PLANNING GRANT - Transforming the Culture of Teaching and Learning at UCLA: Development of a Change Strategy for STEM Education

通过这个WIDER规划补助金，加州大学洛杉矶分校创建了一个战略行动计划，在本科科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）课程中采用以学生为中心，以证据为基础的教学实践。一个由相关学术和行政部门领导组成的新的STEM教育指导委员会正在带头实施这一举措。该委员会的总体目标是促进在采用和实践循证教学校园范围内的扩张。七个小组委员会正在评估目前的做法，确定障碍，确定最佳做法，了解部门的具体态度。最后，各小组委员会将利用这些信息，根据各部门的具体特点，制定具体的改革行动计划。作为规划的一个组成部分，指导委员会的成员正在与校园领导层合作，利用现有资源支持文化变革，并解决诸如校园教学结构和/或缺乏适当的认可系统等障碍，这些障碍是针对那些擅长提供有效STEM教学的教师的。通过创建一个战略计划，以实施和维持以学生为中心的，积极的学习教学法，加州大学洛杉矶分校正在展示其致力于面对一个全国公认的问题，并改变有关教学企业的机构文化。项目活动有三个主要成果：1）STEM教师使用在线教学和评估资源的频率和有效性增加，2）STEM教育工作者的专业发展计划正在根据组织变革文献设计，并与校园库存/评估期间确定的学科和/或部门特定的教学/评估需求和限制相协调，3）系主任和高级校园管理人员通过利用教师奖励制度中的创新来改善教学和学习。在加州大学洛杉矶分校这样的大型研究密集型机构中，机构的态度和政策有时会引入阻碍本科STEM教育改革的障碍，正在广泛分享，以告知其他面临类似挑战的研究型大学。由于这项规划拨款而创建的变革战略正在推动UCLA在加强STEM学生学习和保留方面向前发展，以及传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的群体的参与。

Through this WIDER planning grant, UCLA creating a strategic action plan for the institution-wide adoption of student-centered, evidence-based teaching practices in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. A new STEM Education Steering Committee comprised of leadership from relevant academic and administrative departments is spearheading this initiative. The overarching goal of the Committee is to catalyze a campus-wide expansion in the adoption and practice of evidence-based teaching. Seven Sub-Committees are assessing current practices, identifying barriers, identifying best practices, understanding department-specific attitudes. Ultimately, the Sub-Committees are using this information to create a granular action plan for change informed by department-specific characteristics. As an integral part of the planning, members of the Steering Committee are working with campus leadership to leverage existing resources in support of cultural change and to address barriers such as campus teaching structures and/or lack of appropriate recognition systems for instructors who excel in the delivery of effective STEM instruction. By creating a strategic plan to implement and sustain student-centered, active learning pedagogy, UCLA is demonstrating its commitment to confronting a nationally recognized problem and transforming institutional culture about the teaching enterprise. Project activities are having three major outcomes: 1) STEM faculty are using online teaching and assessment resources with increased frequency and effectiveness, 2) a professional development plan for STEM educators is being designed according to organizational change literature and attuned to the discipline- and/or department-specific teaching/assessment needs and constraints identified during campus inventory/assessment, and 3) department chairs and high level campus administrators are enabling improvements in teaching and learning by leveraging innovations within the faculty reward systems.The insights gained from developing a change strategy and identifying processes for implementing this strategy at a large, research-intensive institution like UCLA, where institutional attitudes and policies sometimes introduce barriers that hinder undergraduate STEM education reform, is being shared widely to inform other research universities experiencing similar challenges. The change strategies created as a result of this planning grant are moving UCLA forward in terms of enhanced STEM student learning and retention, and participation of groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.