An asset-based view of agentic faculty

Much work in PER focuses on getting faculty to implement research-based teaching methods, with success measured by how many faculty implement the methods, and sometimes how faithfully they do so. While this perspective which centers teaching methods has been very powerful in many ways, we argue that it misses productive ideas that faculty have about student learning, and misses faculty agency around teaching, which we interpret as faculty having their own educational values, motivations to develop as teachers, and power to make and self-reflect on thoughtful teaching decisions. We instead advocate for highlighting faculty's productive teaching ideas using a framework of teaching principles (e.g., How Learning Works), and highlighting faculty motivations to develop as teachers (e.g., using Self-Determination Theory) as part of faculty agency. Here we offer case studies showing how these frameworks highlight key aspects of three faculty that a perspective centering teaching methods would miss. This matters for how our field connects professional development to faculty and, moreover, how we view the faculty we aim to support.