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1. Decentering and interconnecting as professional skills in the preparation of new college mathematics instructors

   Hauk, S.; Speer, N. (January 2023, Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Cook, S.; Katz B.; Moore-Russo D. (Ed.)

   Making progress in justice, equity, and diversity in post-secondary teaching and learning requires systemic change. The development of novice instructor professional knowledge is a critical subsystem of the undergraduate mathematics education system. Novices play key roles in instruction and have the potential to play key roles in change efforts later in their careers. Yet,there is little in the way of theory to support research and development in this area. In other fields, professional development that engages novices in building skill at self-sustaining, generative change as professionals is the ground in which agency for change is seeded and nurtured. We describe two dimensions of professional skills for interacting with ideas and people: decentering and interconnecting. In this report, we explore and illustrate the role of these dimensions in professional development for novice college mathematics instructors. 

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2. Professional development for mathematics teacher education faculty: Need and design

   Jackson, B.; Hauk, S.; Tsay, J. J.; Ramirez, A. (June 2020, The Montana math enthusiast)

   null (Ed.)

   The purpose of this report is to share a conceptual model useful in the design of professional learning about teaching for university mathematics faculty. The model is illustrated by examples from a particular design effort: the development of an online shortcourse for faculty new to teaching mathematics courses for prospective primary school teachers. How novice mathematics teacher educators grow as instructors is an emerging area of research and development in the United States. At the same time, it is well established that effective instructional design of any course, including a course for faculty, requires breadth first: understanding and anticipating the needs of the learner. Therefore, given the sparse knowledge base in the new arena of mathematics teacher educator professional growth, effective design requires leveraging the scant existing research while also exploring and iteratively refining broad goals and objectives for faculty learning. Only after a conceptual foundation is articulated for what is to be learned and what will constitute evidence of learning, can cycles of design productively examine and test-bed particular course features such as lesson content, structures (like scope and sequence), and processes (like communication and evaluation). In the example used in this report, several researchbased perspectives on learning in/for/about teaching guided design goals and short-course objectives. These valued perspectives informed creation and prioritization of principles for short-course design which, in turn, informed evaluation of faculty learning. With these conceptual foundations in place, design of lessons to realize the goals, principles, and objectives rapidly followed. The work reported here contributes to the knowledge base in two ways: (1) it addresses faculty professional development directly by describing and illustrating a model for supporting instructional improvement and (2) it provides metanarrative to scaffold the professional growth of those who design professional learning opportunities for post-secondary mathematics faculty. 

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3. What Instructional Factors do Prospective Secondary Teachers Attribute to their Learning?

   Lai, Y.; Strayer, J.F.; Bonnesen, C.; Casey, S.; Lischka, A.; Ross, A.; Young, C. (March 2023, Conference for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Although it is well known that motivational and cognitive resources influence secondary teachers’ instructional quality, less is known about the tertiary instructional factors that influence secondary teachers’ development of these resources. To address this gap, we report on factors that prospective secondary teachers attribute to their learning. We draw on survey responses of 70 prospective secondary teachers enrolled in mathematics courses for teachers using Mathematics of Doing, Understanding, Learning, and Educating for Secondary Schools (MODULE(S2)) materials in one of four content areas. We triangulate response themes with data from 300 prospective secondary teachers on their perceptions of instructional practices used in a mathematics course for teachers using the same suite of materials. Then, we compare these themes with literature documenting implementation of mathematics curricula in these courses. We argue that coordinating mathematics content, applications of mathematics to teaching practices, and tertiary instructional practices are key to success of these mathematics courses. 

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4. National picture providers of collegiate professional development for teaching mathematics: Formats, topics, and activities

   Yee, S P; Wang, J; Hauk, S; Lopez_Gonzalez, T (September 2024, Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Cook, S; Katz, B; Moore-Russo, D (Ed.)

   Teaching professional development (TPD) in collegiate mathematics has expanded over the last few decades. Providers of TPD, people who organize and facilitate professional learning about teaching, are at the center of this growth. Yet, little is known about who Providers are and what they do. To better understand the national landscape of Providers of TPD within university mathematics departments, this report shares data from a national survey where respondents were Providers. The focus here is on findings from survey questions asking about characteristics of Providers and the “providees” with whom they work, along with formats, topics, and activities used in TPD. Results suggest that Providers value active, learner-centered instructional methods promoted by research and policy. However, in the TPD itself, formats, topics, and activities commonly used by Providers may preach but not regularly practice activity-based methods. 

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5. A Broad Doorway to the Big Tent: A Four-Strand Model for Discipline-Based Faculty Development on Inquiry-Based Learning

   https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2022.2072427  

   Yoshinobu, Stan; Jones, Matthew G.; Hayward, Charles N.; Schumacher, Carol; Laursen, Sandra L. (April 2022, PRIMUS)

   Faculty professional development is an important lever for change in supporting instructors to adopt research-based instructional strategies that engage students intellectually, foster learning-supportive attitudes and habits of mind, and strengthen their persistence in mathematics. Yet the literature contains few well-rationalized models for faculty development in higher education. We describe the rationale and design for a model for discipline-based faculty development to support instructional change, and we detail our implementation of this model as applied to intensive workshops on inquiry-based learning (IBL) in college mathematics. These workshops seek to foster post-secondary mathematics instructors’ adoption of IBL, to help them adapt inquiry approaches for their classrooms, and ultimately to increase student learning and persistence in science and mathematics. Based on observed faculty needs, four strands of activity help instructors develop a mental model for an IBL classroom, adapt that model to their teaching context, develop facilitation and task-design skills, and plan an IBL mathematics course. Evaluation data from surveys and observations illustrate participant responses to the workshop and its components. The model has been robust across 15 years of workshops implemented by three generations of workshop leaders and its features make it adaptive, strategic, and practical for other faculty developers. 

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