INNOVATIVE AND EFFECTIVE FACULTY TRAINING THROUGH THE MATH YOU NEED, WHEN YOU NEED IT WORKSHOPS

Since 2009, the PIs of The Math You Need, When You Need It project (TMYN; NSF DUE-0920583/0920800) have trained more than 50 geoscience instructors in the use of the program. Designed to attract participants from a variety of institutions, TMYN workshops have provided instruction to 57 faculty members who use TMYN in introductory and upper level geoscience classes at two-year (~50%), four-year (~30%) and graduate (~20%) institutions in 23 states. The TMYN workshop model supports faculty development by 1) focusing on best practices to combat the paucity of students’ quantitative skills; 2) bringing together instructors from diverse institutions who creatively adapt similar courses to include more quantitative content; 3) providing time to adapt an individual’s course to include TMYN and 4) grooming new leaders who provide support to other faculty.

Throughout each workshop, participants learn about TMYN’s use at other institutions from workshop alumni, who provide resources for effective use of TMYN, insights into what works and support for addressing a wide variety of teaching goals. Participants then incorporate TMYN into a pre-existing geoscience course in collaboration with one alumni leader and a group of participants who teach similar classes. Each participant produces a syllabus that integrates TMYN modules into the chosen course and online assessments that evaluate the effectiveness of TMYN at teaching quantitative skills. In addition, workshop participants create a peer-reviewed webpage describing their use of TMYN so that other, similar institutions might benefit. Feedback from workshops suggests that the TMYN workshop model is effective and well-liked by participants, with 93% of those who completed a post-workshop evaluation (n=44) rating their overall satisfaction as 8 or higher on a 1-10 scale. Commonly cited reasons for participants’ satisfaction include: networking with experienced leaders and other participants, ample work/exploration time and the peer review process. More importantly, the majority of participants (~75%) incorporate TMYN into their courses within the first year and some alums have begun to institutionalize the use of TMYN outside their own classroom.