Collaborative Research: Investigating Contextual Factors that Impact Early-Career Faculty Teaching Practice

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Many large-scale professional development programs for biology faculty are aimed at helping instructors increase the use of learner-centered teaching strategies that emphasize scientific practices, so that all students can engage in and learn science. At the same time that public and private funding agencies are actively investing in large-scale professional development programs, little is known about how those investments pay out over the long term, particularly in early-career faculty. This project will investigate the extent of implementation of innovative teaching practices by early career faculty in biology departments nationwide and determine if investments in faculty training have "paid off," specifically, whether they result in sustained changes in instructional approaches and improved student experiences and learning. Importantly, the results from this study will identify the variables at department and institution levels that affect the teaching practice of early career faculty. Results from this study will provide evidence for how organizational structures can sustain educational innovation among all faculty, informing movements that focus on departments as the unit of change in undergraduate science education. This research project will investigate the longitudinal consequences of professional development on teaching practices of early-career faculty during the critical pre-tenure years, using the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) network as a study system. The study will focus on a sample of 80 early-career faculty at four major institution types and evaluate the role of organizational factors in supporting and sustaining instructional change. Forty of the faculty participated in the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) program and will be compared to peers in their department who did not participate in FIRST, using both groups to explore factors that support educational innovation. This integrated model will focus on individual values and self-efficacy, external reward systems, and organizational structures that provide the foundation for supporting or not supporting innovative teaching approaches. The research design allows us to examine possible decay as well as enhancement of learner-centered teaching strategies among early-career faculty. These empirical research findings will identify effective strategies for professional development and organizational systems (departments and institutions) that sustain change in how faculty teach, to ultimately improve student learning. At the same time that public and private funding agencies are actively investing in large-scale professional development programs, little is known about how those investments pay out over the long term, particularly in early-career faculty. The proposed study would fill this critical gap, informing professional development activities in programs across institution types about how to support sustained, effective teaching practice. Results from student metrics will further quantify the connections among faculty professional development, transformed teaching practice, and student learning outcomes.