Board 31: Gateways-ND: Advancing Learner-Focused Instruction to Catalyze STEM Student Success
- Conference
- Location
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Salt Lake City, Utah
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2018
- Start Date
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June 23, 2018
- End Date
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July 27, 2018
- Conference Session
- Tagged Topic
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NSF Grantees Poster Session
- Page Count
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5
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--30005
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/30005
- Download Count
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452
Paper Authors
Jill M. D. Motschenbacher
North Dakota State University
orcid.org/0000-0002-5820-3287
Associate Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning; Adjunct Professor of Soil Science - North Dakota State University
Rebecca Reichenbach
Mark Hanson North Dakota State University
Mark Hanson is Associate Director of Institutional Research at North Dakota State University.
Emily A. Berg Berg North Dakota State University
Emily Berg is the Director of Institutional Research and Analysis at North Dakota State University.
Jared Ladbury North Dakota State University
Paul Kelter North Dakota State University
Paul Kelter’s 38-year career has focused on the integration and transfer of knowledge among students and teachers at all educational levels. He was the inaugural director of the Science Outreach Office at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh in the late 1980’s through early 1990’s. Many of the programs he instituted via external funding are still part of that office. He was the co-PI on the successful, long-term Operation Chemistry literacy program for all levels of teachers, and parlayed that national program into grant-funded summer and year-round workshops in Wisconsin, Nebraska, and North Carolina over a 15-year period. During his 7-year tenure at Northern Illinois University (NIU), Kelter worked extensively with middle school teachers in high-Latino population communities in the service of science education. He has been at the forefront of science literacy for postsecondary students via three major chemistry textbooks, aimed at the first-year chemistry audience, as well as a book on the international impact of chemistry and learning. Kelter has won two dozen campus, state, and national awards in education, including career-long designations at distinguished teacher at the Universities of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Nebraska, and Illinois. He was Board of Trustees professor at Northern Illinois University, the highest professorship available at that university. He began present position as the inaugural director of the Office of Teaching and Learning at North Dakota State University in June 2014. His current interest is advocating for literacy in sustainable development among students and teachers.
Lisa Montplaisir
James Nyachwaya North Dakota State University
James Nyachwaya is an assistant professor in the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Education at North Dakota State University.
Abstract
Gateways-ND is a five-year (2015-2020) National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded instructional faculty and staff development program that is designed to offer relevant, collaborative, and sustained support to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educators at North Dakota State University. Each fall, 30+ instructional faculty and staff form a cohort that participates in workshops and ongoing faculty learning communities (FLCs) over two years. To date, 103 faculty have been a part of three cohorts. The instructional material of the program draws on current evidence-based pedagogy and course design to teach faculty and staff how to create and/or reinvent STEM courses to be learner-focused and engaging. The aims are to increase student learning, improve student outcomes in gateways (high-enrollment, first-year, high D, F, and W rate) STEM courses, and to form mutually supportive groups of faculty interested in teaching and learning.
Gateways-ND has been successfully running for two years. In total, 56% of the 103 participating faculty are women, and the 83 STEM participants (52% women) come from a wide variety of STEM fields, including the biological, pharmaceutical, geological, plant, animal, and computer sciences, industrial, electrical, civil and environmental, and mechanical engineering, psychology, coatings and materials, physics, and math. The 20 non-STEM participants, who were funded through additional sources from the Office of the Provost, participated in the program to extend active learning ideologies past STEM disciplines within the institution.
Each cohort includes 10 full days of workshops spread over 1.5 years, as well as smaller Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) that meet every three weeks during the academic year. Teaching-related data has been collected using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) instrument and student attitudinal data using separate surveys. Participant journals show the positive impact of the FLCs and other project collaborations have on active learning-based teaching, including assessment. Workshops examining learner analytics (i.e., using early student course performance to identify and intervene with students) resulted in suggested courses of action including early alert messaging, further integrating existing student support services, and framing interventions to increase student belonging. Classes are also becoming more active for students. Instructors are showing a 20% year-over-year reduction (M = 67.61%, S.D. = 23.8% vs. M = 56.32%, S.D. = 21.6% percent of coding intervals) in lecturing, as captured by the COPUS for the first cohort [t(27) = -2.30, p = .03] and a three-fold year-over-year increase (M = 5.2%, S.D. = 9.4% vs. M = 16.1%, SD = 21.6% percent of coding intervals) in the amount of time instructors use group work in the classroom [t(27) = 2.52, p =.02].
Gateways-ND will continue for three more years (until 2020), at which time over 150 faculty will have completed the two-year faculty development program at North Dakota State University, which will directly impact the educational experiences of nearly 30,000 students.
Motschenbacher, J. M. D., & Reichenbach, R., & Hanson, M., & Berg, E. A., & Ladbury, J., & Kelter, P., & Montplaisir, L., & Nyachwaya, J. (2018, June), Board 31: Gateways-ND: Advancing Learner-Focused Instruction to Catalyze STEM Student Success Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30005
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