A Pedagogy of Larger Concerns: Grounding Engineering Faculty Develop- ment in Research on Teaching Conceptions

This paper presents how the results of a study on teaching conceptions have come to exert both a philosophical and practical influence on the faculty development services offered at an engineering-specific teaching and learning center. The study examined the teaching conceptions of eight university professors who were recognized for their outstanding teaching. A set of concepts or elements were identified that played important roles in the teaching lives of those professors. Together, these elements form a conception of the teaching endeavor entitled a Pedagogy of Larger Concerns (PLC).