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Applying Research on Reducing Student Resistance to Active Learning Through Faculty Development: Project Update

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--36693

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/36693

Download Count

383

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Paper Authors

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Laura J. Carroll University of Michigan

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Laura Carroll is a PhD candidate pursuing a degree in Engineering Education Research at the University of Michigan.

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Lea K. Marlor University of Michigan

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Lea Marlor is a Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan, studying Engineering Education Research. She joined the University of Michigan in Sept 2019.

Previously, she was the Associate Director for Education for the Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science, a NSF-funded Science and Technology Center at the University of California, Berkeley. She managed undergraduate research programs to recruit and retain underrepresented students in science and engineering and also outreach to pre-college students to introduce them to science and engineering career opportunities. Ms. Marlor joined University of California, Berkeley in 2013. She has a B.S. in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Cynthia J. Finelli University of Michigan Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-9148-1492

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Dr. Cynthia Finelli is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Professor of Education, and Director and Graduate Chair of the Engineering Education Research Program at University of Michigan (U-M). Dr. Finelli is a fellow in the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE), and she has served as deputy editor for the Journal for Engineering Education, associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Education, and chair of the Educational Research and Methods Division of ASEE. She founded the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering at U-M in 2003 and served as its Director for 12 years. Prior to joining U-M, Dr. Finelli was the Richard L. Terrell Professor of Excellence in Teaching, founding director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Kettering University.

Dr. Finelli's current research interests include student resistance to active learning, faculty adoption of evidence-based teaching practices, and the use of technology and innovative pedagogies on student learning and success. She also led a project to develop a taxonomy for the field of engineering education research, and she was part of a team that studied ethical decision-making in engineering students.

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Matthew Charles Graham

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Madison E. Andrews University of Texas at Austin Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-9653-9785

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Madison Andrews is a STEM Education doctoral student, Mechanical Engineering master’s student, and graduate research assistant for the Center for Engineering Education at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University in 2017.

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Jenefer Husman University of Oregon

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Jenefer Husman received a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1998. She served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama from 1998 to 2002, when she moved to Arizona State University. In 2008 she was promoted by ASU to Associate Professor. She is currently a Professor in the Education Studies Department at the University of Oregon. Dr. Husman served as the Director of Education for the Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technology Center - an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center from 2011-2016. Dr. Husman is an assistant editor of the Journal of Engineering Education, and is a member of the editorial board of Learning and Instruction. In 2006 she was awarded the U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER grant award and received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the President of the United States. She has conducted and advised on educational research projects and grants in both the public and private sectors, and served as an external reviewer for doctoral dissertations outside the U.S. She publishes regularly in peer-reviewed journals and books. Dr. Husman was a founding member and first President of the Southwest Consortium for Innovative Psychology in Education and has held both elected and appointed offices in the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Motivation Special Interest Group of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction.

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Michael J. Prince Bucknell University

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Dr. Michael Prince is a professor of chemical engineering at Bucknell University and co-director of the National Effective Teaching Institute. His research examines a range of engineering education topics, including how to assess and repair student misconceptions and how to increase the adoption of research-based instructional strategies by college instructors and corporate trainers. He is actively engaged in presenting workshops on instructional design to both academic and corporate instructors.

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Maura J. Borrego University of Texas at Austin

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Maura Borrego is Director of the Center for Engineering Education and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and STEM Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Borrego is Senior Associaate Editor for Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering. She previously served as Deputy Editor for Journal of Engineering Education, a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, on the board of the American Society for Engineering Education, and as an associate dean and director of interdisciplinary graduate programs. Her research awards include U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a National Science Foundation CAREER award, and two outstanding publication awards from the American Educational Research Association for her journal articles. All of Dr. Borrego’s degrees are in Materials Science and Engineering. Her M.S. and Ph.D. are from Stanford University, and her B.S. is from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Abstract

This paper provides an update on our research study about active learning in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. We designed an instructional development workshop to motivate STEM instructors to use active learning and to adopt evidence-based strategies to reduce student resistance to active learning. Our study is a randomized control trial (RCT) to investigate the impact of this workshop intervention on STEM instructors’ attitudes and behavior. To measure this, we plan to survey both instructors and their students, before and after the workshop. To prepare for our RCT, we developed survey instruments, assessed pilot offerings of our workshop, and investigated student resistance to active learning in classes of workshop participants.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we delayed our RCT study and temporarily shifted our research to encompass active learning in online STEM classes. Our interim investigations begin to fill a research gap related to active learning in online classes. They comprise three research foci: (1) student resistance to online active learning, (2) barriers instructors experience in implementing online active learning, and (3) strategies instructors use to promote student engagement during online active learning. Here, we summarize our research progress, describe our ongoing research, and share our next steps.

Carroll, L. J., & Marlor, L. K., & Finelli, C. J., & Graham , M. C., & Andrews, M. E., & Husman, J., & Prince, M. J., & Borrego, M. J. (2021, July), Applying Research on Reducing Student Resistance to Active Learning Through Faculty Development: Project Update Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--36693

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