NRT-IGE: Mixed Reality Integrated Teaching Training for STEM Graduate Teaching Assistants

当前和未来的学院和大学教师的培训对于任何教学或课程改革的采用都至关重要。然而，那些接受过学术工作培训并被推向学术工作的研究生仍然没有为这些工作的关键责任做好准备：教学。这个国家科学基金会研究培训（NRT）奖在研究生教育创新（IGE）轨道佛罗里达州立大学将研究混合现实综合培训计划的设计模型和效果，为STEM研究生助教（GTA）提供教学实践。整合3D虚拟现实和身体感觉技术，这个STEM GTA培训计划将通过使STEM GTA能够在各种教学环境中练习，观察和反思教学来扩展当前STEM GTA培训的研究和开发，并通过积极的实验和解决问题为他们提供对教学策略的深刻理解。由此产生的STEM GTA教学培训模式预计将改善STEM入门课程的教学，通过扩大STEM入门课程中使用的教学实践来改善STEM学科中代表性不足的群体的持续性，并解决与各种STEM研究生相关的具体挑战和需求。该项目将采用迭代评估过程，以改善该模型的过程中的奖项，其结果将告知技术集成专业发展的学生教师的有效性的理解。项目团队将设计和开发STEM GTA的混合现实综合教学培训计划，包括三个部分：（1）Environment，一个名为MILE的3D混合现实平台（混合现实综合学习环境），使模拟和沉浸式实践教学在各种情况下;（2）活动，一个半结构化的，基于MILE的培训计划，将正式的小组培训课程与非正式的自我调节的教学排练相结合;以及（3）技能发展模拟场景，一系列基于问题的教学场景，供STEM GTA在MILE中体验，这将使有针对性的STEM教学技能情境化。采用基于设计的研究方法，该项目将包括迭代设计过程，以完善混合现实综合教学培训计划，并研究其对STEM GTA跨学科小组教学自我效能和能力发展的影响。将通过定性和定量方法收集数据，以建立一个关于STEM GTA混合现实综合教学培训计划的设计概括和有效性的证据体系。该项目团队包括来自不同学科的教师，包括教育心理学和学习系统，计算机科学，化学和物理学。NSF研究培训（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的，新的，潜在的变革性模型，用于STEM研究生教育培训。研究生教育创新轨道专门致力于试点，测试和评估新颖，创新和潜在的变革性研究生教育方法。这项工作得到了本科教育部的部分支持。

The training of current and future college and university instructors is critical to any adoption of teaching or curriculum reforms. Yet graduate students who are both trained for and pushed toward academic jobs remain unprepared for a key responsibility of these jobs: teaching. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award in the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Track to Florida State University will study the design model and effects of a mixed reality integrated training program to provide teaching practice to STEM graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Integrating 3D virtual reality and body sensory technology, this training program for STEM GTAs will extend the research and development of current STEM GTA training by enabling STEM GTAs to practice, observe, and reflect on teaching in a variety of instructional settings, and it will provide them with a deep understanding of teaching strategies through active experimentation and problem solving. The resulting STEM GTA teaching training model is anticipated to improve teaching in introductory STEM courses, to improve the persistence of underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines by broadening the teaching practices used in introductory STEM courses, and to address specific challenges and needs associated with the variety of STEM graduate students. The project will employ an iterative evaluation process to improve the model over the course of the award, and the results will inform understanding of the effectiveness of technology-integrated professional development for student instructors. The project team will design and develop a mixed-reality integrated teaching training program for STEM GTAs comprised of three components: (1) Environment, a 3D mixed-reality platform, called MILE (Mixed reality Integrated Learning Environment), that enables the simulation and immersive practice of teaching in a variety of contexts; (2) Activity, a semi-structured, MILE-based training program that integrates formal group training sessions with informal self-regulated teaching rehearsal; and (3) Simulated scenarios for skills development, a collection of problem-based teaching scenarios for STEM GTAs to experience in MILE, which will contextualize targeted STEM teaching skills. Adopting a design-based research approach, this project will encompass iterative design processes to refine the mixed-reality integrated teaching training program, and examine its impact on the development of teaching self-efficacy and competence in an interdisciplinary group of STEM GTAs. Data will be collected via both qualitative and quantitative methods to build up a body of evidence on the design generalizations and effectiveness of the mixed-reality integrated teaching training program for STEM GTAs. The project team includes faculty from diverse disciplines including educational psychology and learning systems, computer science, chemistry, and physics.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The Innovations in Graduate Education Track is dedicated solely to piloting, testing, and evaluating novel, innovative, and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education.This work is supported, in part, by the Division of Undergraduate Education.