Collaborating at the Centers: Faculty and Educational Development Strategies for STEM Transformation

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of the project is to convene a two-day workshop that brings together directors of STEM Education Centers (SECs) and Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) at higher education institutions to create networks for collaboration in support of the national agenda to reform STEM undergraduate education. The workshop will build on interest expressed in previous meetings supported by three major national organizations of institutional leaders and faculty members involved in STEM undergraduate reform and will enable these national and institutional leaders to develop plans for synergistic and collaborative efforts to transform the quality of teaching and learning in STEM undergraduate education. Because the workshop will involve a diverse group of leaders, it will have impact, benefits, and significance for advancing excellence in STEM undergraduate education at a wide array of higher education institutions across the country. The workshop is a collaborative endeavor among members of the Professional and Organizational Development Network (POD), the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), and the STEM Education Network to bring together approximately 40 leaders from STEM Education Centers and Centers for Teaching and Learning, who usually work in parallel but independent ways. The two-day workshop will build on what is known about evidence-based teaching as well as transformative and systemic change in higher education, and will lead to identification of strategies for facilitating greater implementation of effective teaching and learning strategies in STEM fields at higher education institutions. Specific outcomes of the workshop will include the following: (1) the development of recommendations for best and promising practices for collaboration across STEM Education Centers and Centers for Teaching and Learning in support of STEM reform; (2) plans for ongoing collaboration among the leaders of these centers; and (3) the development of potential research directions important to advancing the national agenda in regard to reform in undergraduate STEM education.