Education and Science Vol 40 (2015) No 177 297-311 297 “ Needs “ssessment for “cademicians’ Professional Development * Mustafa Koç 1 , Muhammet Demirbilek 2 , Ebru Yılmaz İnce 3 Abstract Keywords This survey research was conducted to explore academicians’ professional development needs. Participants were 228 volunteer academic personnel working at a major university in Turkey. Data were collected through an online questionnaire form and analyzed by using descriptive statistics, correlation, factor analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results indicate middle to high level of needs in teaching, research, technology use, organizational competencies, self-improvement and global competencies. Their needs were negatively correlated with age and experience, and did not change across gender, major and administrative function. On the other hand, there were significant differences in their needs based on academic title, working unit, and workplace. Participants preferred in-service training programs that were face-to-face, conducted in weekdays, and supported by constructivist methods. Academicians Professional development Needs assessment Demographics Article Info Received: 01.14.2013 Accepted: 11.17.2014 Online Published: 02.15.2015 DOI: 10.15390/EB.2015.2545 Introduction In the information society of today in which knowledge and technology change at an increasing speed, a man-in-demand profile involves not just possessing knowledge rather generating, processing and applying it to practical areas and problems. Undoubtedly, training individuals who have these qualifications is the main responsibility of all institutions, especially universities. Universities should keep up with societal and technological changes with regards to teaching-learning elements (teacher, student, materials, content, etc.Ǽ. Fundamental changes have also taken place in academicians’ role. Nowadays, academicians are expected to be able to be lifelong learners not just to know and transfer everything in contexts. They should improve themselves in order to help and guide students on how to acquire new knowledge. Thus, it has become impossible for academicians to play their new roles based on just pre-service educations and a need emerged for continuous development (Konokman and Yelken, ŘŖŗŚǼ. “cademic datedness, defined as academic qualifications’ not meeting current needs, has turned to a prominent problem for higher education and made professional development trainings essential ǻOdabaşı, ŘŖŖŖǼ. It is accepted that universities taking this into consideration have remained more competitive and provided more quality education (Dolance and Norris, 1995). * This study was produced from a research project funded by the Suleyman Demirel University (SDU) under the grand number of 2550-M-10. The authors thank to SDU for its financial support. 1 S(leyman Demirel University, Faculty of Education, Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies, Turkey, mustafakoc@sdu.edu.tr 2 S(leyman Demirel University, Faculty of Education, Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies, Turkey, mdbilek@sdu.edu.tr 3 S(leyman Demirel University, Technical Sciences Vocational High School, Computer Technology Department, Turkey, ebruince@sdu.edu.tr