A MODEL FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING-FOCUSED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT US PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Teaching-focused professional development (TFPD) programs include workshops or courses in which instructors of undergraduate STEM courses can learn about pedagogy. Despite the plethora of TFPD programs available to undergraduate STEM instructors, there is an absence of models that can be used as a basis for characterizing and evaluating the potential for TFPD programs to transform undergraduate STEM education. Thus, the purpose of this multiple-case study is to develop such a model.

This multiple-case study examines the sets of TFPD programs offered at three US public institutions of higher education (IHEs): a community college, an emerging-research institution, and a research-intensive institution. An inventory of the sets of TFPD programs offered at each institution from 2014 to 2019 was developed. Borko’s (2007) and Futrell’s (1995) models provide the theoretical framework for this study.

Borko’s model describes the components of a PD system. Futrell’s model describes the factors in PD that lead to education transformation. Borko’s and Futrell’s models were used to analyze each institution’s set of TFPD programs.

The two models and our analysis of this study’s results were combined to create a new model. The new model can be used to characterize and evaluate TFPD programs in terms of their potential to transform STEM education at IHEs.

Recommendations are made for how the participating IHEs can improve their sets of TFPD programs to facilitate STEM education transformation more effectively.