Abstract
Brief Literature Review: The literature review of this thesis focuses on both adult learning and organizational development theories to contextualize human resource development (HRD) practices specific to professional development. It then reviews the literature on professional development in higher education. Statement of the Problem: Traditional higher education institutions are faced with a changing environment that challenges their operating models, yet their professional development programs are not built to keep staff trained and educated enough to be able to respond with new, flexible, effective organizational, pedagogical and technological approaches. IT on campus faces a particularly dynamic landscape of increasing institutional demand, rapidly changing technology, unique issues such as security and customer service, and heavy marketplace competition for IT staff. There is recognition among higher education IT leaders that professional development of staff is an important component to the organizational success, but there is little literature on how these programs should be constructed. Methodology: This thesis used a qualitative study of the primary IT department at a traditional United States public university to understand perceptions and attitudes of the staff toward professional development. It contextualizes the findings to the theories and practices related to professional development, including in higher education and information technology (IT) departments in higher education. Conclusions and Recommendations: The literature review and research conducted for this thesis determined that there is a lack of rigor in the approach to professional development within IT departments in higher education, and identifies negative effects. The research suggests that IT departments in higher education would benefit from taking a more deliberate approach to professional development programming, using commonly accepted HRD and andragogic principles. In addition, in order to help address diversity issues in IT, they may additionally want to incorporate heutagogic, or self-determined learning, principles into their professional development approaches to address the deficiencies of standard HRD and andragogic models.