Classroom Observations Indicate the Positive Impacts of Discipline-Based Professional Development

Abstract

We compared 236 geoscience instructors' histories of professional development (PD) participation with classroom observations using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) that describe undergraduate classes as Student-Centered (score ≥ 50), Transitional (score 31-49) or Teacher-Centered (score ≤ 30). Instructors who attended PD (n = 111) have higher average RTOP scores (44.5 vs. 34.2) and are more frequently observed teaching Student-Centered classes (33% vs. 13%) than instructors with no PD (p < 0.001). Instructors who attended PD that is topically-aligned with content taught during the classroom observation are likely to have RTOP scores that are higher by 13.5 points (p < 0.0001), and are 5.6 times more likely to teach a Student-Centered class than instructors without topically-aligned PD. Comparable odds of teaching Student-Centered classes (5.8x) occur for instructors who attended two topical PD events but were observed teaching a different topic. Models suggest that instructors with at least 24 h of PD are significantly more likely to teach a Student-Centered class than instructors with fewer hours. Our results highlight the effectiveness of disciplinespecific PD in impacting teaching practices, and the importance of attending more than one such PD event to aid transfer of learning.

Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices

“…These results are supported by the importance of the FIRST IV program in the model of learner-centered teaching practice ( Table 5). Participation in FIRST IV was a significant predictor of RTOP scores, reaffirming the value of teaching professional development in improving scientific teaching practices in the classroom [18,100,101].…”

“…In higher education, instructors are faced with overlapping professional obligations and teaching support and constraints from their institution, department, and peers [14,15]. While past research has explored some of these influences on teaching practices, few studies have taken a multidimensional approach to exploring the factors that influence teaching of learner-centered courses [16][17][18]. As part of a longitudinal study of the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) IV program [19,20], we sought to tease apart the relative factors that drive the implementation of learnercentered teaching practices.…”

Design and impact of the national workshop for early career geoscience faculty

“…Effective faculty professional development draws upon how faculty learn through peer interactions using structured approaches to foster dialogue such as through faculty learning circles (Beach & Cox, 2009;Cox, 2013;Richlin & Essington, 2004), campus or departmental programs (Beyer, Taylor, & Gillmore, 2013;Owens et al, 2018) or discipline-specific workshops such as the Workshop for Early Career Geoscience Faculty. Classroom observation studies of geoscience teaching substantiate the role that discipline-specific workshops can play in faculty adoption of active learning teaching strategies (Manduca et al, 2017;Viskupic et al, 2019). Viskupic et al (2019) identified facilitation of peer learning where participants "work collectively [and] where discourse is supported by participants' commonalities such as discipline" as a critical feature of professional development to support changes in instruction (p. 4).…”

“…Classroom observation studies of geoscience teaching substantiate the role that discipline-specific workshops can play in faculty adoption of active learning teaching strategies (Manduca et al, 2017;Viskupic et al, 2019). Viskupic et al (2019) identified facilitation of peer learning where participants "work collectively [and] where discourse is supported by participants' commonalities such as discipline" as a critical feature of professional development to support changes in instruction (p. 4).…”

“…For the poster session, they construct posters about new ideas for their teaching and scholarly work that they plan to implement, get new ideas from viewing others' posters, give and receive peer feedback, and finally write reflections on their posters and the feedback they received. Viskupic et al (2019) noted that faculty who participate in geoscience professional development are more frequently observed teaching student-centered active-learning classes. Amongst the opportunities for geoscience faculty development, the Workshop for Early Career Geoscience Faculty has additional features that might help participants to be more likely to adopt evidence-based active-learning approaches.…”