Transforming Undergraduate STEM Experiences Through the Next Generation of Scientist and Engineer Educators

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The Professional Development Program (PDP) develops future faculty expertise by training participants (mostly graduate students) to teach science and engineering at the undergraduate level. The PDP has evolved over ten years and consists of workshops, a practical teaching experience, and a post-teaching reflection. Participants all design and teach an inquiry learning activity that integrates inclusive teaching strategies, and then they evaluate the effectiveness of their activity using evidence gathered through an assessment, which they also design. Over 200 participants, primarily from two institutions, have now completed the full program. The current project is expanding the impact of the PDP by improving the efficiency and the sustainability of the program, and its accessibility to a broader audience. Efforts include: transitioning from a fully in-person training model to a blended online/in-person approach; training new apprentice instructors of the program at new sites; testing new dissemination models and implementing them at four new partner sites; and monitoring the effectiveness of the PDP through objective assessments. This project is forward-looking and focused on dissemination. It will expand annual capacity from about 60 to about 100 participants, and the number of sites from two to six. PDP participants will, in turn, teach 300 undergraduates per year. As the expanded group of PDP alumni continue to advance in their careers, this project has the potential to affect a paradigm shift toward more effective, inclusive teaching nationally.