H: Faculty Development for Educational Innovation

TITLE: One Evidence-Based Educational Innovation at a Time: The Effect of an On-Site, Semester-Long Faculty Development Workshop on Classroom Practices

PRESENTERS: Trisha Vickrey, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Travis Lund, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Marilyne Stains, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

ABSTRACT:
A wide variety of instructional practices have been shown to enhance student learning outcomes in STEM fields, yet evidence suggests that propagation of these teaching strategies to STEM faculty has proven challenging. To increase faculty awareness and adoption of evidence-based instructional practices, a series of on-site, semester-long, NSF-funded faculty development workshops were developed and implemented at a research-intensive institution. Each workshop series targets one evidence-based educational innovation (Just-in-Time Teaching and Peer Instruction).

This study thoroughly characterizes the effectiveness of these workshop series through a quasi-experimental research design study. Data collected include pre-post surveys and week-long classroom observations from workshop participants and non-participants. Survey data are intended to demonstrate the extent of the impact of the workshop series on faculty’s thinking about teaching and their adoption of educational innovations. Classroom observations were analyzed through the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP), the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS), and a validated rubric measuring fidelity of implementation of Peer Instruction. In this presentation, we will provide a short description of the workshop series and share preliminary findings. These results will aid others in the implementation of successful faculty development workshop series.

TITLE: Promoting the Teaching Identities of New Chemistry Assistant Professors through a National Workshop Focused on Research-based Instructional Practices

PRESENTERS: Matthew Pilarz, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Marilyne Stains, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Rory Waterman,University of Vermont; Andrew Feig, Wayne State University; and Jodi Wesemann, American Chemical Society

ABSTRACT:
Chemistry graduate programs typically do little to prepare faculty to teach. As a result, assistant professors have a limited knowledge of the research on how people learn and develop their teaching skills and approaches on the job. Initiatives in physics and biology have demonstrated that short, national workshops for new faculty can significantly raise their knowledge of research-based instructional practices. Members of the Cottrell Scholars Collaborative initiated the New Faculty Workshop (CSC NFW) in order to provide a similar opportunity to chemistry assistant professors at research-intensive universities. Along with the implementation of the workshop, a longitudinal, quasi-experimental design study was undertaken to evaluate the extent of its impact.

The long-term goal of the CSC NFW is to promote the teaching identity of academic chemists, who mostly identify themselves as researchers. Connecting national disciplinary events such as this workshop with local pedagogical support is critical to achieve this goal. Therefore, the project is being expanded to help participants connect with teaching resources, such as teaching and learning centers, at their home institutions. In this presentation, we will provide a description of the workshop and efforts developed to support participants beyond the workshop. Evidence of the effectiveness of the workshop on raising participants’ awareness of the research-based instructional methods and adoptions of these methods in their courses, as well as barriers they encounter, will also be shared. This presentation will provide an example of a successful initiative related to faculty development for educational innovation, one of the major conference themes.

TITLE: Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM (TIDES): A Faculty Professional Development Initiative of AAC&U Project Kaleidoscope

PRESENTERS: Kelly M. Mack, Association of American Colleges and Universities and Kate Winter, University of Seattle

ABSTRACT:
Recent data have identified that the most advanced mechanism for broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM is not just pedagogical reform [1], but pedagogical reform that is evidence-based and culturally sensitive to the lived experiences of these populations [2]. However, mastery of new pedagogy commonly poses a substantial challenge for STEM faculty who oftentimes are experts in their disciplines, but not in teaching [3].

To prepare STEM faculty for advanced pedagogical reform, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) launched an initiative, TIDES—Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM, funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust to increase the self-efficacy of faculty in implementing culturally competent pedagogy in STEM, particularly the computer/information sciences. This initiative is designed to maximize the likelihood of sustained behavioral change in teaching by focusing on knowledge acquisition in concert with opportunities to practice new skills in a non-threatening environment [4]–[6]. Specifically, TIDES is a three-year curriculum and faculty development project that will engage 20 diverse and competitively selected campuses working to develop models for broad institutional change to advance evidence-based and culturally competent teaching. By focusing on faculty self-efficacy and institutional cultural change, TIDES intends to positively impact STEM
student learning and mitigate deficient coping behavior that can arise in the face of institutional barriers [7]–[14].

We will provide an overview of the competition, summer institute, preliminary data from our Faculty Self-Efficacy instrument developed for assessing TIDES, and the project logic model detailing intended short- and long-term outcomes.

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[2] J. E. Froyd, “White Paper on Promising Practices in Undergraduate STEM Education Decision-making Framework for Course/Curriculum Development,” 2008.

[3] J. E. Froyd, A. Srinivasa, D. Maxwell, A. Conkey, and K. Shryock, “A Project-Based Approach To First-Year Engineering Curriculum Development,” Frontiers in Education, 2005. FIE ’05. Proceedings 35th Annual Conference. p. T3H–T3H, 2005.

[4] A. Bandura, “Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.,” Psychol. Rev., vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 191–215, 1977.

[5] F. S. Mohamadi and H. Asadzadeh, “Testing the mediating role of teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between sources of efficacy information and students achievement,” Asia Pacific Educ. Rev., vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 427–433, Dec. 2012.

[6] S. DeChenne, L. Enochs, and M. Needham, “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Graduate Teaching Assistants Teaching Self-Efficacy.,” J. Scholarsh. Teach. Learn., vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 102–123, 2012.

[7] K. I. Maton, F. A. Hrabowski, and C. L. Schmitt, “African American college students excelling in the sciences: College and postcollege outcomes in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program,” J. Res. Sci. Teach., vol. 37, pp. 629–654, 2000.

[8] D. Owens, “First-Generation African American Male College Students: Implications for Career Counselors.” Career Dev. Q., vol. 58, pp. 291–300, 2010.

[9] R. Hall and G. Rowan, “African American males in higher education: A descriptive/qualitative analysis,” J. African Am. Stud., vol. 5, pp. 3–14, 2000.

[10] T. L. Strayhorn, “When Race and Gender Collide: Social and Cultural Capital’s Influence on the Academic Achievement of African American and Latino Males,” The Review of Higher Education, vol. 33. pp. 307–332, 2010.

[11] S. A. Dumais and A. Ward, “Cultural capital and first-generation college success,” Poetics, vol. 38, pp. 245–265, 2010.

[12] D. W. Stinson, “Negotiating Sociocultural Discourses: The Counter-Storytelling of Academically (and Mathematically) Successful African American Male Students,” American Educational Research Journal, vol. 45. pp. 975–1010, 2008.

[13] L. R. M. Hausmann, J. W. Schofield, and R. L. Woods, “Sense of Belonging as a Predictor of Intentions to Persist Among African American and White First-Year College Students,” Research in Higher Education, vol. 48. pp. 803–839, 2007.

[14] D. M. Thomas, K. M. Love, C. Roan-Belle, K. M. Tyler, C. L. Brown, and P. O. Garriott, “Self-Efficacy, motivation, and academic adjustment among African American women attending institutions of higher education,” J. Negro Education, vol. 78, pp. 159–171, 2009.

TITLE: Faculty Professional Development as a Mechanism for Cross-Institutional Reform in STEM Teaching and Learning

PRESENTERS: Jude K. Apple, Western Washington University; Emily Borda, Western Washington University; and Ed Geary, Western Washington University

ABSTRACT:
Approaches to STEM teaching and learning at many undergraduate institutions rely on expert-centered, content-based practices that provide minimal opportunity for student-centered inquiry. This culture of teaching and learning is reinforced by expectations at many grain-sizes, including students, faculty, departments, administrators and institutional leaders. Our presentation will describe results from a multi-disciplinary, interinstitutional project designed to transform undergraduate STEM education at three interlinked undergraduate institutions (Western Washington University, Whatcom Community College and Skagit Valley College). Titled “Change at the Core: A Collaborative Model for Undergraduate STEM Education Reform,” this project seeks to improve student engagement, learning and success by creating a critical mass of STEM faculty at each institution who understand and regularly use evidence-based teaching and learning practices.

To this end, we have developed a model of how faculty professional development, professional learning communities and partnerships both within and among institutions can be used to transform the culture and practice of STEM education and to create a more inclusive learning environment by promoting the success of all students. Faculty professional development activities are built around collaboration, partnerships, strategies for addressing diversity and a foundational knowledge of evidenced-based pedagogies. Initial evidence indicates that our efforts have already instigated change in undergraduate teaching and learning. Evaluation and assessment results will be shared to provide more detailed insight into factors that promote and challenge reform, how these may manifest at different levels of institutional organization, and how reform might be achieved at other institutions.