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Session 3530

A COMPARISON OF BIOENGINEERING FACULTY MEMBERS’ TEACHING PATTERNS AT ONE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY Monica Farmer Cox, Alene H. Harris, Ph.D. Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, Peabody College at Vanderbilt University/ Department of Teaching and Learning, Peabody College at Vanderbilt University

Abstract- This paper explores and compares global teaching patterns of biomedical engineering faculty at Vanderbilt University as captured by the VaNTH Observation System (VOS). The VOS is a four-part classroom observation instrument developed in 1999 for use within VaNTH Engineering Research Center bioengineering classrooms at Vanderbilt University, Northwestern University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Harvard/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Science and Technology. Revised from the Stallings Observation System for K-12 classrooms, the VOS is used by trained observers to obtain qualitative and quantitative unbiased information about in-class student activities and faculty teaching patterns. The first part of the VOS, the Classroom Interaction Observation (CIO), records the frequency of faculty and student interactions, the type of classroom interactions, faculty’s use of “How People Learn” learning theory constructs, and faculty’s use of media. The second part, the Student Engagement Observation (SEO), notes the presence and absence of desired academic behaviors of students with media, a professor, or by themselves. Narrative Notes (NN), the third part of the VOS, allows observers to type information about the lesson content and context of a lesson on a keyboard in addition to details about extenuating in-class circumstances and additional observations. Finally, the Global Ratings (GR) note the presence or absence of classroom occurrences. Although the CIO, SEO, and NN data are recorded sequentially and cyclically throughout a class period, GR data is recorded once near the end of a class period. Using real-time data collected from the Global Ratings portion of the VOS for bioengineering faculty over several semesters, this study will explore the presence or absence of the following within observed classrooms: 1) faculty’s signaling with cognitive organizers and usage of content linkages, (2) faculty and student in-class assessment patterns, and (3) professors’ overall pedagogical patterns. More specifically, preliminary information about the percentage of observed instances of seventeen Likert scale items will be examined, and patterns across traditionally-taught and nontraditionally taught, HPL classes will be explored.

Background and Introduction The VaNTH Observation System (VOS) is a four-part classroom observation instrument developed in 1999 for use within VaNTH Engineering Research Center (ERC) bioengineering classrooms in VaNTH-member institutions (Vanderbilt University, Northwestern University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Harvard/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Science and Technology).1 Select classes use instructor-developed educational materials based upon the “How People Learn” (HPL) learning theory.2 These materials work to integrate the domains of bioengineering, learning science, and learning technology at the postsecondary level as they provide lessons that are knowledge-centered, student-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered. These four “centerednesses,” when used with traditional academic methods, have been found to optimize students’ learning experiences. Classes in which HPL constructs are used contain appropriate and well-organized content, opportunities for students to connect academic content and their prior knowledge and experiences, opportunities for both instructors and students to test formatively what is and is not

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2004, American Society for Engineering Education

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Harris, A., & Cox, M. (2004, June), A Comparison Of Bioengineering Faculty Members' Teaching Patterns At One Research University Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13472