Adjunct Mathematics Instructor Resources and Support: Improving Undergraduate Precalculus Teaching and Learning Experience

本科生对STEM的坚持在很大程度上受到他们的课堂经历的影响，特别是在入门级数学课程中。相当多的研究表明，改进的专任教师的教学可以提高学生对数学课程的动机和坚持。然而，入门级课程，如微积分预科，通常由兼职和其他兼职教师教授，他们传统上倾向于只提供最低限度的专业发展和支持，以教授本科数学。因此，迫切需要把重点放在发展兼职教员和其他兼职教员的教学实践上。本项目将建立课程协调和辅助讲师支持的模式，以改善微积分基础课程的教与学。虽然已经做了一些工作来了解支持本科水平的兼职教师的好处，但这项工作主要集中在研究生助教而不是兼职教师身上。拟议的项目将把这项工作扩展到兼职教员，并将有助于建立关于兼职教员人口的研究基础。通过建立一个辅助教师资源和支持的模型，该项目将有助于更深入地了解这些努力如何影响(1)辅助教师的知识和教学实践，(2)辅助教师的工作满意度，以及(3)学生在STEM专业的学业成功和保留。这种理解将有助于其他拥有类似讲师群体的院系和机构更好地支持他们的兼职教师，以提高学生在微积分预科及以后的学习和坚持。

Undergraduate students' persistence in STEM is heavily influenced by their classroom experiences, particularly in entry-level mathematics courses. Considerable research has been conducted showing that improved instruction by full-time faculty can increase student motivation and persistence in mathematics courses. However, entry-level courses, such as precalculus, are often taught by adjunct and other part-time instructors, who traditionally have tended to be offered only minimal professional development and support for teaching undergraduate mathematics. Thus, there is a pressing need to focus on developing instructional practices among adjunct and other part-time instructors. This project will build a model of course coordination and adjunct instructor support to improve the teaching and learning of precalculus. While some work has been done to understand the benefits of supports for part-time instructors at the undergraduate level, this work has focused mostly on graduate teaching assistants rather than adjunct instructors. The proposed project will extend this work to adjunct instructors and will contribute to the research base regarding the adjunct instructor population. By building a model of adjunct instructor resources and support, the project will contribute to deeper understanding of how such efforts impact (1) adjunct instructor knowledge and instructional practices, (2) adjunct instructor job satisfaction, and (3) student academic success and retention in STEM majors. This understanding will help other departments and institutions with similar instructor populations to better support their adjunct faculty, with the goal of improving student learning and persistence in precalculus and beyond.