Theory of Change to Practice: How Experimentalist Teaching Enabled Faculty to Navigate the COVID-19 Disruption

Abstract

The College of New Jersey’s Chemistry Department and School of Science have been strategically transforming our teaching, learning, and mentoring environments for over a decade through programs that are targeted toward “new majority” students: low-income, first generation, and historically marginalized races and ethnicities. Recently, we shifted from programs that target a small number of students to focus on systemic and structural changes to create inclusive excellence. We formalized our work in a Theory of Change (ToC) that emphasizes mechanisms for our faculty to depart from traditional pedagogy to become experimentalist teachers who use evidence-based practices and data to support our student success. The ToC is built on three pillars: (1) gaining empathy and understanding of our students, (2) a changing toolkit of acceptable pedagogical practices, and (3) a process to create shared language and values and an understanding of our responsibilities to our students. By focusing on mechanism, we do not prescribe a single pedagogy but instead are flexible for different course contexts. Department work on the ToC allowed our faculty to pivot instead of panic during the shift to online instruction. The students noted smooth transitions to remote learning, and more importantly, departmental discussions regarding pedagogy helped faculty to support each other with suggestions and sharing of best practices. As a department, we learned a great deal during the pandemic that furthers our collective work toward inclusive excellence and believe our ToC is transferable to other institutions.

Identified Challenges from Faculty Teaching at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions after Abrupt Transition to Emergency Remote Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Faculty described a decrease in student engagement and performance in ERT compared to the traditional face-to-face setting. We previously described typical characteristics of PUIs, including close relationships and high levels of engagement between faculty and students [36,42], and a strong emphasis on active teaching [42,44]. It was apparent that the interaction between faculty and students was hindered during ERT.…”

“…However, the close interaction between PUI faculty and undergraduate students has been perceived as a benefit to working at a PUI [40]. The emphasis in providing high quality undergraduate education that is led by pedagogical research and best practices has positioned PUIs to be leaders in shifting higher education from a teacher-centered practice toward a learner-centered practice [43,44].…”

“…A loss of community was identified due to COVID-19 and ERT. Opportunities to extend existing communities of practice into the virtual environment and creating new virtual learning communities can provide faculty a continued sense of belonging, support, and interactive teaching among colleagues (e.g., see [44]). This event tested institutions' infrastructure of teaching and IT support.…”

WebMO: Web‐based computational chemistry calculations in education and research

“…The exploratory nature of computational exercises has resulted in WebMO being used in Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) exercises 89,94,106 . Most recently, WebMO was used by a number of institutions in response to the COVID‐19 outbreak to teach chemical concepts online 107–109 …”

Faculty Professional Development on Inclusive Pedagogy Yields Chemistry Curriculum Transformation, Equity Awareness, and Community

“…By building social connections and increasing self-efficacy, one’s belief that they can succeed at specific tasks, PEERs are retained in STEM. , Science identity, the extent that an individual envisions themselves as a scientist, increases STEM persistence . The College of New Jersey Chemistry Department reported a Theory of Change model that recognizes the importance of understanding a student’s whole self-and endorses an experimentalist approach to teaching by using a changing toolkit of inclusive pedagogies . Awareness of the influence of psychosocial constructs and growth mindset and continual professional learning are critical for comprehensive STEM reform and are cornerstones of our project at Radford University.…”