They believe they are capable of learning how to teach better even when nothing they try works the first time. Some describe themselves as tenacious or driven by passion for becoming a good teacher. Most teachers I talked to agreed that universities do little to prepare students in any purposeful way to become teachers. Quite by accident, one might have the experience of taking a course from a truly great teacher, but even these great teachers rarely teach as though they were preparing future teachers for the profession. They rarely talk to their students about why they teach in certain ways.
Few teachers realize that students are quite interested in learning about pedagogy and cognition.
If we assume for the moment that my hypothesis about the three factors influencing teacher engagement in the learning process is true, we can conclude that institutions are capable of encouraging this type of teacher engagement. By fostering a desire to help students and a belief that classroom practices can be learned, an environment supporting teacher change can be established. In addition, encouraging teachers to experiment with new classroom practices without real or perceived penalties when they fail, and balancing the value of research and teaching will further improve the institutional climate for promoting change. Institutions play a key role in improving teacher engagement in the learning process by encouraging faculty interactions, particularly mentoring. Teachers should be encouraged to observe colleagues, especially throughout an entire semester, and then discuss their observations with the teacher they were observing.