Facilitating Widespread Implementation of Teaching Strategies Known to Promote Student Success throughout a State System of Colleges

Suny At Binghamton, Binghamton NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by promoting widespread use of evidence-based, equitable teaching practices that promote learning, success and persistence for our students, particularly those from historically excluded groups. Equipping diverse STEM graduates with the knowledge, critical thinking skills, and problem-solving skills to address complex societal challenges like climate change is critical for sustainable growth and development of our economy and democratic society. The challenge addressed by this grant is that STEM educators receive very rigorous post-graduate training in their disciplines but little to no pedagogical training, leaving them to rely on traditional lecture approaches that have been shown to be less effective in driving student learning or retention in STEM majors. This Level 1 Institutional and Community Transformation IUSE grant will develop and evaluate the impact of a professional development program that targets a state school system: the State University of New York (SUNY) system, which is the largest state system of post-secondary schools in the US. The project provides effective training and support for faculty in the use of teaching strategies that improve the success and persistence of their students, particularly from traditionally underserved social groups. The project is building on the success of two national professional development programs that are joining forces to provide three tiers of training and support to faculty in the SUNY system. This project will focus on a subset of schools that are geographically distributed across the SUNY system, which have built connections and momentum as part of a SUNY-system pilot grant in 2019-2020. Participants in the project will take part in training and community groups to support their adoption of innovative teaching practices. The goal of this project is to leverage the connections within the SUNY school system to accelerate diffusion of inclusive, evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs). The project intends to employ three important levers for change – professional development, agents of change, and communities of support (Laursen et al., 2019) – to accelerate adoption of high impact practices (HIPs) already occurring within pockets in this system. As part of the proposed activities, the first cohort of faculty will take part in three levels of training and support designed to maximize the likelihood that they will adopt one of three HIPs: project-based learning (PBL), course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) or vertically integrated projects (VIPs). Two nationally prominent professional development programs – the Mobile Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching (MoSI) and the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) - will provide general training in the implementation of EBIPs. Participants will receive specific training in implementation of one of the three HIPS by local change agents who have successfully deployed these strategies. Finally, participants will join a faculty mentoring network (FMN) of their peers and two expert leaders who will provide support and guidance as they begin the process of implementing HIPs on their own campuses. This longer-term support through community is emerging as an important lever to promote full adoption of innovative teaching strategies. Participation in the project training programs will be tracked and changes in teaching beliefs and behaviors will be measured to determine the efficacy of this approach in fostering widespread change in teaching. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.