A comparative study of the the use of technologies in programs of faculty development centers in the top ten universities of the world

Problem &

The development of faculty members' abilities is often done in the form of organized programs in faculty members' ability development centers. These centers, which are ubiquitous in foreign countries, provide empowerment services via the use of in-person and virtual platforms. The aim of the current research is to investigate the status of the programs of faculty development centers in selected universities of foreign countries and then to compare the use of technologies in these programs. The research results are used in order to benefit from the experiences of these universities in general and also specifically in the field of technology platforms.

The research method of the present study is a comparative study based on the Bereday method, in which the obtained data are analyzed in four stages: description, interpretation, Juxtaposition, and simultaneous comparison. To achieve this goal, the top ten foreign universities were purposefully selected based on the Times ranking of 2021, and the teaching development centers of these universities were studied based on the programs and services provided in person and virtually (based on technology). The data of the study was collected from the information contained in the website of teaching development centers, documents and reports of selected foreign universities.

The results of the research showed that each of the programs depends on the function for which it is intended and affected by elements such as time, space, content, and interaction in any of the in-person or virtual platforms or as a combination of two platforms. In general, ‘educational programs’ in both platforms, ‘individual support, financial support and evaluation of education’ in in-person platforms, ‘collective sharing, providing educational resources and technology resources’ in virtual platforms are more widely used.

Finally, it can be concluded that by relying only on one platform, whether it is only in-person or only virtual, it is not possible to organize the programs of faculty member empowerment centers in a desirable way. It is necessary to use the advantages of both platforms by combining two platforms in order to reduce the limitations of each platform.