Dissertation Abstract

Teaching Style Assessment of Program Directors of Hospital-Based Certificate and College/University Degree Programs of Radiologic Technology.

The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the teaching styles of program directors in hospital based certificate and college/university degree programs of radiologic technology. Level of formal education, years in position as program director, number of courses taught per semester, age, and gender were used to determine their influence on teaching style. Prior to this study, program directors of radiologic technology programs had not been surveyed to assess their teaching style. Of the 200 program directors that were sampled, 115 volunteered to participate in this study. Each respondent completed the Principles of Adult Learning Survey (PALS) and a demographic questionnaire.

Results of this study demonstrated that there was no difference in the teaching styles of program directors in hospital based and college/university degree programs of radiography. Findings suggest that regardless of the location of the program, program directors prefer and practice the teacher-centered style of instruction. This style of teaching is considered to be incongruent with the collaborative style of teaching which has been supported by adult education literature. Of the five independent variables that were used to determine their influence on the PALS score, gender and years in the position as program director were found to be statistically significant at the.05 level of confidence. Findings revealed that directors who were female and had been in the position for 16 years or more obtained scores which approached the PALS mean score. The scores obtained by these program directors indicate a teaching style which may combine elements from both the collaborative mode and the teacher-centered mode. Because of the limited sample used, caution must be taken when applying the results to a larger population. Results of the study suggest that program directors of hospital based and college/university degree programs of radiologic technology are not aware of the differences between traditional and non-traditional students and thus, may not be addressing the needs of adult learners in their programs. This study suggests that professional development for program directors is needed because adult learners are changing the ecology of the radiologic technology program.

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