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From page 175... ...
The present chapter focuses on the critical importance of professional learning and development (PLD) as part of a process of continuous improvement that seeks to achieve equitable and effective teaching in undergraduate STEM education.
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From page 176... ...
The current and potential future role of digital tools and communities in professional learning is specifically called out as a promising method. The chapter concludes with some specific thoughts on how PLD for equitable and effective education can play a role in preparing future faculty, including some research on graduate students.
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From page 177... ...
For some disciplines, expectations about what is required for accreditation might lead to instructors teaching for content coverage rather focusing on equitable student learning outcomes, but it is a common pressure across all STEM disciplines (Tripp et al., 2024)
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From page 178... ...
As described in Principle 7: Intentionality and transparency, enacting equitable and effective teaching requires institutions, departments, and disciplinary societies to adopt a level of intentionality to ensure its presence in the classroom. They can do this by creating a culture that embraces ongoing PLD for all instructors by providing institutional structures and supports for educational development that are systematic (e.g., through centers for teaching and learning)
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From page 179... ...
and academic units can play critical roles in the PLD for VITAL educators. Kezar (2013)
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The University of Colorado Boulder's Center for STEM Learning Transform ing Education, Supporting Teaching and Learning Excellence (TRESTLE) initiative is "a 7-institution NSF-funded project to support improvements in undergraduate STEM education through (1)
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From page 181... ...
While all of the topics mentioned in Chapter 5 are relevant, here we focus on some central topics of PLD as it promotes equitable and effective teaching that have been studied in the context of professional learning: course design, classroom practices, and awareness of beliefs, values, and positionalities related to teaching. All of these important topics of PLD address a critical aspect of equitable and effective teaching practices, which is that the instructor does not simply know about them but also knows how to implement them.
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From page 182... ...
For graduate students learning about how to teach, these topics can be covered by PLD providers and can often be made more specific by laboratory and course coordinators. Classroom Practices Beyond course content topics, providers also strive to develop equitable and effective classroom practices by (a)
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Multiple classroom observation protocols have been developed to formalize observations such as the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (Smith
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From page 184... ...
TECHNOLOGY AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING The work of teaching has become increasingly multifaceted, demanding much more from an instructor than simply "delivering" content. As active learning and other evidence-based practices have become more understood and accepted as strategies to support student learning, instructors have started learning ways to adapt their teaching.
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From page 185... ...
A variety of digital tools can support equitable and effective teaching, and multiple criteria can be used to evaluate if these tools are suitable for PLD. These include whether instructors are aware of the tool and are able to feasibly and equitably use the tool (i.e., access and use of the tool should not be limited to only certain instructors, reflecting Principle 7: Intentionality and transparency)
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From page 186... ...
COMMUNITY IS A KEY COMPONENT OF SUPPORTING STEM INSTRUCTORS We now turn to communities, which can play an important role in PLD experiences. They can allow instructors to engage with other STEM instructors within or across similar communities (such as discipline or institution type)
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From page 187... ...
study of change theory in undergraduate STEM education used a large meta-analysis to illustrate that CoPs are the most commonly used community structure. CoPs often develop naturally from the participants, rather than from external or administrative influence.
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Such CoPs could be developed to accommodate whatever instructional, departmental, or institutional needs exist. For example, a smaller group of STEM instructors within a department who are teaching similar courses or similar students can gather to discuss their equitable teaching practices and might engage in formative peer observations of teaching to learn from one another.
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Institution-Level Communities At an institutional level, multiple approaches can support improvements to community around teaching including STEM education centers, science education specialists, and Centers for Teaching and Learning
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As a hub, a CTL can bring together STEM instructors to share equitable teaching approaches and learn from one another, as well as highlight evidence-based teaching across STEM disciplines. As an incubator, the various instructor-level initiatives that the CTL offers can cultivate instructors as change agents who share their practices more widely within and beyond their academic units.
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From page 191... ...
As articulated in Principle 4: Identity and a sense of belonging, identity can influence the experiences of instructors as well as their learners. The role of academic units in teaching is discussed extensively in Chapter 6; here the Committee presents a few examples of potential academic unit-level actions that in their experience have the potential to elevate and address equitable and effective teaching via attention to multiple Principles: • Conducting climate studies and obtaining data on existing inequi ties to identify opportunities for improvement • Creating and implementing departmental or program-level strate gic and assessment plans • Facilitating discussions at team meetings on equitable teaching practices across courses • Holding department or program retreats focused on equity • Engaging in curricular revision to advance equity • Hiring science education or STEM education experts to work with instructors
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From page 192... ...
The list above includes a variety of intentional steps that instructors, units, and institutions can take to support sustained engagement with PLD around equitable and effective teaching practices. For example, when academic units discuss what types of PLD they want to undergo as a unit, they could choose to include lessons on assessment practices and how to best collect data to support the work of their faculty.
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The AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative has elevated attention to evidence-based teaching and system change at the
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meetings of the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) initiative of the National Science Foundation are also a source of community for education researchers and change agents.9 The PI meetings10 and central hub11 of NSF's Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
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described in Box 8-2 focuses on instructors, mostly within STEM disciplines, who participate in professional development focused on growth mindset, belonging, revised BOX 8-2 The Student Experience Project SEP, led by the APLU, the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities; the Col lege Transition Collaborative (now part of Equity Accelerator) , Education Counsel, the Project for Education Research That Scales, and Shift, involves the facilitation of PLD experiences for six institutions.
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12 is another key group that has created a learning community to engage in systematic use of research methods to develop and implement teaching practices that advance learning. Their work focuses on graduate students as future educators of undergraduate students.
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The design features of the project empower institutions to locally engage by providing leadership opportunities for instructors to become facilitator and lead Inclusive STEM Project communities on their own campuses. The program is designed to provide professional learning and develop ment, a community, increased awareness, confidence, self-efficacy, reflection, and changes in behavior.
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NIST reports that its work demonstrates the power of STEM instructors com ing together for an intentionally designed, intensive experience with supplemental supports to advance their teaching practices. Additionally, the members of a variety of disciplinary societies actively conduct discipline-based education research (DBER)
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, and as of 2020, as many as 150 universities had programs that support professional learning for future faculty. With funding from the National Science Foundation, CIRTL was founded in 2003, with an explicit focus on graduate education and the STEM disciplines and a mission "to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to enrich undergraduate education that is accessible to all learners" (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning, n.d.)
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. Overcoming these challenges requires attention not just to the availability of PLD for graduate students and postdocs, but to the value placed on teaching and professional development in teaching, and to the power dynamics that play a significant role in their choices (and perceived ability)
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From page 201... ...
The supervisor can also mediate any challenges that arise between the master teacher and the apprentice teacher. A similar model could support graduate students in their roles as teaching assistants, though the instructor of record may or may not be the person
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If a pedagogy course or seminar exists, the graduate student may be able to lean on the instructor for support, like the university supervisor in the model discussed above, but they may not be paired with a master teacher who can introduce them to equitable and effective practices. Methods for Delivering Professional Learning and Development Professional learning and development can occur either before or while the graduate students are teaching.
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From page 203... ...
Providers of Professional Learning and Development Structures for providers of graduate student PLD fall into two general categories. In one the provider's job is to support graduate student PLD by regularly designing, organizing, and modifying PLD opportunities BOX 8-5 Peer-Mentoring for Graduate Students Mentoring can have enormous effects with respect to change toward equi table and effective education.
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From page 204... ...
work within in a safe environment where they can wrestle with what they believe, what they observe, and how they want to approach their own teaching, possibly even writing a teaching philosophy. Such work, supported by mentors, can help graduate students synthesize pedagogical theory and practice.
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From page 205... ...
Other initiatives that support teaching postdoctoral scholars include the Carl Weiman Science Education Initiative16 and the TRESTLE initiative.17 Both programs focused on teaching and teaching innovation and were designed to support postdoctoral scholars in developing their effective and equitable teaching skills and practices. Postdoctoral scholars served as change agents by partnering with faculty to transform courses with better practices (Chasteen & Code, 2018; White et al., 2020)
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From page 206... ...
Considerations for Undergraduate Learning Assistants Undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) provide peer support for other undergraduate students' education in many diverse learning environments.
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From page 207... ...
Conclusion 8.1: Implementation of equitable and effective teaching is an ongoing process that necessitates all instructors (full-time faculty, VITAL educators, and postdocs with teaching roles) regularly engage in professional learning and development (PLD)
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