The CIRTL Network: Shaping, Connecting, and Supporting the ...

Robert Mathieu

Description

1 Dec 2009 – students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty (hereinafter ..... students and post-docs since most programs fill within 48 hours of open registration. .... bring inquiry-guided learning into STEM undergraduate classrooms (http://qep.tamu.edu). ... and Office of Vice president for Research (VPR) to develop this ...

Informations

• Publié par: paul.vallen
• Nombre de lectures: 30
• Langue: English

Extrait

December 2009 The CIRTL Network: Shaping, Connecting, and Supporting the Future National STEM Faculty 2009 Annual Report University of Colorado at Boulder Howard University Michigan State University Texas A&M University Vanderbilt University University of Wisconsin-Madison The National Science Foundation Background ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Goals of the CIRTL Network ......... 2 CIRTL Learning Communities at Network Universities 2 University of Colorado at Boulder .............................................................................................. 3 Howard University ...................................................... 4 Michigan State University: Changing the Culture of Graduate Education ................................ 6 Texas A&M University .............................................. 8 Vanderbilt University ............................................................................... 10 University of Wisconsin–Madison ........................................................... 12 Cross-Network Initiatives ............. 15 Distance Learning Courses ....................................................................................................... 15 Online Community Center - The CIRTL Café ......... 16 Cross-Network Learning Community ...................................................................................... 16 CIRTL Network Exchange Program ........................ 17 STEM Education Scholars Program ......................... 17 CIRTL Network Seed Grant Program ...................................................................................... 18 Enhancement of Diversity in STEM ......................... 18 Preparing STEM Faculty to Prepare K–12 STEM Teachers .................... 19 Evaluation ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Evaluation Liaisons ................... 21 Cross-Network Evaluation Collaboration ................................................................................. 21 Institutional Portraits ................................ 28 National Dissemination ............. 28 Management .................................................................................................................................. 28 Appendices .... 30 Background Graduate students at research universities will shape the future of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate education in the US. These graduate students, 80% of whom are trained at only 125 research universities, flow into the STEM faculties of all undergraduate institutions, dispersing among more than 4,000 research universities, comprehensive universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges. Equally important, future faculties will be engaged in all forms of STEM education for diverse learners, including college classrooms and laboratories, distance learning, K–12 preservice preparation, and informal education. Thus, the graduate schools of research universities are a critical leverage point for the improvement of national STEM education. The CIRTL Network is using graduate education as the leverage point to develop a national STEM faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse student audiences as part of successful professional careers. The goal of the CIRTL Network is to improve the STEM learning of all students at every college and university, and thereby to increase the diversity in STEM fields and the STEM literacy of the nation. The initial CIRTL (2003-2007) partner universities - the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW), Michigan State University (MSU), and the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) - developed, implemented, evaluated, and institutionalized a prototype CIRTL learning community at UW, the Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning. In 5 years, more than 1,500 STEM graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty (hereinafter graduates-through-faculty) participated in the Delta Program learning community to improve their teaching abilities. This large number shows that the national need is felt at the grassroots of a research university. The prototype demonstrated that a major research university will prepare STEM grad students and postdocs to be both forefront researchers and excellent teachers, and that STEM faculty will provide and support such preparation. The core ideas of CIRTL are teaching-as-research, learning community, and learning-through- diversity. (Appendix A) CIRTL seeks to engage graduates-through-faculty by integrating the improvement of teaching and learning within a STEM research model, and embedding professional development within a learning community of and for graduates-through-faculty. The teaching-as- research idea integrates research, teaching, and learning by guiding STEM educators to engage in their teaching as they engage in their research—know prior work, hypothesize, implement, collect data, analyze, and improve. Development of graduates-through-faculty is fostered in an interdisciplinary learning community that engages and connects all participants in improving their teaching. The diversity of such learning communities promotes understanding that learning of all is enhanced through diversity. The CIRTL Network is a learning community of diverse research universities mutually engaged in teaching-as-research activities to prepare future faculty in teaching and learning for all students. The CIRTL Network comprises six diverse research universities—the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU), Howard University, Michigan State University (MSU), Texas A&M University (TAMU), Vanderbilt University (VU), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). The diversity of these institutions—private/public; large/moderate size; majority-/minority-serving; 1 geographic location—is by design. Building on the strengths of each institution, we are creating CIRTL learning communities both local to each university and across the Network. Goals of the CIRTL Network The goals of the CIRTL Network are to: • Establish interdisciplinary learning communities at every Network university, each founded on the CIRTL core ideas and each effectively preparing graduates-through-faculty to use and improve best practices in STEM teaching and learning with attention to diverse student audiences; • Establish a cross-network learning community by which graduates-through-faculty across the Network are better prepared for teaching as a consequence of the diversity of the universities; • Foster transitions from the Network learning communities into faculty positions that sustain the concepts, practices, and attitudes developed while graduate students or postdocs; • Enhance graduate education in teaching and learning at universities beyond the CIRTL Network. The long-range goal is to produce a national cohort of STEM graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are launching new faculty careers at diverse institutions, demonstrably succeeding in promoting STEM learning for all, and actively engaging in improving teaching and learning practice. In 2009 the Network community further developed the CIRTL Learning Outcomes; the current document is presented in Appendix B. Three types of CIRTL program outcomes were envisioned: CIRTL Fellow, CIRTL Practitioner, and CIRTL Scholar. These three CIRTL outcomes recognize first the role of the CIRTL pillars in effective teaching and learning, then scholarly teaching that builds on the CIRTL pillars to demonstrably improve learning and make the results public, and finally scholarship that advances teaching and learning under peer review. In addition to clarifying and aligning evaluation initiatives across the Network, The level of Practitioner is the primary goal for future faculty in CIRTL Programs. Some will move on to Scholarship, and those at the Fellow level will have a foundation for further professional development thereafter. CIRTL program outcomes conceived in this way permit anyone to enter the CIRTL Network learning community from a wide variety of disciplines, needs, and past experiences, and to achieve success as a teacher at a wide variety of engagement. CIRTL Learning Communities at Network Universities The Delta Program demonstrated that a graduate-through-faculty learning community built on the CIRTL pillars is an effective approach at a research university both to improve preparation for teaching and to promote institutional change. Each member of the CIRTL Network is creating an interdisciplinary learning community for STEM graduates-through-faculty, each centered on preparing future faculty in teaching and learning and founded on the CIRTL pillars. The diversity 2 of the universities provides a diversity of approaches toward realizing professional development in teaching and learning. The collective outcomes include the enhancement of teaching and learning in the disciplines; an emphasis on effective teaching in STEM service courses; a predictive framework for professional development; integration of the learning sciences; development of skills for inquiry-based learning; and preparation of effective research mentors. The needs served by these diverse approaches are common to all research universities; the CIRTL Network allows the lessons learned at each university to be shared by all universities, within the Network and beyond. University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) is a flagship research university of the Rocky Mountain Region. It has long been a leader in preparing future faculty, as