THE IMPACT OF TEACHING-FOCUSED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS RELATIVE TO GEOSCIENCE FACULTY CAREER STAGE

Evidence-based instructional methods (EBIMs) are activities that cognitively engage students. Instructors can learn about EBIMs through professional development (PD) programs. This study investigates possible relationships between faculty career stage, PD attendance, and EBIM implementation.

Using Bandura’s concept of triadic reciprocal determinism (TRD) as a theoretical framework and the methodology of a multiple-case study, 19 geoscience instructors were interviewed over Zoom. Their interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded using the primary components of TRD.

Preliminary results show trends between faculty career stage, PD program attendance, and EBIM implementation. Faculty members early in their teaching careers (less than two years of experience) tend to participate in PD programs because they believe they “[do] not know how to teach.” Nevertheless, they implement only a few EBIMs they learned about in PD programs. Reasons given for this lack of implementation include “[not being] at that level of teaching yet” and not having time to prepare to implement them.

Instructors with three to five years of experience rely on PD programs, their peers, and their past teaching experiences to make instructional decisions. They actively incorporate more EBIMs into their teaching. This group more commonly implements low time commitment EBIMs, such as, think-pair-share, clicker questions, and posing open-ended questions during class discussions. This group uses a trial-and-error method for evaluating whether an EBIM worked and whether to modify it.

Instructors with seven to 15 years of experience mostly attend PD programs when the timing fits their schedules. This group also uses a trial-and-error method for evaluating and modifying EBIMs.

After instructors gain 16+ years of teaching experience, they attend PD programs less frequently. These instructors are confident in the courses they teach and mostly rely on their previous teaching experiences to make instructional decisions. Those with experience implementing EBIMs in the past continue to do so; whereas those without experience implementing EBIMs do not see the reason to implement them.

The implications of these results and recommendations will also be discussed.