University teachers' needs of support for designing and preparation of courses: A focus on differences by academic discipline and rank

In order to clarify the specific support needs of university teachers for the design and preparation of courses, and to incorporate these fundamental data into developing effective and practical programs or ICT tools for Professional Development, this paper analyses differences according to the academic ranks and disciplines of survey respondents. The authors conducted a university-wide survey in 2012 targeting faculty members at Tohoku University. Results show that the need for orientation sessions, seminars, and counseling is higher among teachers in their early career phases, such as for Lecturers and Assistant Professors. On the other hand, teachers regardless of their academic rank or discipline have certain needs such as "Digitization of teaching materials" and "Classroom observations of other teachers' lessons (by video)". Although the percentage is not high, the need for "Reflection or reviewing of own teaching" is considered common across all academic ranks and disciplines. In contrast, a need for "Classroom observations of other teachers' lesson (by video)" is less needed by Professors. It is expected that Professors might already have enough experience in teaching and prefer learning from their own practice rather than from others in seminars or teaching observations. These differences are considered to have a relation to a teacher's approach to course design. It is necessary to consider these differences and commonalities among teachers when we develop practical support systems or programs for university teachers.