2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This evidence-based practice paper describes the use of both self-efficacy survey instrument and student feedback to measure the effectiveness of the New Faculty Orientation (NFO) program in an Aeronautical Engineering department. In our department, roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the faculty leave and are replaced each academic year. New faculty often have no prior teaching experience and often have only earned a master’s degree. Although relevant to the degree program, their degree may not be in the specific area required to teach the introductory Aeronautical Engineering course. To combat these challenges, we have developed an intensive month-long New Faculty Orientation (NFO) program based on a variety of published research. The unique component of this program is the amount of time spent practicing teaching in front of experienced instructors and peers. The structure, content and research basis of the NFO program is described in this paper. In this study, post-NFO measures of instructor self-efficacy were collected using the College Teaching Self-Efficacy (CTSE) Scale and results are presented. CTSE survey results showed that the new faculty rated themselves confident in instructional planning (3.69/5.0), instructional delivery (4.22/5.0), classroom management (4.38/5.0) and assessment (3.93/5.0). Practice teaching lessons in front of peers and experienced instructors, comprising three weeks of the four-week program, was universally described by participants as the most useful component of the program. The CTSE instrument was useful for both identifying topic areas that should be covered in a new faculty program, and for evaluating where the program may have weaknesses. Student ratings of new instructor effectiveness and fostering of an inclusive classroom climate were also collected through Academy-level anonymous end-of-course feedback. Student ratings of effectiveness (5.64/6.0) were slightly higher than the Academy average (5.44/6.0) for the new instructors that participated in the NFO program. This leads us to conclude that the NFO program is effective at producing competent new instructors within the context of this department and Academy. However, the small sample size makes it difficult to generalize the results to a larger population.