In this work-in-progress paper, we continue investigation into the propagation of the Concept Warehouse within mechanical engineering (Friedrichsen et al., 2017; Koretsky et al., 2019a). Even before the pandemic forced most instruction online, educational technology was a growing element in classroom culture (Koretsky & Magana, 2019b). However, adoption of technology tools for widespread use is often conceived from a turn-key lens, with professional development focused on procedural competencies and fidelity of implementation as the goal (Mills & Ragan, 2000; O’Donnell, 2008). Educators are given the tool with initial operating instructions, then left on their own to implement it in particular instructional contexts. There is little emphasis on the inevitable instructional decisions around incorporating the tool (Hodge, 2019) or on sustainable incorporation of technologies into existing instructional practice (Forkosh-Baruch et al., 2021). We consider the take-up of a technology tool as an emergent, rather than a prescribed process (Henderson et al., 2011). In this WIP paper, we examine how two instructors who we call Al and Joe reason through their adoption of a technology tool, focusing on interactions among instructors, tool, and students within and across contexts.
The Concept Warehouse (CW) is a widely-available, web-based, open educational technology tool used to facilitate concept-based active learning in different contexts (Friedrichsen et al., 2017; Koretsky et al., 2014). Development of the CW is ongoing and collaboration-driven, where user-instructors from different institutions and disciplines can develop conceptual questions (called ConcepTests) and other learning and assessment tools that can be shared with other users. Currently there are around 3,500 ConcepTests, 1,500 faculty users, and 36,000 student users. About 700 ConcepTests have been developed for mechanics (statics and dynamics). The tool’s spectrum of affordances allows different entry points for instructor engagement, but also allows their use to grow and change as they become familiar with the tool and take up ideas from the contexts around them.
Part of a larger study of propagation and use across five diverse institutions (Nolen & Koretsky, 2020), instructors were introduced to the tool, offered an introductory workshop and opportunity to participate in a community of practice (CoP), then interviewed early and later in their adoption. For this paper, we explore a bounded case study of the two instructors, Al and Joe, who took up the CW to teach Introductory Statics. Al and Joe were experienced instructors, committed to active learning, who presented examples from their ongoing adaptation of the tool for discussion in the community of practice. However, their decisions about how to integrate the tool fundamentally differed, including the aspects of the tool they took up and the ways they made sense of their use. In analyzing these two cases, we begin to uncover how these instructors navigated the dynamic nature of pedagogical decision making in and across contexts.
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PhysPort as professional development to foster creativity in teaching
Instructor professional development in physics often focuses on a linear path towards using research-based teaching methods. However, this does not reflect how instructors frame their teaching. Instead, we propose a professional development focus on supporting physics instructors' creativity in teaching. Creativity is important as instructors teach in diverse contexts and hold diverse educational values. Creativity research indicates that having a well-structured space to explore many ideas can support creativity. We investigate this for the case of PhysPort, a website for physics professional development. We present results from interviews with PhysPort users, to show how they joyfully explore, feel trust in materials on the site because they are research-based, and use ideas from PhysPort creatively. We also discuss how better site organization could support users' creativity more. Through this case study, we encourage designers of instructor professional development to consider supporting instructors' teaching creativity as a key goal.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1726113
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10280465
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physics Education Research Conference 2020
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 521 to 526
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Background An instructor’s conceptions of teaching and learning contribute to the establishment of learning environments that may benefit or hinder student learning. Previous studies have defined the continuum of teaching and learning conceptions, ranging from limited to complete, as well as the instructional practices that they help to inform (instructor-centered to student-centered), and the corresponding learning environments that these conceptions and practices establish, ranging from traditional to student-centered. Using the case of one STEM department at a research-intensive, minority serving institution, we explored faculty’s conceptions of teaching and learning and their resulting instructional practices, as well as uncovered their perspectives on the intradepartmental faculty interactions related to teaching. The study participants were drawn from both teaching-focused (called Professors of Teaching, PoTs) and traditional research (whom we call Research Professors, RPs) tenure-track faculty lines to identify whether differences existed amongst these two populations. We used interviews to explore faculty conceptions and analyzed syllabi to unveil how these conceptions shape instructional environments.
Results Overall, PoTs exhibited complete conceptions of teaching and learning that emphasized student ownership of learning, whereas RPs possessed intermediate conceptions that focused more on transmitting knowledge and helping students prepare for subsequent courses. While both PoTs and RPs self-reported the use of active learning pedagogies, RPs were more likely to also highlight the importance of traditional lecture. The syllabi analysis revealed that PoTs enacted more student-centered practices in their classrooms compared to RPs. PoTs appeared to be more intentionally available to support students outside of class and encouraged student collaboration, while RPs focused more on the timeliness of assessments and enforcing more instructor-centered approaches in their courses. Finally, the data indicated that RPs recognized PoTs as individuals who were influential on their own teaching conceptions and practices.
Conclusions Our findings suggest that departments should consider leveraging instructional experts who also possess a disciplinary background (PoTs) to improve their educational programs, both due to their student-centered impacts on the classroom environment and positive influence on their colleagues (RPs). This work also highlights the need for higher education institutions to offer appropriate professional development resources to enable faculty to reflect on their teaching and learning conceptions, aid in their pedagogical evolution, and guide the implementation of these conceptions into practice.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2020.pr.Strubbe
