Shadle Susan E, Marker Anthony, Earl Brittnee
Boise State University, 1910 University Dr., Boise, ID 83725 USA.
Int J STEM Educ. 2017;4(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s40594-017-0062-7. Epub 2017 Apr 13.
Calls to improve student learning and increase the number of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) college and university graduates assert the need for widespread adoption of evidence-based instructional practices in undergraduate STEM courses. For successful reforms to take hold and endure, it is likely that a significant shift in culture around teaching is needed. This study seeks to describe the initial response of faculty to an effort to shift teaching norms, with a long-term goal of altering the culture around teaching and learning in STEM. While the effort was envisioned and led at the institutional level, dialog about the proposed change and actions taken by faculty was emergent and supported within departments.
Faculty identify a variety of barriers to proposed changes in teaching practice; however, faculty also identify a variety of drivers that might help the institution alter teaching and learning norms. Analysis of faculty responses reveals 18 categories of barriers and 15 categories of drivers in faculty responses. Many of the barrier and driver categories were present in each department's responses; however, the distribution and frequency with which they appear reveals departmental differences that are important for moving forward with strategies to change teaching practice.
Addressing faculty's barriers to change is essential, but identifying and leveraging faculty's drivers for the change is potentially equally important in efforts to catalyze changes that are supported or constrained by the local context. Further, the collection of faculty perspectives opens a dialog around the current and future state of teaching, an important step in laying the groundwork for change. Departmental differences in barriers and drivers make clear the importance of "knowing" the local contexts so strategies adopted by departments can be appropriately tailored. Results are discussed in light of what kind of strategies might be employed to effect changes in STEM education.
呼吁改善学生学习情况并增加理工科院校毕业生数量的声音认为，有必要在本科理工科课程中广泛采用基于证据的教学方法。为了使成功的改革能够落地生根并持续下去，围绕教学的文化很可能需要发生重大转变。本研究旨在描述教师对转变教学规范这一努力的初步反应，其长期目标是改变理工科教学与学习的文化氛围。虽然这一努力是在机构层面设想和引领的，但关于提议变革的讨论以及教师采取的行动是在各部门内部自然形成并得到支持的。
教师们指出了教学实践提议变革存在的各种障碍；然而，教师们也指出了一些可能有助于学校改变教学与学习规范的驱动因素。对教师反馈的分析揭示了教师反馈中的18类障碍和15类驱动因素。许多障碍和驱动因素类别在各部门的反馈中都有出现；然而，它们出现的分布情况和频率揭示了部门差异，这些差异对于推进改变教学实践的策略很重要。
解决教师变革的障碍至关重要，但在推动受当地环境支持或限制的变革的努力中，识别并利用教师变革的驱动因素可能同样重要。此外，收集教师的观点开启了围绕当前和未来教学状况的对话，这是为变革奠定基础的重要一步。障碍和驱动因素的部门差异明确了“了解”当地环境的重要性，这样各部门采用的策略才能得到适当调整。根据可能采用何种策略来实现理工科教育变革对结果进行了讨论。
Zotero 插件