Coaching and Feedback in a Faculty Professional Development Program that Integrates the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Pedagogical Best Practices into Capstone Design Courses

Lindy Hamilton Mayled; Lydia Ross; James Collofello; Stephen J. Krause; Keith D. Hjelmstad; Brent James Sebold; Sarah Hoyt

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Faculty Development Medley
Tagged Division: Faculty Development Constituent Committee
Page Count: 16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32513
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/32513
Download Count: 541

Paper Authors

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Lindy Hamilton Mayled Arizona State University

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Lindy Hamilton Mayled is the Director of Instructional Effectiveness for the Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. She has a PhD in Psychology of Learning, Education, and Technology from Grand Canyon University. Her research and areas of interest are in improving educational outcomes for STEM students through the integration of active learning and technology-enabled frequent feedback. Prior to her role and Director of Instructional Effectiveness, she worked as the Education Project Manager for the NSF-funded JTFD Engineering faculty development program, as a high school math and science teacher, and as an Assistant Principal and Instructional & Curriculum Coach.

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Lydia Ross Arizona State University

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Lydia Ross is a doctoral candidate and graduate research assistant at Arizona State University.nHer research interests focus on higher education equity and access, particularly within STEM.

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James Collofello Arizona State University

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Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
School of Computing Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering
Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

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Stephen J. Krause Arizona State University

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Stephen Krause is professor in the Materials Science Program in the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. He teaches in the areas of introductory materials engineering, polymers and composites, and capstone design. His research interests include evaluating conceptual knowledge, misconceptions and technologies to promote conceptual change. He has co-developed a Materials Concept Inventory and a Chemistry Concept Inventory for assessing conceptual knowledge and change for introductory materials science and chemistry classes. He is currently conducting research on NSF projects in two areas. One is studying how strategies of engagement and feedback with support from internet tools and resources affect conceptual change and associated impact on students' attitude, achievement, and persistence. The other is on the factors that promote persistence and success in retention of undergraduate students in engineering. He was a coauthor for best paper award in the Journal of Engineering Education in 2013.

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Keith D. Hjelmstad Arizona State University

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Keith D. Hjelmstad is President's Professor of Civil Engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University.

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Brent James Sebold Arizona State University

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Brent Sebold is the Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship + Innovation Training and Development Network within Arizona State University’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development. In this role, Brent leads a variety of enterprise-wide entrepreneurial training and development initiatives for student, faculty, and community-based innovators. Concurrently, Sebold serves as the Director of Entrepreneurship @ the Fulton Schools within ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Dr. Sebold is responsible for the organization and advancement of curricular and co-curricular entrepreneurship programs for all Fulton students and faculty. He also oversees the eSeed Challenge + Accelerator, which is the Schools’ premier new venture funding and support initiative. Brent also co-directs the Fulton Generator Labs, which is a 6,500 square foot workspace for student enterprisers.

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Sarah Hoyt Arizona State University

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Sarah Hoyt is currently the Education Project Manager for the NSF-funded JTFD Engineering faculty development program. Her educational background includes two Master's degrees from Grand Canyon University in Curriculum and Instruction and Education Administration. Her areas of interest are in student inclusion programs and creating faculty development that ultimately boost engagement and performance in students from lower SES backgrounds. Prior to her role as project manager, Sarah worked as the SEI Coordinator for a local high school and has also developed an inclusion program for Migrant and Immigrant students that utilized co-teaching and active learning as keystones of the program. She began her educational career as a high school teacher, teaching courses in English, math, and science.

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Abstract

Abstract This evidence-based practice paper reports on the impact of individualized coaching as part of a broader professional development program for capstone engineering faculty. Research shows that coaching can help improve the ways that faculty conceptualize their classes, implement new ideas into their teaching, and facilitate incorporation of more diverse pedagogical approaches. An increased emphasis on pedagogical practices and effective teaching has resulted in the growth of professional development programs for faculty in higher education. However, coaching, or targeted one-on-one discussions about teaching strategies and practices, is still quite rare in post-secondary settings. This study examines the effect of individualized faculty coaching as part of a professional development program for engineering faculty teaching capstone courses across multiple disciplines at a large southwestern university. The project, funded by the Kern Family Foundation, began in fall of 2018 with the aim of institutionalizing the entrepreneurial mindset (EM), improving and expanding evidence-based pedagogical strategies in capstone courses, and creating a faculty Community of Practice to share resources and best classroom practices.

Sixteen capstone faculty from multiple engineering disciplines participated in three workshops and three coaching sessions in the fall semester. The workshops promoted the EM and evidence-based pedagogical best practice and covered topics including: (a) ‘cultivating curiosity’ for opportunity recognition, (b) writing measurable student learning objectives, (c) ‘making connections’ in the design process, (d) teamwork and cooperative and collaborative learning, (e) reflection on how and when these practices could be institutionalized in the capstone course. Faculty participated in monthly group workshops followed by individual coaching sessions with two members of the professional development leadership team. The two-member coaching team was comprised of two “experts” – one in the EM and the other in pedagogical practices. The coaching sessions included open-ended questions for faculty reflection on implementation of EM and instructional teaching strategies. The coaching sessions also provided the professional development team with insight into the needs of the faculty for future workshop sessions as well as an opportunity to discuss existing exemplar resources from faculty that could be shared with the larger group. Coaching sessions were documented through a Google form, which captured coaching discussion details on the following: (i) pedagogy-related topics discussed during the coaching session, (ii) EM-related topics discussed during the coaching session, (iii) faculty requests for additional information/resources, and (iv) summary of the discussion and available faculty exemplars. This study focuses on both the quantitative and open-ended qualitative items to characterize common themes brought up during the coaching meetings, measure change across the semester on discussion and implementation of classroom strategies, and assessment of the effectiveness of the workshop and coaching meetings. This data is evaluated in conjunction with faculty interviews and end-of-semester faculty surveys to gauge the effectiveness of the workshop and coaching sessions for implementation and accountability of project goals. Initial analysis indicates that professional development, combined with coaching, is effective in supporting faculty with integration of both the entrepreneurial mindset and pedagogical best practices into their capstone design courses. The authors look forward to presenting these results in either a paper or poster session at the ASEE conference.

Citation
Format

Mayled, L. H., & Ross, L., & Collofello, J., & Krause, S. J., & Hjelmstad, K. D., & Sebold, B. J., & Hoyt, S. (2019, June), Coaching and Feedback in a Faculty Professional Development Program that Integrates the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Pedagogical Best Practices into Capstone Design Courses Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32513

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Abstract
This evidence-based practice paper reports on the impact of individualized coaching as part of a broader professional development program for capstone engineering faculty. Research shows that coaching can help improve the ways that faculty conceptualize their classes, implement new ideas into their teaching, and facilitate incorporation of more diverse pedagogical approaches. An increased emphasis on pedagogical practices and effective teaching has resulted in the growth of professional development programs for faculty in higher education. However, coaching, or targeted one-on-one discussions about teaching strategies and practices, is still quite rare in post-secondary settings. This study examines the effect of individualized faculty coaching as part of a professional development program for engineering faculty teaching capstone courses across multiple disciplines at a large southwestern university. The project, funded by the Kern Family Foundation, began in fall of 2018 with the aim of institutionalizing the entrepreneurial mindset (EM), improving and expanding evidence-based pedagogical strategies in capstone courses, and creating a faculty Community of Practice to share resources and best classroom practices.   

Sixteen capstone faculty from multiple engineering disciplines participated in three workshops and three coaching sessions in the fall semester. The workshops promoted the EM and evidence-based pedagogical best practice and covered topics including: (a) ‘cultivating curiosity’ for opportunity recognition, (b) writing measurable student learning objectives, (c) ‘making connections’ in the design process, (d) teamwork and cooperative and collaborative learning, (e) reflection on how and when these practices could be institutionalized in the capstone course.  Faculty participated in monthly group workshops followed by individual coaching sessions with two members of the professional development leadership team. The two-member coaching team was comprised of two “experts” – one in the EM and the other in pedagogical practices. The coaching sessions included open-ended questions for faculty reflection on implementation of EM and instructional teaching strategies. The coaching sessions also provided the professional development team with insight into the needs of the faculty for future workshop sessions as well as an opportunity to discuss existing exemplar resources from faculty that could be shared with the larger group.  
Coaching sessions were documented through a Google form, which captured coaching discussion details on the following: (i) pedagogy-related topics discussed during the coaching session, (ii) EM-related topics discussed during the coaching session, (iii) faculty requests for additional information/resources, and (iv) summary of the discussion and available faculty exemplars. This study focuses on both the quantitative and open-ended qualitative items to characterize common themes brought up during the coaching meetings, measure change across the semester on discussion and implementation of classroom strategies, and assessment of the effectiveness of the workshop and coaching meetings. This data is evaluated in conjunction with faculty interviews and end-of-semester faculty surveys to gauge the effectiveness of the workshop and coaching sessions for implementation and accountability of project goals. Initial analysis indicates that professional development, combined with coaching, is effective in supporting faculty with integration of both the entrepreneurial mindset and pedagogical best practices into their capstone design courses. The authors look forward to presenting these results in either a paper or poster session at the ASEE conference. 

AU  - Lindy Hamilton Mayled
AU  - Lydia Ross
AU  - James Collofello
AU  - Stephen J. Krause
AU  - Keith D. Hjelmstad
AU  - Brent James Sebold
AU  - Sarah Hoyt
CY  - Tampa, Florida
DA  - 2019/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Coaching and Feedback in a Faculty Professional Development Program that Integrates the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Pedagogical Best Practices into Capstone Design Courses
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/32513
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--32513
ER  -