Gough Laura, Miranda Rommel, Hemm Matthew, Norman Leann, Jara Brian
Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, Maryland, USA.
Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences, Towson University, Towson, Maryland, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2025 Apr 24;26(1):e0021524. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00215-24. Epub 2025 Jan 13.
The Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) model can be used to explore how faculty prioritize learning about and adopting new pedagogical approaches. Here, we use the DOI framework to contextualize biology faculty perceptions of a professional development (PD) program designed to help them create a full semester course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) class at a large, public comprehensive university. PD sessions included exploring self-reflexive identity while fostering inclusive classroom spaces through understanding and interrupting implicit bias and microaggressions. This qualitative study sought to determine 11 biology faculty members' beliefs about the influence of their year-long PD on their CURE development and teaching practices. Findings suggest that faculty were motivated to teach CUREs for a variety of reasons. A common incentive was integrating research into a CURE to bring their passion into their classroom and to engage more students in research. This may be particularly important at institutions where faculty have a heavy teaching load. Faculty also reported modifying their teaching in their CUREs and other courses to be more inclusive and equitable. The importance of peer interactions in the PD was emphasized repeatedly as faculty learned from experts, the literature, and faculty who had already developed a CURE. Our results illustrate that a community of practice structure can enhance the learning aspect of the community, helping faculty consider their implementation of inclusive, equitable, and high-impact practices as an ongoing educational process for themselves and emphasizing the importance of reflection and iteration in a DOI framework.
创新扩散（DOI）模型可用于探究教师如何确定学习和采用新教学方法的优先级。在此，我们使用DOI框架来分析生物学教师对一个专业发展（PD）项目的看法，该项目旨在帮助他们在一所大型公立综合性大学创建一门基于课程的本科全学期研究体验（CURE）课程。PD课程包括探索自我反思身份认同，同时通过理解和消除隐性偏见及微侵犯行为来营造包容的课堂环境。这项定性研究旨在确定11位生物学教师对为期一年的PD对其CURE课程开发和教学实践影响的看法。研究结果表明，教师出于多种原因有动力教授CURE课程。一个常见的动机是将研究融入CURE课程，以便将他们的热情带入课堂，并让更多学生参与研究。这在教师教学负担较重的院校可能尤为重要。教师们还报告说，他们在CURE课程和其他课程中调整了教学方式，使其更具包容性和平等性。随着教师向专家、文献以及已经开发出CURE课程的教师学习，PD中同伴互动的重要性被反复强调。我们的研究结果表明，实践社区结构可以增强社区的学习效果，帮助教师将他们实施包容性、平等性和高影响力实践视为自身持续的教育过程，并强调在DOI框架中反思和迭代的重要性。
