Contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations

Abstract A frequently cited strategy for fostering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructional improvements is creating communities where faculty can share and learn evidence-based teaching practices. Despite research-documented benefits, little is known about why (and wit...

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Autores principales: Ellen Marie Aster, Jana Bouwma-Gearhart, Kathleen Quardokus Fisher
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Publicado: SpringerOpen 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/f018b2550ff74c51aacadb07c4ad5ed6
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:f018b2550ff74c51aacadb07c4ad5ed62021-11-28T12:08:53ZContextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations10.1186/s43031-021-00038-72662-2300https://doaj.org/article/f018b2550ff74c51aacadb07c4ad5ed62021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-021-00038-7https://doaj.org/toc/2662-2300Abstract A frequently cited strategy for fostering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructional improvements is creating communities where faculty can share and learn evidence-based teaching practices. Despite research-documented benefits, little is known about why (and with whom) faculty engage in teaching-related conversations, including those fostered by initiative communities. We explored how STEM faculty engage in teaching-related conversations, via analysis of faculty interviews and discussion networks, to identify factors potentially influencing teaching-related conversations over the life of an initiative. Our results suggest aspects that might inhibit STEM faculty from engaging in teaching-related conversations, including: 1) faculty members’ autonomy with teaching practices; 2) faculty members’ varied interests in teaching improvements; 3) varied degrees of support to engage in teaching-related conversations; and 4) a lack of inclusive and non-judgmental spaces to talk about teaching. We suggest that those fostering STEM faculty communities consider working with others across the institution to map the instructional improvement opportunities faculty may already take part in and attend to areas lacking support. Initiative leaders and designers should also elicit and build off faculty members’ teaching-related knowledge and concerns. We further suggest making conversational spaces inclusive and safe, to help faculty honestly share teaching-related challenges and insights. We recommend creating and fostering spaces that bring faculty together across department boundaries. Our study echoes prior research by drawing attention to administrative support for instructional improvement initiatives, which can foster and sustain opportunities for faculty to talk about teaching and learn instructional improvements.Ellen Marie AsterJana Bouwma-GearhartKathleen Quardokus FisherSpringerOpenarticlePostsecondary STEM educationInstructional improvement initiativesFaculty communitiesTheory and practice of educationLB5-3640ScienceQENDisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research, Vol 3, Iss 1, Pp 1-22 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Postsecondary STEM education
Instructional improvement initiatives
Faculty communities
Theory and practice of education
LB5-3640
Science
Q
spellingShingle Postsecondary STEM education
Instructional improvement initiatives
Faculty communities
Theory and practice of education
LB5-3640
Science
Q
Ellen Marie Aster
Jana Bouwma-Gearhart
Kathleen Quardokus Fisher
Contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations
description Abstract A frequently cited strategy for fostering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructional improvements is creating communities where faculty can share and learn evidence-based teaching practices. Despite research-documented benefits, little is known about why (and with whom) faculty engage in teaching-related conversations, including those fostered by initiative communities. We explored how STEM faculty engage in teaching-related conversations, via analysis of faculty interviews and discussion networks, to identify factors potentially influencing teaching-related conversations over the life of an initiative. Our results suggest aspects that might inhibit STEM faculty from engaging in teaching-related conversations, including: 1) faculty members’ autonomy with teaching practices; 2) faculty members’ varied interests in teaching improvements; 3) varied degrees of support to engage in teaching-related conversations; and 4) a lack of inclusive and non-judgmental spaces to talk about teaching. We suggest that those fostering STEM faculty communities consider working with others across the institution to map the instructional improvement opportunities faculty may already take part in and attend to areas lacking support. Initiative leaders and designers should also elicit and build off faculty members’ teaching-related knowledge and concerns. We further suggest making conversational spaces inclusive and safe, to help faculty honestly share teaching-related challenges and insights. We recommend creating and fostering spaces that bring faculty together across department boundaries. Our study echoes prior research by drawing attention to administrative support for instructional improvement initiatives, which can foster and sustain opportunities for faculty to talk about teaching and learn instructional improvements.
format article
author Ellen Marie Aster
Jana Bouwma-Gearhart
Kathleen Quardokus Fisher
author_facet Ellen Marie Aster
Jana Bouwma-Gearhart
Kathleen Quardokus Fisher
author_sort Ellen Marie Aster
title Contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations
title_short Contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations
title_full Contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations
title_fullStr Contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations
title_full_unstemmed Contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring STEM faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations
title_sort contextualizing communities in an instructional improvement initiative: exploring stem faculty engagement in teaching-related conversations
publisher SpringerOpen
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/f018b2550ff74c51aacadb07c4ad5ed6
work_keys_str_mv AT ellenmarieaster contextualizingcommunitiesinaninstructionalimprovementinitiativeexploringstemfacultyengagementinteachingrelatedconversations
AT janabouwmagearhart contextualizingcommunitiesinaninstructionalimprovementinitiativeexploringstemfacultyengagementinteachingrelatedconversations
AT kathleenquardokusfisher contextualizingcommunitiesinaninstructionalimprovementinitiativeexploringstemfacultyengagementinteachingrelatedconversations
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