Professors' perspectives on their teaching: A new construct and developmental model

Abstract

Building carefully on the college teaching and adult development literatures, this paper presents a model that describes the perspective of professors at various developmetal positions with regard to their work as teachers. The model comprises five, interrelated positions: (a) three stable periods-Egocentrism (teacher-centeredness), Aliocentrism (learner-centeredness), and Systemocentrism (teacher/learner-centeredness); and (b) two transitional periods-one between each of the two potential movements from one stable period to the next. The model integrates the constructs of previous typologies, adds a significant new construct, and arranges the total array of perspectival constructs in a typical developmental sequence. © 1999 Human Sciences Press, Inc.