A variety of instructional practices have been shown to enhance student learning outcomes in chemistry, yet some evidence suggests that propagation of these practices has proven challenging. To increase faculty awareness and adoption of evidence-based instructional strategies, a series of on-site, semester-long, NSF-funded faculty development workshops were developed and implemented at a research-intensive institution. This study thoroughly characterizes the effectiveness of these workshops in influencing faculty classroom practices. Using a quasi-experimental research design, we collected pre- and post-workshop data from treatment and control populations of faculty. The impact on instructional practices was characterized through the triangulation of classroom observations, a validated student evaluation survey, and a validated survey characterizing faculty approaches to teaching. Classroom recordings were analyzed using two existing observation protocols, the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) and the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS). A summary and interpretation of our findings will be presented, and implications for bridging the chemistry education research-practice gap via faculty development workshops will be discussed.

Influencing faculty instructional strategies: The effect of an on-site, semester-long faculty development workshop on classroom practices

248th National Meeting (2014)

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