Are Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) graduates better prepared to foster deep approaches to learning in their students?

In this study (PDF), researchers from two Ontario universities tested the theory that ISW graduates adopt a more student-centred and less teacher-focused approach to classroom teaching than those who had not participated in ISW. The authors refer to the works of Trigwell and Prosser (2004), Pratt (1998), Entwistle (2010) and others who have found that teacher-focused classrooms result in students adopting a surface approach to learning. This study found that non-ISW faculty members adopted an increasingly teacher-focused approach when compared to ISW graduates.

Dawson, D., Borin, P., Meadows, K., Britnell, J., Olsen, K.,& McIntyre, G. (2014). The Impact of the Instructional Skills Workshop on Faculty Approaches to Teaching. Toronto:Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.heqco.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/Formatted_UWO_Ryerson.pdf (PDF)