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Research has highlighted that actively involving students during instruction can lead to positive outcomes for students. However, college mathematics instructors may need support to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively implement this type of instruction. This study looks at how college algebra instructors in a grant-supported professional learning community (PLC) focus on different aspects of their own and others’ teaching. We leverage the instructional triangle as an analytical framework to characterize the foci of participants’ observations. We analyzed PLC meetings where participants reported on specific aspects of each other’s observed classes. Our analysis revealed that instructors each had a primary focus that drove their observations. We anticipate these different foci will inform future PLC meetings and lead to new questions about instructor thinking, and to continued development of the instructional triangle.
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Pandemic-Inspired Insights: What College Instructors Learned From Teaching When COVID-19 Began.
College instructors faced a rapid transition to remote instruction in spring 2020, and with it a host of new teaching challenges. This qualitative study investigates what 26 college biology instructors learned about students and teaching during this time. We used semi-structured interviews and content analysis to identify instructor learning that is relevant beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants described two related insights about students: They became more aware that students' lives outside the classroom are complex, and they realized that their campus can act as a neutralizing space for students. Participants also reconsidered how they assess student learning. New realizations about students and teaching have the potential to impact teaching practices when in-person instruction resumes. Especially promising is an increased focus on students as individuals and the recognition that not all students experience life and courses in the same way. We relate findings to existing research and propose self-reflection questions that these findings raised for us
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- Award ID(s):
- 1845886
- PAR ID:
- 10318503
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of college science teaching
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 0047-231X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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