Professional Development Program on Active Learning for Engineering Faculty in Chile: First Stage

Faculty Development Program on Active Learning for Engineering Faculty in Chile: Sharing Step

“…As we presented at ASEE 2017, [2], we designed a program for in-service teacher preparation of the engineering faculty in a large private university. This program is specially designed to promote and ensure the use of Active and Innovative Methodologies and to strengthen a learning community that can sustain over time the usage of these methodologies.…”

“…The activities for the selected group, Continuous Faculty Development Program, last one academic semester each and take place at each of the three campuses in different cities. Previous works [2], [11], suggest an approach to professional development that is based on the conceptual change theory [12] and pays attention to four separate elements:…”

“…That is, the conceptual change approach is used to structure the entire program, as well as three of the steps within the program (Step 1, 2 and 5). For further description of the six sequential steps and a study of the assessment and effect of the program, see [2].…”

“…Two issues are central to the design of the activities to be carried out during the two-day training for all faculty. First, the relevance of a faculty development program that focuses on strategies that report having worked in the discipline at the university level rather than teaching strategies for general education [2]. Second, the need to socialize teaching innovation experiences to motivate more participants in the task, making them realize that it is possible to design and implement active learning activities that capture students' attention and empower them about their own learning.…”

“…That is, teachers need to abandon the role of information providers, while students must leave the passive role of recipients of that information. It is necessary to transform it into a model with a focus on the student and on their learning [2], [3], [4].…”