Promoting Student-Centered Teaching Through a Professional Development Program for Academics—A Mixed Study

In the context of student-centered learning (SCL) promoted by the Bologna process, West University of Timişoara (WUT) encourages SCL implementation by organizing an annual didactic grant competition. Participation is voluntary and consists of creating a SCL activity project. After the blind peer-review process, the winners must participate in a pedagogical program based on WUT’s reflexive-collaborative instructional model (RCL) to improve their SCL teaching practices. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of a pedagogical program on academics’ teaching approaches and conceptions, their work environment experiences, well-being, and the occurrence of burnout. We used a within-subjects quasi-experimental design with two measurement points. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the 13 beneficiaries. Depending on the fulfillment of the assumptions, the quantitative data were analyzed through paired samples T-tests or the Wilcoxon signed rank test, while the qualitative data were organized into categories via thematic content analysis. The pedagogical program positively impacted academics’ SCL conceptions and teaching approaches and decreased exhaustion levels. Implications for the design of faculty training and relevant stakeholders are further discussed.