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Structured classroom observation protocols provide instructors with data about their teaching practices, but instructors may not meaningfully engage with those data without guidance. To facilitate instructor reflection, educational developers from the Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) and educational researchers from STEM departments across three campuses collaborated to design and implement a novel faculty professional development program that would promote reflection on teaching using instructors’ Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS; Smith et al., 2013) data—a program we call data-informed professional development (DIPD). The program involved faculty completion of/participation in a teaching reflection, structured classroom observations from two course sessions, at least one meeting with CTL staff, an exit interview, and an opportunity to update their original teaching reflection. Through qualitatively coding the post-DIPD exit interviews, we found that instructors primarily reflected on their COPUS data with a desire to increase student engagement. Instructors also described being more open to making small changes to their courses, feeling supported to make changes to their teaching, and feeling that there was an important element of community-building in the DIPD program. And finally, instructors described how the DIPD experience was beneficial for promoting reflection on teaching practices, but the meeting portion was critical–providing data from the structured observations alone was not sufficient for a variety of reasons. Our study can serve as a teaching professional development model for how educational developers and education researchers can collaborate to prompt instructors to critically reflect on their teaching practices using structured observation protocols.
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Iterating toward change: Improving student-centered teaching through the STEM faculty institute (STEMFI)
One of the primary reasons why students leave STEM majors is due to the poor quality of instruction. Teaching practices can be improved through professional development programs; however, several barriers exist. Creating lasting change by overcoming these barriers is the primary objective of the STEM Faculty Institute (STEMFI). STEMFI was designed according to the framework established by Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior. To evaluate its effectiveness, the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) tool was used before and after an intensive year-long faculty development program and analyzed using copusprofiles.org , a tool that classifies each COPUS report into one of three instructional styles: didactic, interactive lecture, and student-centered. We report the success of our program in changing faculty teaching behaviors and we categorize them into types of reformers. Then, thematically coded post-participation interviews give us clues into the characteristics of each type of reformer. Our results demonstrate that faculty can significantly improve the student-centeredness of their teaching practices in a relatively short time. We also discuss the implications of faculty attitudes for future professional development efforts.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1712056
- PAR ID:
- 10442425
- Editor(s):
- Bati, Ayse Hilal
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- PLOS ONE
- Volume:
- 18
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 1932-6203
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- e0289464
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This research paper investigates how classroom observation tools can be effectively combined to promote engagement in STEM education. Specifically, it explores the integration of the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) and a culturally responsive Classroom Observation Instrument (COI) to evaluate and improve teaching practices. COPUS, developed by Smith et al. [21], captures instructional dynamics and student-faculty interactions, while the Classroom Observation Instrument COI, created by Dr. Jennifer G. Cromley and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Developing Equity-Minded Engineering Practitioners (DEEP) research team [6], focuses on observing and assessing culturally responsive-related instructional practices. At Morgan State University (MSU), a Historically Black University (HBCU), coders formally trained by the UIUC DEEP team used both tools to analyze classroom recordings of faculty who had undergone professional development in engaging pedagogy. Findings indicate measurable improvements and balanced engagement in the classroom. This fusion of COPUS and COI tools offers a replicable framework for enhancing inclusive STEM instruction and cultivating more equitable learning environments.more » « less
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This Research Work-in-progress paper presents a project that intends to increase student engagement, retention, and success through the implementation of a faculty development program focused on implicit bias and active learning. To assess the extent to which the program resulted in transformative changes in instructor teaching, the project team conducted classroom observations using minute-by-minute environmental scans and the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS). The project team found that the COPUS could not capture all the behaviors that needed to be observed to assess the faculty development project. Thus, 12 emergent COPUS codes were developed to code the required behaviors. Each code is defined, examples are provided, and excerpts of classroom observations with and without the emergent COPUS codes are examined. The project team thinks the emergent COPUS codes, generally focused on faculty behaviors related to classroom climate, will be useful in other classroom observation projects.more » « less
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Abstract BackgroundThere is overwhelming evidence that evidence-based teaching improves student performance; however, traditional lecture predominates in STEM courses. To provide support as faculty transform their lecture-based classrooms with evidence-based teaching practices, we created a faculty development program based on best practices, Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate STEM Education (CAUSE). CAUSE paired exploration of evidence-based teaching with support for classroom implementation over two years. Each year for three years, CAUSE recruited cohorts of faculty from seven STEM departments. Faculty met biweekly to discuss evidence-based teaching and receive feedback on their implementation. We used the PORTAAL observation tool to document evidence-based teaching practices (PORTAAL practices) across four randomly chosen class sessions each term. We investigated if the number of PORTAAL practices used or the amount of practices increased during the program. ResultsWe identified identical or equivalent course offerings taught at least twice by the same faculty member while in CAUSE (n = 42 course pairs). We used a one-way repeated measures within-subjects multivariate analysis to examine the changes in average use of 14 PORTAAL practices between the first and second timepoint. We created heat maps to visualize the difference in number of practices used and changes in level of implementation of each PORTAAL practice. Post-hoc within-subjects effects indicated that three PORTAAL practices were significantly higher and two were lower at timepoint two. Use of prompting prior knowledge and calling on volunteers to give answers decreased, while instructors doubled use of prompting students to explain their logic, and increased use of random call by almost 40% when seeking answers from students. Heat maps indicated increases came both from faculty’s adoption of these practices and increased use, depending on the practice. Overall, faculty used more practices more frequently, which contributed to a 17% increase in time that students were actively engaged in class. ConclusionsResults suggest that participation in a long-term faculty development program can support increased use of evidence-based teaching practices which have been shown to improve student exam performance. Our findings can help prioritize the efforts of future faculty development programs.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289464
