Download or read book Faculty Learning Community Development of Course based Undergraduate Research Experiences written by Allison Rose Martin and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education presently suffers from low retention rates, and the attrition rates are disproportionately high for underrepresented minority students (URMs). Increased retention and equitable recruitment are important goals for STEM educators to ensure that a diverse workforce is able to address the developing needs of the 21st century. To address these needs, the National Science Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and other experts and organizations have urged institutions to redesign their undergraduate biology curricula to include higher levels of inquiry, increased autonomy, and authentic research for their students. Studies provide evidence of multiple benefits associated with participation in research, including enhanced scientific identity, increased knowledge acquisition, improved self-efficacy, and increased likelihood to persist in the major. Unfortunately, there are barriers associated with traditional undergraduate research experiences (UREs), including insufficient time and a lack of space and available faculty mentors. Additionally, there are inequities associated with student access to UREs due to their unpaid nature and often biased recruitment practices. Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) purport to provide many of the same benefits of traditional UREs; however, because they take place within normal class time, they are available to all students. Calls for the transformation of undergraduate biology curriculum were accompanied by calls for coordinated efforts to improve faculty development. Faculty resistance to change is well documented and thought to be due to barriers including inadequate training and incentives; however, there is mounting evidence that Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are a successful method for encouraging pedagogical change. The Department of Biological Sciences at California State University, Sacramento maintains a high student-to-faculty ratio and its faculty members carry heavy teaching loads. These factors contribute to the small proportion of biology majors who are able to participate in faculty-mentored research opportunities each year. The Sustainable Interdisciplinary Research to Inspire Undergraduate Success (SIRIUS) Project aims to solve this problem through the development of an FLC that will design, implement, and assess CUREs in 12 existing biology laboratory courses. This research focused on the assessment of the faculty development portion of the SIRIUS Project and the two CUREs implemented in introductory biology series courses. This study specifically 1) evaluated the impacts of faculty development on SIRIUS FLC members, 2) evaluated the effects of implemented CUREs on introductory biology students' knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and 3) explored the relationships between demographic variables and the dispositions of students who participated in CUREs. Faculty members reported high levels of satisfaction with the SIRIUS Summer Institute, which represented the first activity of the SIRIUS FLC, and all participants felt that a productive and collaborative environment was achieved. Faculty interviews revealed four motivators for participation, which varied according to the stage of career of the faculty member. While student survey data demonstrated successful implementation of CUREs, an instructor effect was observed between students taught by FLC members and nonmembers. The effects narrowed after a short, one-hour training on the SIRIUS Project and CURE strategies was provided for instructors who did not participate in the SIRIUS faculty development activities. The first two CUREs implemented as part of the SIRIUS Project were the introductory biology series courses, BIO1: Introduction to Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity and BIO2: Introduction to Cells, Molecules, and Genes. Student survey data showed increases in self-efficacy within one semester for both BIO1 and BIO2 students who reported low pre-course lab confidence; however, BIO1 students who reported high pre-course lab confidence reported no significant gains post-course. BIO2 students who reported high pre-course lab confidence showed significant losses in self-efficacy post-course. BIO2 students taught with the new CURE curriculum demonstrated more expert-like thinking on questions related to scientific identity than students who were taught with the pre-CURE curriculum. Furthermore, students taught with the CURE curriculum were more likely to explain how their research was relevant beyond the classroom when asked to explain why they thought they were performing real science. When prompted about their future STEM goals, students reported high levels of indecision. When pre-course BIO1 students were compared to post-course BIO2 students, fewer students strongly disagreed they would pursue a STEM career; however, the majority of students remained undecided. BIO1 students reported differences in pre-course lab confidence when genders and Pell Grant qualification were compared, but these differences were eliminated post-course. Notably, students who qualified for Pell Grants reported significantly higher gains by the end of BIO1 than their non-qualifying peers. Overall, we have demonstrated that faculty have successfully implemented CUREs in the introductory series biology courses, and students are self-reporting changes to their scientific identities and increases in their self-efficacy. These data provide evidence that the SIRIUS Project is taking steps toward, and may be able to overcome barriers associated with, equitable and broad student access to UREs.
Download or read book Experiences and Research on Enhanced Professional Development Through Faculty Learning Communities written by Blankenship, Rebecca J. and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2022-06-24 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faculty learning communities are a fairly new ideology that is gaining traction among educators and institutions. These communities have numerous benefits on professional development such as enhancing educator preparedness and learning. The possibilities of these communities are endless; however, further study is required to understand how these learning communities work and the best practices and challenges they face. Experiences and Research on Enhanced Professional Development Through Faculty Learning Communities shares the experiences and research related to the enhanced professional development received by university faculty and staff participating in a series of collaborative faculty learning communities. The book, using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies, considers educator experiences as participants in the faculty learning communities, what they learned, and how they applied and implemented best practices in their courses. Covering topics such as curricula, course design, and rubrics, this reference book is ideal for administrators, higher education professionals, program developers, program directors, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.
Download or read book Developing Faculty Learning Communities at Two Year Colleges written by Susan Sipple and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-03 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces community college faculty and faculty developers to the use of faculty learning communities (FLCs) as a means for faculty themselves to investigate and surmount student learning problems they encounter in their classrooms, and as an effective and low-cost strategy for faculty developers working with few resources to stimulate innovative teaching that leads to student persistence and improved learning outcomes.Two-year college instructors face the unique challenge of teaching a mix of learners, from the developmental to high-achievers, that requires using a variety of instructional strategies and techniques. Even the most experienced teachers can find this diversity demanding.Faculty developers at many two-year colleges still rely solely on the one-day workshop model that, while useful, rarely results in sustained student-centered changes in pedagogy or the curriculum, and may not be practicable for the growing cohort of part-time faculty members.By linking work in the classroom with scholarship and reflection, FLCs provide participants with a sense of renewed engagement and stimulate collegial exploration of ways to achieve educational excellence. FLCs are usually faculty-instigated and cross-disciplinary, and comprise groups of six to fifteen faculty that work collaboratively through regular meetings over an extended period of time to promote research and an exchange of experiences, foster community, and develop the scholarship of teaching. FLCs alleviate burnout and isolation, promote the development, testing, and peer review of new classroom strategies or technologies, and lead to the reenergizing and professionalization of teachers.This book introduces the reader to FLCs and to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, offering examples of application in two-year colleges. Individual chapters describe, among others, an FLC set up to support course redesign; an “Adjunct Connectivity FLC” to integrate part-time faculty within a department and collaborate on the curriculum; a cross-disciplinary FLC to promote student self-regulated learning, and improve academic performance and persistence; a critical thinking FLC that sought to define critical thinking in separate disciplines, examine interdisciplinary cross-over of critical thinking, and measure critical thinking more accurately; an FLC that researched the transfer of learning and developed strategies to promote students’ application of their learning across courses and beyond the classroom. Each chapter describes the formation of its FLC, the processes it engaged in, what worked and did not, and the outcomes achieved.Just as when college faculty fail to remain current in their fields, the failure to engage in continuing development of teaching skills, will equally lead teaching and learning to suffer. When two-year college administrators restrain scholarship and reflection as inappropriate for the real work of the institution they are in fact hindering the professionalization of their teaching force that is essential to institutional mission and student success.When FLCs are supported by leaders and administrators, and faculty learn that collaboration and peer review are valued and even expected as part of being a teaching professional, they become intrinsically motivated and committed to collaboratively solving problems, setting the institution on a path to becoming a learning organization that is proactive and adept at navigating change.
Download or read book Reconceptualizing Faculty Development in Service learning community Engagement written by Becca Berkey and published by Stylus Publishing (VA). This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The role of educational developer in the realm of service-learning and community engagement (S-LCE) is multidimensional. Given the potentially transformational nature--for both faculty and students--of the experiences and courses in whose design they may be directly or indirectly involved, as well as their responsibility to the communities served by these initiatives, they have to be particularly attentive to issues of identity, values, and roles. As both practitioners and facilitators, they are often positioned as third-space professionals. This edited volume provides educational developers and community engagement professionals an analysis of approaches to faculty development around service-learning and community engagement. Using an openly self-reflective approach, the contributors to this volume offer an array of examples and models, as well as realistic strategies, to empower readers to evolve their faculty development efforts in service-learning and community engagement on their respective campuses. It is also a call for recognition that the practice of S-LCE needs to be institutionalized and improved. The book further addresses the field's potential contributions to scholarship, such as the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), publically engaged scholarship, and collaborative inquiry, among others. The case studies provide an outline of program models and promising practices, including an authentic analysis of the institutional context within which they operate, the positionality of the practitioner-scholars overseeing them, the resources required, and the evidence related to both successes and challenges of these approaches. The contributed chapters are organized under four themes: the landscape of faculty development and community engagement; models of faculty development in S-LCE; challenges and opportunities in pedagogy and partnerships; and engendering change in educational development.
Download or read book Faculty Learning Communities written by Kristin N. Rainville and published by IAP. This book was released on 2024-03-01 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book on Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) provides and explores powerful examples of FLCs as a impactful form of professional learning for faculty in higher education. The chapters describe faculty learning community initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and belonging in higher education. Contributing authors provide a framework for faculty learning communities and how these communities can offer faculty a place and space to explore antiracist and social justice-oriented teaching. show the impact of faculty learning communities on teaching practices or student learning, and describe how these communities of practice can lead to institutional change. The book’s foreword, by Milton D. Cox, investigates the past and future of faculty learning communities focused on diversity and equity.
Download or read book Faculty Development written by Farrell Hoy Jenab and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faculty Development: Creating a Collaborative Culture in Community Colleges addresses how faculty developers work with changes and challenges in teaching within the community college context. Using a multi-case study design based on semi-structured interviews, document analysis, focus groups and surveys, the book examines faculty development within six community college contexts. Three of these case studies, conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic, attended to how the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) were pillars for faculty development. The other three case studies feature the pivot that faculty developers and faculty made at their institutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In these cases, it is seen how faculty development shifts from long-term, sustained initiatives such as SOTL and FLCs to just-in-time (JiT) faculty development, as well as virtual and collaborative faculty development. As teaching models continue to evolve and faculty development takes hold in community colleges, this book features the role of collaboration as an essential component of faculty development, as well as what supports exist within the community college context to provide faculty with continual professional development.
Download or read book Faculty Learning Communities written by Kristin N. Rainville and published by IAP. This book was released on 2024-02-01 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book on Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) provides and explores powerful examples of FLCs as a impactful form of professional learning for faculty in higher education. The chapters describe faculty learning community initiatives across different fields of study and within dynamic and flexible teaching and learning models. Contributing authors provide a framework for faculty learning communities, show the impact of faculty learning communities on teaching practices or student learning, and describe how these communities of practice can lead to institutional change. The book’s foreword, by Milton D. Cox, investigates the changes in the FLC world over the past decade: the influence of Communities of Practices (CoP), recent recommendations about virtual FLCs and CoPs, and the positive affirmation for FLCs that implementation science has provided.
Download or read book Undergraduate Research in the Sciences written by Sandra Laursen and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 2010-06-10 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Undergraduate research (UR) is widely believed to enhance the learning experience of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs. This is the first comprehensive, practical, research-based book on undergraduate research. It addresses how the benefits to UR participants arise; compares the benefits of UR with other types of educational activities or experience; the long-term value of UR; and more. Intended to assist both existing and new UR practitioners with program design and evaluation needs, the book will also be useful to the wider community of academics, policy-makers, and funders of UR programs.
Download or read book Collaborative Learning Techniques written by Elizabeth F. Barkley and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-07-22 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to thirty-five creative assignments for pairs and groups Collaborative Learning Techniques is the bestseller that college and university faculty around the world have used to help them make the most of small group learning. A mountain of evidence shows that students who learn in small groups together exhibit higher academic achievement, motivation, and satisfaction than those who don't. Collaborative learning puts into practice the major conclusion from learning theory: that students must be actively engaged in building their own minds. In this book, the authors synthesize the relevant research and theory to support thirty-five collaborative learning activities for use in both traditional and online classrooms. This second edition reflects the changed world of higher education. New technologies have opened up endless possibilities for college teaching, but it's not always easy to use these technologies effectively. Updated to address the challenges of today's new teaching environments, including online, "flipped," and large lectures, Collaborative Learning Techniques is a wonderful reference for educators who want to make the most of any course environment. This revised and expanded edition includes: Additional techniques, with an all-new chapter on using games to provide exciting, current, technologically-sophisticated curricula A section on effective online implementation for each of the thirty-five techniques Significantly expanded pedagogical rationale and updates on the latest research showing how and why collaborative learning works Examples for implementing collaborative learning techniques in a variety of learning environments, including large lecture classes and "flipped" classes Expanded guidance on how to solve common problems associated with group work The authors guide instructors through all aspects of group work, providing a solid grounding in what to do, how to do it, and why it is important for student learning. The detailed procedures in Collaborative Learning Techniques will help teachers make sure group activities go smoothly, no matter the size or delivery method of their classes. With practical advice on how to form student groups, assign roles, build team spirit, address unexpected problems, and evaluate and grade student participation, this new edition of the international classic makes incorporating effective group work easy.
Download or read book Learning Communities In Practice written by Anastasia Samaras and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-10-26 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most would agree that a learning community of practice cultivates social and intellectual development in educational settings but what are the other benefits and what does a learning community actually look like in practice? This book explores such questions as: “Are learning communities essential in education?” “How are they designed and developed?” “What difference do they make in learning?” The book contains contributions of educators who share their research and practice in designing and implementing learning communities in school, university, and professional network settings. It presents their experiences, and the “how to” of these educators who are passionate about building and sustaining learning communities to make a real difference for students, teachers, faculty, and communities. Combining scholarly and practitioner research, the book offers practical information to teachers, school and university administrators, teacher educators, and community educators.
Download or read book Learning That Matters written by Caralyn Zehnder and published by Myers Education Press. This book was released on 2021-01-05 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 2022 SPE Outstanding Book Honorable Mention Our society urgently needs education that motivates, challenges, engages, and affirms all students. No matter their previous successes or failures, every student has enormous learning potential and important contributions to make now and in the future. Such meaningful learning experiences don't just happen, they need to be intentionally designed. This book supports those who will undertake this vitally important work. Learning that Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education is a pragmatic resource for designing courses that engage college students as active citizens. This "work" book provides research-informed approaches for creating learning experiences and developing innovative, intellectually-engaging courses. Whether a novice or a veteran, by engaging with the text, collaborating with colleagues, and reflecting on the important work of a teacher, any motivated educator can become a transformative educator. Every college course has the potential to transform students' lives. Through implementation of critical concepts such as connected and authentic assessments; dilemmas, issues, and questions; portable thinking skills and engaging strategies; and a purposeful focus on inclusivity and equity, readers begin the process of change needed for preparing students who will be able to address the monumental challenges facing our society. Click HERE to watch the book launch. Click HERE to hear the authors discuss their book. Perfect for courses such as: Education Curriculum and Instruction | Design for Transformative Learning | An Introduction to Evidence-based Undergraduate Teaching | New Faculty Orientations | Freshman Seminar Faculty Trainings | Center for Teaching & Learning | Workshops in Course Design
Download or read book High impact Educational Practices written by George D. Kuh and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication¿the latest report from AAC&U¿s Liberal Education and America¿s Promise (LEAP) initiative¿defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more advantaged peers. The report also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to these practices.
Download or read book Handbook of Research on Faculty Development for Digital Teaching and Learning written by Elçi, Alev and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faculty development is currently practiced in a variety of approaches by individuals, committees, and centers of excellence. More research is needed to draw better benefit from these approaches in the impending digital world by taking advantage of digitally enabled teaching and learning. The Handbook of Research on Faculty Development for Digital Teaching and Learning offers holistic and multidisciplinary approaches to enhancing faculty effectiveness in teaching, boosting motivation, extending knowledge, expanding teaching behaviors, and disseminating skills in digital higher education settings. Featuring a broad range of topics such as faculty learning communities (FLCs), virtual learning environments, and professional development, this book is ideal for educators, educational technologists, curriculum developers, higher education staff, school administrators, principals, academicians, practitioners, and graduate students.
Download or read book The Faculty Factor written by Jennifer E. Eidum and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-03 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This practical resource examines how colleges and universities foster sustainable faculty involvement in living learning communities (LLCs). This volume delivers evidence-based research as well as practical examples and voices from the field, to guide and support faculty serving in different capacities in LLCs, to serve as a resource for student affairs practitioners collaborating with faculty in residential environments, and to offer guidance to administrators developing new and revising existing LLC programs.This book demonstrates that faculty are key to creating equitable, engaging, and sustainable LLCs in diverse higher education settings. Chapters delve into both the micro-level experiences of individual faculty – and their families, as in the vignettes at the beginning of each chapter – and the macro-level campus-wide planning that positions LLCs as a meaningful learning experience for students. The book is divided into three sections. The chapters in the first section envision a future of faculty-student engagement that meets the needs of new-majority students and faculty through intentional planning and forward-looking models of faculty engagement. Campus culture and administrator involvement play important roles in creating residential spaces where equity and inclusion are prioritized among students and faculty. The second section outlines ways to capitalize on faculty and residential life partnerships for successful LLCs. Authors focus on key areas of LLC development, including collaboration on programming, co-developing LLC curricula, fostering broad campus partnerships, and creating the conditions for effective faculty-student engagement. The third section serves as a resource for new and seasoned faculty-in-residence (FIR) who may wish to better understand their roles, as well as the roles and expectations for partners and families living with them, and strive to find a reasonable work-life balance. The chapters detail the lived experiences of FIR—they provide both a theoretical context as well as concrete ideas for new and seasoned faculty members who are serving LLCs.In the conclusion the editors look toward the future of faculty involvement in LLCs. They explore pathways for both expanding and deepening faculty involvement in LLCs and underscore the many avenues for faculty support and incentives presented throughout the book to enable administrators, staff, and faculty themselves to advocate for resources they need to thrive while working with students in LLCs. A Series on Engaged Learning and Teaching Book. Visit the books’ companion website, hosted by the Center for Engaged Learning, for book resources.
Download or read book Scientific Teaching written by Jo Handelsman and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seasoned classroom veterans, pre-tenured faculty, and neophyte teaching assistants alike will find this book invaluable. HHMI Professor Jo Handelsman and her colleagues at the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching (WPST) have distilled key findings from education, learning, and cognitive psychology and translated them into six chapters of digestible research points and practical classroom examples. The recommendations have been tried and tested in the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology and through the WPST. Scientific Teaching is not a prescription for better teaching. Rather, it encourages the reader to approach teaching in a way that captures the spirit and rigor of scientific research and to contribute to transforming how students learn science.
Download or read book Integrating Discovery Based Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-01-07 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Students who participate in scientific research as undergraduates report gaining many benefits from the experience. However, undergraduate research done independently under a faculty member's guidance or as part of an internship, regardless of its individual benefits, is inherently limited in its overall impact. Faculty members and sponsoring companies have limited time and funding to support undergraduate researchers, and most institutions have available (or have allocated) only enough human and financial resources to involve a small fraction of their undergraduates in such experiences. Many more students can be involved as undergraduate researchers if they do scientific research either collectively or individually as part of a regularly scheduled course. Course-based research experiences have been shown to provide students with many of the same benefits acquired from a mentored summer research experience, assuming that sufficient class time is invested, and several different potential advantages. In order to further explore this issue, the Division on Earth and Life Studies and the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education organized a convocation meant to examine the efficacy of engaging large numbers of undergraduate students who are enrolled in traditional academic year courses in the life and related sciences in original research, civic engagement around scientific issues, and/or intensive study of research methods and scientific publications at both two- and four-year colleges and universities. Participants explored the benefits and costs of offering students such experiences and the ways that such efforts may both influence and be influenced by issues such as institutional governance, available resources, and professional expectations of faculty. Integrating Discovery-Based Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum summarizes the presentations and discussions from this event.
Download or read book Building School Based Teacher Learning Communities written by Milbrey W. McLaughlin and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building on extensive evidence that school-based teacher learning communities improve student outcomes, this book lays out an agenda to develop and sustain collaborative professional cultures. McLaughlin and Talbert—foremost scholars of school change and teaching contexts—provide an inside look at the processes, resources, and system strategies that are necessary to build vibrant school-based teacher learning communities. Offering a compelling, straightforward blueprint for action, this book: Takes a comprehensive look at the problem of improving the quality of teaching across the United States, based on evidence and examples from the authors’ nearly two decades of research.Demonstrates how and why school-based teacher learning communities are bottom-line requirements for improved instruction. Outlines the resources and supports needed to build and sustain a long-term school-based teacher professional community. Discusses the nature of high-quality professional development to support learning and changes in teaching.Details the roles and responsibilities of policymakers at all levels of the school system. “This book offers vivid examples of how teacher learning communities are formed and sustained. A must-read for educators at all levels who are serious about enacting change.” —Amy M. Hightower, Assistant Director, American Federation of Teachers
