Every few weeks, a handful of faculty from disciplines as diverse as astronomy, Spanish and music crowd around a lunchroom table at Indiana University of Pennsylvania to hash out strategies and anxieties.

One week the topic turns to cell phones. Not which model to buy, but whether students in class should keep them on their desks. Another time, the group wrestles with how best to keep a lecture hall engaged.

Such chats about pedagogy would no doubt put most 18-year-old college freshmen to sleep. But the ideas emanating from this teaching circle -- and others like it at IUP -- are having a significant impact on what professors are attempting.

"They might change the way they lecture," said Laurel Black, who directs a center devoted to teaching at IUP. "They might get excited about what someone is doing in art and then bring it into an English class."

It's the sort of faculty introspection gaining popularity on the nation's campuses as accountability in higher education is being pushed as never before.

Teaching was always the preoccupation of small liberal arts campuses and community colleges, but such matters are increasingly a focus at mid-sized universities such as IUP. Even national research campuses that pride themselves on creating new knowledge in the lab are worrying more about the snooze effect in their big freshman lecture classes and what clicks and what falls flat in discussions of Shakespeare.

At IUP, the circle is part of the "Reflective Practice Project" at its Center for Teaching Excellence, one among a growing list campus operations nationwide promoting better teaching. For senior faculty, these informal discussions are a way to further hone their classroom skills. For new faculty like Cheryl Wilson, the sessions offer a neutral setting away from department peers in which they can talk candidly

Dr. Wilson, 27, began teaching at IUP in fall 2005 and is just a couple years removed from being a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Delaware. Initially, she showed up to the teaching circle to meet other colleagues on campus. But the voluntary sessions have proven so valuable, she now attends even when she otherwise would not be on campus.

"I find it energizing," said the assistant professor of English who specializes in Victorian literature. "Sometimes I hear something new. Sometimes, it's just reassuring to hear what other people are thinking and that other people are having similar problems."

In October, as U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings outlined the Bush administration's plan to overhaul higher education, she openly questioned just what America gets from its ever-more-pricey system of higher learning.

It's hardly the first time someone has demanded better evidence of learning outcomes. For a decade and a half, colleges have been under mounting pressure from state politicians, the media and their own ranks to address matters of teaching quality, said James E. Groccia, who directs a teaching excellence center at Auburn University and is president of the Colorado-based Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education.

"Once you start raising tuition, parents start saying, 'Is the extra money worth it? Show me that it's worth sending my son or daughter to this state university,'" he said.

He said the availability of Web-based courses "has pushed faculty to really question how they deliver" instruction and to consider how, if at all, the gadgetry improves learning.

Change often occurs glacially on college campuses. Yet there are visible signs of the growing movement.

Dr. Groccia said there are now an estimated 1,000 centers, committees or other internal structures on campuses dedicated to teaching excellence, a number that is up significantly in recent years. Membership in his group, which represents many involved in those campus efforts, is up by 50 percent in five years.

Higher education is a decentralized profession. Unlike K-12, no standard exam exists that all classroom instructors must pass to be certified.

New campus faculty arrive with enthusiasm and a wealth of knowledge about their subject, yet what they know about the art of teaching itself -- building a syllabus, managing a class -- can vary greatly, depending on their discipline and where they did their graduate study.

Some might receive "quite a bit of oversight, quite a bit of guidance" and others "might be sort of tossed into it and sort of have to figure it out for themselves," said Eric Combest, an associate secretary with the Washington D.C.-based American Association of University Professors.

Auburn's Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning is more financially blessed than most such centers. It was created with a $10 million gift that pays a staff of six and other operating expenses such as workshops, advising, course and curriculum development and other classroom support.

At IUP, some 14,200 students are taught by 750 faculty. Typically, 25 to 40 new tenure-track instructors arrive each year, some of whom have no university experience other than serving as a teaching assistant while in graduate school.

"They're very excited about sharing all the information they've acquired. They wouldn't have put in all those years of graduate work if they weren't," said Dr. Black, who directs IUP's teaching excellence center.

At the same time, she said, being a new faculty member "is very frightening. It's nerve-wracking."

New faculty members must hit the ground running to meet publishing and other tenure requirements. At least five times a year during their probationary period, their classes will be observed by a department chair or faculty peer. And they will confront student evaluations that can be brutal, and in some cases unfair, and will influence their chances to earn tenure.

"Some departments are very supportive. They will assign a faculty mentor, someone you can go to," Dr. Black said.

But some newer faculty "don't want to reveal what they see as a lack of skill to peers who are going to possibly evaluate their skills."

All new faculty at IUP get a three-day orientation run by the center. Faculty in their first or second year also can join monthly meetings on topics they indicate interest in, such as creating a syllabus, effective teaching strategies and workplace evaluation.

In addition, there are the teaching circles and large group meetings offered through the center's "Reflective Practice Project."

Over the long haul, the center "helps support a culture of the teacher as scholar," said Dr. Black.

And to the extent that better teaching techniques translate into better learning, she said the university is likely to produce a better graduate. "We would assume that they know more when they get out."