Implementing Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) in Undergraduate Biomechanics: Lessons Learned by a Novice

Process Oriented Guided Inquiry (POGIL) uses cooperative learning activities to teach content and to actively engage students in inquiry, analytical thinking, and teamwork. It has been used extensively in Chemistry education, but its use is not well documented in other areas. This is a summary of the initial implementation of POGIL in a university biomechanics course and includes the benefits, challenges, and recommendations for teachers interested in using this effective instructional strategy

Coherent Calculus Course Design: Creating Faculty Buy-In for Student Success

This paper recounts the process used and results achieved as first-semester Calculus at Boise State University was transformed over a period of approximately 16 months from a collection of independent, uncoordinated, personalized sections, into a single coherent multi-section course. During the process of this transformation, section size and the instructor pool remained relatively constant; however, profound changes were made across all sections in terms of pedagogy, homework, timing of course content, grade computation and exam content. The motivation for focusing on Calculus I arose from a five-year National Science Foundation Science Talent Expansion Program grant that was awarded in 2010 to a multi-disciplinary team that spanned engineering, mathematics and science. A major grant objective was to raise first-semester, full-time retention of students in STEM majors. The projects supported several yearlong faculty learning communities (FLCs) of about 10 instructors each. With significant involvement from mathematics faculty, the first two FLCs prepared the ground for pedagogical reform of calculus. In 2013-14, a final FLC was created with the express purpose of implementing consistent, student-learning focused strategies across several section of calculus. The specific approach used to design a coherent calculus course was tied to a decision made by the FLC to use identical homework assignments, with common due dates and times. The FLC structure facilitated buy-in and rapid communication and feedback between instructors, who as they came to agreement on the exact homework exercises, also came to agreement on learning goals and content for each individual lesson. Although there was no explicit attempt to have all instructors adopt the same pedagogy or classroom practices, because FLC discussions frequently turned to pedagogy, all members of the FLC chose to adopt a similar pedagogical approach which included devoting class time to solving problems, working in small groups, facilitated by the lead instructor and a learning assistant. In subsequent semesters, all calculus instructors have opted in to the common, coherent approach to the course (except for those teaching online or honors sections). Pass and withdrawal rates pre and post implementation reveal an increase in pass rate of 13.4% and a drop in withdrawal rate of 3.9% as a result of the project. Results from anonymous faculty surveys show that faculty in the project changed their teaching practices in Calculus, that they observed positive effects of this in their classrooms, that they took advantage of the FLC to learn from their colleagues and that their experiences with Calculus will have spillover impacts in their other classes. Results from student surveys show, among other things, that students were aware of the pedagogical difference in terms of their classroom experience, with some expressing discomfort in terms of working in groups to solve problems in class and not receiving a traditional lecture experience and others reporting group work as a valuable aspect

Adapting the CACAO Model to Support Higher Education STEM Teaching Reform

Background: Efforts to achieve improved student outcomes in STEM are critically reliant on the success of reform efforts associated with teaching and learning. Reform efforts include the transformation of course-based practices, community values, and the institutional policies and structures associated with teaching and learning in higher education. Enacting change is a complex process that can be guided by change theories that describe how and why a desired change takes place. We analyzed the utility of a theory-based change model applied in a higher education setting. Our results provide guidance for change efforts at other institutions. Results: Use of the CACAO model to guide the transformation of STEM instruction at a large public university resulted in changes to faculty teaching practices and department culture consistent with the vision defined for the project. Such changes varied across STEM departments in accordance with the emergent nature of project activities at the department level. Our application of the CACAO model demonstrates the importance of (1) creating a vision statement (statement of desired change or end-state); (2) attending to different levels of the organization (e.g., individuals, departments, and colleges); (3) working with change agents who are situated to be effective at different organizational levels; and (4) employing strategies to meet the needs and interests of faculty at different stages of adoption with respect to the desired change. Conclusion: Our work, which demonstrates the utility of the CACAO model for change and captures its key elements in a matrix, provides a potential foundation for others considering how to frame and study change efforts. It reinforces the value of using change theories to inform change efforts and creates a structure that others can build on and modify, either by applying our CACAO matrix in their own setting or by using the matrix to identify elements that connect to other change theories. We contribute to the growing body of literature which seeks to understand how change theories can be useful and generalizable beyond a single project

Stirring the Pot: Supporting and Challenging General Education Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty to Change Teaching and Assessment Practice

Evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) have been associated with positive student outcomes; however, institutions struggle to catalyze widespread adoption of these practices in general education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Further, linking EBIPs with integrated learning assessment is rarely discussed in the literature, even though principles of continuous course design for quality higher education assume the connection of learning outcomes, teaching practices, and assessment. This qualitative action research study documents faculty attempting to utilize EBIPs and authentic assessment when they were provided support and accountability over multiple semesters. We document participants’ current practices and encourage shifts in both teaching and assessment practices targeting greater student success in STEM general education courses. Narrative data drawn from interviews and written reflection describe the impact of structured faculty observation and cross-disciplinary conversation on participants’ pedagogical and assessment choices. The faculty participants’ voices vividly illustrate our findings: incentives, reflection, mentorship, and collaboration over multiple semesters support changing pedagogical practices and integrating outcomes assessment. While STEM-based, the study findings are applicable across the general education curriculum

A Journey Toward Mastery Teaching: STEM Faculty Engagement in a Year-Long Faculty Learning Community

As part of an institutional focus on STEM student success, a group of STEM faculty participated in a year-long faculty learning community (FLC) to explore and adopt research-based best practice in their teaching. The authors assessed the effectiveness of the FLC in influencing faculty perceptions about teaching and increasing their use of best teaching practices. Their research design used pre- and post-analysis of participants\u27 teaching logs, classroom observations, and a survey instrument that probed attitudes toward teaching and learning. Data analysis shows that the sustained support provided by the FLC increased faculty knowledge of best teaching practices and catalyzed faculty to try new pedagogical and assessment approaches. However, over the year of the FLC experience, only small shifts were observed in faculty perceptions and practice, as measured by a survey and a descriptive observation protocol, respectively. Results suggest the experience primarily supported modest faculty exploration of new strategies

Innovative Teaching Knowledge Stays with Users

Programs seeking to transform undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses often strive for participating faculty to share their knowledge of innovative teaching practices with other faculty in their home departments. Here, we provide interview, survey, and social network analyses revealing that faculty who use innovative teaching practices preferentially talk to each other, suggesting that greater steps are needed for information about innovative practices to reach faculty more broadly

Development of the Cooperative Adoption Factors Instrument to Measure Factors Associated with Instructional Practice in the Context of Institutional Change

Background: Many institutional and departmentally focused change efforts have sought to improve teaching in STEM through the promotion of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs). Even with these efforts, EBIPs have not become the predominant mode of teaching in many STEM departments. To better understand institutional change efforts and the barriers to EBIP implementation, we developed the Cooperative Adoption Factors Instrument (CAFI) to probe faculty member characteristics beyond demographic attributes at the individual level. The CAFI probes multiple constructs related to institutional change including perceptions of the degree of mutual advantage of taking an action (strategic complements), trust and interconnectedness among colleagues (interdependence), and institutional attitudes toward teaching (climate). Results: From data collected across five STEM fields at three large public research universities, we show that the CAFI has evidence of internal structure validity based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The scales have low correlations with each other and show significant variation among our sampled universities as demonstrated by ANOVA. We further demonstrate a relationship between the strategic complements and climate factors with EBIP adoption through use of a regression analysis. In addition to these factors, we also find that indegree, a measure of opinion leadership, correlates with EBIP adoption. Conclusions: The CAFI uses the CACAO model of change to link the intended outcome of EBIP adoption with perception of EBIPs as mutually reinforcing (strategic complements), perception of faculty having their fates intertwined (interdependence), and perception of institutional readiness for change (climate). Our work has established that the CAFI is sensitive enough to pick up on differences between three relatively similar institutions and captures significant relationships with EBIP adoption. Our results suggest that the CAFI is likely to be a suitable tool to probe institutional change efforts, both for change agents who wish to characterize the local conditions on their respective campuses to support effective planning for a change initiative and for researchers who seek to follow the progression of a change initiative. While these initial findings are very promising, we also recommend that CAFI be administered in different types of institutions to examine the degree to which the observed relationships hold true across contexts

Context and Content of Teaching Conversations: Exploring How to Promote Sharing of Innovative Teaching Knowledge Between Science Faculty

Background: Change strategies may leverage interpersonal relationships and conversations to spread teaching innovations among science faculty. Knowledge sharing refers to the process by which individuals transfer information and thereby spread innovative ideas within an organization. We use knowledge sharing as a lens for identifying factors that encourage productive teaching-related conversations between individuals, characterizing the context and content of these discussions, and understanding how peer interactions may shape instructional practices. In this study, we interview 19 science faculty using innovative teaching practices about the teaching-focused conversations they have with diferent discussion partners. Results: This qualitative study describes characteristics of the relationship between discussion partners, what they discuss with respect to teaching, the amount of help-seeking that occurs, and the perceived impacts of these conversations on their teaching. We highlight the role of ofce location and course overlap in bringing faculty together and characterize the range of topics they discuss, such as course delivery and teaching strategies. We note the tendency of faculty to seek out partners with relevant expertise and describe how faculty perceive their discussion partners to infuence their instructional practices and personal afect. Finally, we elaborate on how these themes vary depending on the relationship between discussion partners. Conclusions: The knowledge sharing framework provides a useful lens for investigating how various factors afect faculty conversations around teaching. Building on this framework, our results lead us to propose two hypotheses for how to promote sharing teaching knowledge among faculty, thereby identifying productive directions for further systematic inquiry. In particular, we propose that productive teaching conversations might be cultivated by fostering collaborative teaching partnerships and developing departmental structures to facilitate sharing of teaching expertise. We further suggest that social network theories and other examinations of faculty behavior can be useful approaches for researching the mechanisms that drive teaching reform

Social Networks and Instructional Reform in STEM: The Teaching-Research Nexus

Instructional reform in STEM aims for the widespread adoption of evidence based instructional practices (EBIPS), practices that implement active learning. Research recognizes that faculty social networks regarding discussion or advice about teaching may matter to such efforts. But teaching is not the only priority for university faculty – meeting research expectations is at least as important and, often, more consequential for tenure and promotion decisions. We see value in understanding how research networks, based on discussion and advice about research matters, relate to teaching networks to see if and how such networks could advance instructional reform efforts. Our research examines data from three departments (biology, chemistry, and geosciences) at three universities that had recently received funding to enhance adoption of EBIPs in STEM fields. We evaluate exponential random graph models of the teaching network and find that (a) the existence of a research tie from one faculty member i to another j enhances the prospects of a teaching tie from i to j, but (b) even though faculty highly placed in the teaching network are more likely to be extensive EBIP users, faculty highly placed in the research network are not, dimming prospects for leveraging research networks to advance STEM instructional reforms

Innovative teaching knowledge stays with users

Programs seeking to transform undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses often strive for participating faculty to share their knowledge of innovative teaching practices with other faculty in their home departments. Here, we provide interview, survey, and social network analyses revealing that faculty who use innovative teaching practices preferentially talk to each other, suggesting that greater steps are needed for information about innovative practices to reach faculty more broadly