and choice,and motivate them to learn (Huang,2002; Jarvis,2002;
Lai,1996).
In addition to academic talks and experience sharing,we should try to find out other professional development strategies suitable for professors.
According to my research in 2011 (Chen, 201l), the Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) is one of the most popular professional development strategies in higher education in Taiwan,only next to academic talks. It is important to try to find out whether this type of professional development is a practicable professional development strategy for professors. Researches about FLCs is abundant internationally (Cesarini & Chao,2005; Glowacki-Dufka & Brown, 2007; Hershberger, Richlin, & Essington,2004; Sirum, Madigan, & Klionsky,2009) but they seldom explore the utilization of professional development in Taiwan's academia. With this the research background,the purpose of this study is to explore the current condition for implementing FLCs in higher education in Taiwan and to investigate how universities carry out this strategy,but also the e仔ectivenessfor running this strategy and the challenge of universities to push this strategy.
Method
The study adopted document analysis and interview as research methods. Document analysis was used to explore the current condition for implementing FLCs in higher education in Taiwan. The study searched the websites of 118 universities and downloaded their documents that contain the rules and methods of how to carry out FLCs. Ifthe websites did not providesu伍cientinformation,the study contacted the universities by phone and email to collect the information needed. After all the information of 118 universities was completely collected,the content of documents was categorized and analyzed. Interview was used to collect the experiences in carrying out FLCs. The study interviewed four directors of the teacher
陳琦媛 教師專業學習社群於我國高等教育實施現況之探討 39
development center of universities and 自veleaders of faculty professional developmentcommunities. 百leinterview content included the way to carry out the community method,the effectiveness and challenges for promoting this strategy,the gain of the community members,and the challenges faced in the process of carrying out the community method.
Results
The results showed that some universities started to use FLCs as one professional development strategy in 2005 and by 2012,there were seventy-nine universities (67%) carrying out this professional development strategy.
The purpose for implementing the faculty learning community method is to offer teachers communication opportunities and increase their teaching interest and professional knowledge. The main members of community are teachers,and a community usually includes three to fifteen members.
Universities will regulate the minimum number of community members to maintain the quality and function of communication. About 87% of universities which carry out professional learning community offered funding for community projects. Most of their funding resources came from MOE projects. 百lesefunds were mostly used for assistants' salary and fees for meetings. The universities set many rules to the use of education funds and the process to apply for reimbursement is complicated. This situation makes the community professional development method hard to match the needs ofteachers. 百lereare multiple types and themes of faculty professional learning communities in Taiwan. The method for carrying out the community strategy can be adjusted to teachers' needs and the schools' objectives. The FLCs can encourage teachers to have professional discussion and promote teachers' professional knowledge. Ifuniversities want to popularize this strategy,they need to handle the awkward situation that teachers' workloads are too heavy to join community activities.
Furthermore,the effectiveness of compulsory communities is not as good as communities that teachers joinvoluntarily. 百lekey element for creating and using a successful community is to try to match the needs of teachers and to create a friendly learning community where all members get along with each other,and enjoy the experiences.
《當代教育研究季刊》第二十三卷第二期
40 Contemporary Educational Research Quarterly Vo1.22. NO.2