Collaborative Research: From Dissemination to Adoption: A Study of the Instructional Change Process in Faculty Most Likely to Succeed

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Physics (13)This two-phased project is guiding efforts to encourage the use of research-based teaching strategies in college-level physics instruction. The project is studying the instructional change process in general, identifying barriers to change, and identifying change affordances. The goal of the first phase is to observe the change process as it happens. A five-semester longitudinal study of fifteen faculty who have participated in the NSF-supported Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop and who have indicated a willingness to engage in instructional change is being conducted. This study allows the examination of changes in instructional beliefs and practices as they happen in actual course settings over an extended period of time. Data include faculty interviews conducted at the beginning and end of each semester, surveys of the faculty conducted every three weeks throughout the semester, and teaching artifacts. For the study's second phase, all faculty who have participated in the New Faculty Workshop for the past five years are being surveyed. This second faculty cohort provides the study with a range of participants - from those who have just experienced the workshop to those who have had significant time to incorporate and reflect on their workshop experiences and to seek additional information about instructional innovations. The second study focuses on testing ideas generated as a result of the longitudinal study and on generating more generalized results because of the larger sample size.