Abstract
The Project Director and External Evaluator report their perspectives on strategies and results of a STEM Professional Academy to Reinvigorate the Culture of Teaching (SPARCT) funded through the NSF-WIDER program. Faculty participating in SPARCT have produced fourteen scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects to improve student learning, retention, and attitudes in introductory STEM courses. Embedded teaching practices include project-based learning, the conceptual change model, process oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL), classroom flipping, and some blended teaching methods. In this session, participants review: 1) evidence-based teaching practices (EBTPs) selected for the SPARCT program, 2) faculty development strategies that anchored SoTL projects in these practices (a summer STEM academy, formative reporting and evaluation, Faculty Learning Communities); 3) planning, organization, and evaluation methodologies, 4) progress, challenges, and first year outcomes. This session is interactive, with questions in each section that invite participant perspectives on their experiences and successes. For example, Section 1 asks participants about their use of EBTPs and why they were selected. Section 2 asks about participant successes with anchoring SoTL projects using EBTPs. Similarly, Section 3 asks about organization and planning, and Section 4 addresses progress, challenges, and outcomes.
Location
Room 2005
Recommended Citation
Goodson, Ludwika and Frost, Laura, "Developing and Evaluating a STEM Professional Academy and SoTL Culture" (2015). SoTL Commons Conference. 105.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2015/105
Developing and Evaluating a STEM Professional Academy and SoTL Culture
Room 2005
The Project Director and External Evaluator report their perspectives on strategies and results of a STEM Professional Academy to Reinvigorate the Culture of Teaching (SPARCT) funded through the NSF-WIDER program. Faculty participating in SPARCT have produced fourteen scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects to improve student learning, retention, and attitudes in introductory STEM courses. Embedded teaching practices include project-based learning, the conceptual change model, process oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL), classroom flipping, and some blended teaching methods. In this session, participants review: 1) evidence-based teaching practices (EBTPs) selected for the SPARCT program, 2) faculty development strategies that anchored SoTL projects in these practices (a summer STEM academy, formative reporting and evaluation, Faculty Learning Communities); 3) planning, organization, and evaluation methodologies, 4) progress, challenges, and first year outcomes. This session is interactive, with questions in each section that invite participant perspectives on their experiences and successes. For example, Section 1 asks participants about their use of EBTPs and why they were selected. Section 2 asks about participant successes with anchoring SoTL projects using EBTPs. Similarly, Section 3 asks about organization and planning, and Section 4 addresses progress, challenges, and outcomes.
