Facilitating Instructor Adoption of Inquiry-Based Learning in College Mathematics

Abstract

Faculty development workshops are one strategy for increasing instructor use of evidence-based teaching practices that are known to improve student outcomes in mathematics and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines. Yet relatively little is known about the impact of professional development on teaching practice in higher education. We report findings on participant outcomes from a series of annual, weeklong professional development workshops for college mathematics instructors about Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) in undergraduate mathematics. We gathered data from surveys with the 139 workshop participants and interviews with a subset of 16 participants. These workshops were found to be effective in encouraging instructors to try this student-centered approach to teaching mathematics, as 58 % of participants reported implementing IBL strategies in the year following the workshop they attended. Analysis suggested that certain features of the workshops supported participants' adoption of IBL strategies. The findings pointed to the importance of (1) sharing broad, inclusive definitions of IBL, (2) representing viewpoints and experiences from diverse institutional contexts, (3) allowing sufficient time within the workshop to explore and revisit topics, (4) addressing common concerns such as content coverage, student resistance, and skills to implement IBL, and (5) providing ongoing follow-up support and inclusion in the community of IBL practitioners. We also make connections with studies of the impact of instructional development in other STEM disciplines and share implications for effective professional development in general.

Evaluation Methodology and Results for the New Faculty Workshops

“…Given participants' interest in a broad survey of techniques, and their 50/50 split on needing more time to practice what they learned, the evaluation has recommended providing some sessions with an explicit focus on knowledge (e.g., broad survey sessions), but explicitly focus others on skill and selfefficacy, with a goal of encouraging participants to be more self-reflective teachers. Another workshop [8] demonstrated higher levels of gain in skill, and included hands-on activities, work time, and video observations. The NFW is in the process of incorporating more of such strategies, including online faculty learning communities [12], which may enable further gains in this area.…”

“…Survey instruments were informed by former evaluation efforts of the NFW [1] and physics faculty [3] and similar efforts in mathematics [8] and chemistry [9]. Evaluation data comes from pre-and post-workshop surveys [10], field notes, and workshop observations, plus a new oneyear follow-up survey to assess longer term impacts.…”

“…These seven Likert-scale questions, given pre-post, are intended to measure variables that could impact participants' ability to use active learning effectively: competence, autonomy, and relatedness [6]. We have operationalized these three factors as knowledge, skill, motivation, belief in the effectiveness of, selfefficacy (to support others, and get good student evaluations), and social support in using active learning (adapted from work by Hayward et al [8]). Participant Outcomes items are analyzed for a pre/post matched sample.…”

A comparison study of pre/post-test and retrospective pre-test for measuring faculty attitude change

“…This paper focuses on a series of 7 Likert-scale questions (see Fig. 1) included on all 3 surveys that tap into participants attitudes and beliefs about active learning (inspired by similar questions in mathematics workshops [20]). The pre-test and post-test versions appeared as shown, and were administered on the pre-and post-workshop surveys respectively.…”

Research on Teaching and Learning Mathematics at the Tertiary Level: State-of-the-Art and Looking Ahead

“…This interest has been reflected in the research in this area. For example, Hayward et al (2015) report on the impact a series of annual, weeklong PD workshops for college mathematics teachers on Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) in undergraduate mathematics had on their teaching practice. 58 % of the teachers reported implementing IBL strategies in the year following the workshop they attended.…”