Ellefson Marina L, Monfared Mona M
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2025 Aug 21;26(2):e0004425. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00044-25. Epub 2025 Jun 5.
Here, we present a model for a decentralized, discipline-specific pedagogical professional development program for STEM PhD students interested in teaching and learning careers in higher education. The FUSE (Future Undergraduate Science Educators) program at UC Davis follows the structure of the University of California's Graduate Academic Certificate. FUSE scholars take 12 units of coursework, which span a variety of teaching-related topics, such as an introduction to Scientific Teaching, teaching portfolio development, and an authentic mentored teaching experience. By providing formal training in Scientific Teaching and offering a mentored teaching practicum, FUSE aims to decrease the time it takes between attaining a PhD and getting a teaching position. The FUSE program is unique in that it offers decentralized pedagogical training within the same academic unit in which students receive their research training. This positioning of FUSE has the potential to affect cultural change that elevates the value of teaching and integrated scholarship within the traditional graduate research training environment. Launched in Fall 2021, this program was designed to be modular and easily adaptable by other disciplinary units. This paper describes the process of developing the FUSE program, details of the program structure, and data on student perceptions of the value and impact of the program on their development of pedagogical, research, and professional skills. Student feedback on positive and negative aspects of the program was also collected. Student responses to closed-ended and open-ended questions revealed positive perceived impacts on the development of a wide range of pedagogical, career, interpersonal/personal, and research skills. The majority of students reported that the program had either no impact or a positive impact on their research productivity, supporting previous work that developing teaching expertise in graduate school does not oppose disciplinary research progress. The FUSE program serves as a model for an adaptable graduate curriculum in scientific teaching and evidence-based practices that fosters the development of integrated STEM scholars and takes advantage of the pedagogical expertise of teaching-focused faculty in research-intensive universities.
在此，我们为对高等教育教学职业感兴趣的STEM博士生，提出了一个分散式、特定学科的教学专业发展项目模型。加州大学戴维斯分校的FUSE（未来本科科学教育工作者）项目遵循加州大学研究生学术证书的结构。FUSE学者修读12个学分的课程，涵盖各种与教学相关的主题，如科学教学导论、教学档案袋开发以及真实的带教教学体验。通过提供科学教学方面的正规培训并开展带教教学实习，FUSE旨在缩短获得博士学位与获得教学职位之间的时间。FUSE项目的独特之处在于，它在学生接受研究培训的同一学术单位内提供分散式教学培训。FUSE的这种定位有可能影响文化变革，提升传统研究生研究培训环境中教学和综合学术研究的价值。该项目于2021年秋季启动，设计为模块化，便于其他学科单位采用。本文描述了FUSE项目的开发过程、项目结构细节，以及学生对该项目在其教学、研究和专业技能发展方面的价值和影响的看法数据。我们还收集了学生对该项目正负两方面的反馈。学生对封闭式和开放式问题的回答显示，该项目对广泛的教学、职业、人际/个人和研究技能的发展产生了积极的感知影响。大多数学生报告称，该项目对他们的研究生产力要么没有影响，要么有积极影响，这支持了之前的研究成果，即在研究生院培养教学专业知识并不妨碍学科研究进展。FUSE项目为科学教学和循证实践中适应性强的研究生课程提供了一个模型，该课程促进了综合STEM学者的发展，并利用了研究型大学中专注于教学的教师的教学专业知识。
