Collaborative Research: CourseSource: Developing, Disseminating, and Understanding the Usefulness of Resources for Evidence-based Undergraduate Biology Teaching

尽管许多STEM课程都实施了循证教学法，但说教授课仍然是大多数大学课程的主要特点。事实上，许多STEM教师在实施积极学习和包容性教学实践等有效教学方法方面犹豫不决，即使他们知道这些实践可以改善学生的学习。然而，本科教学效率的提高可能不需要对课程进行全面修改，而是可以从微小的变化中产生，研究支持了这样的假设，即正确的教学资源可以使增量变化成为可能。该项目将支持并扩展期刊《CourseSource》，该期刊是根据NSF/AAAS愿景和本科生物学教育变革倡议的建议而创建的。CourseSource是一本以证据为基础的、经过实地测试的本科生生物学课程的期刊，以一种通用的格式发布严格同行评议的课程。该项目将支持编写和出版其他经验教训。此外，它还将支持关键自动化和功能的开发，使CourseSource成为一份可持续发展的期刊，具有高水平的可用性和用户响应性。最后，开发一套广泛的网络分析将能够确定导致其他人采用或改编的教材特点。开发课程资源将为出版以证据为基础的教材提供重要途径，项目成果将有助于理解高等教育教师实施以证据为基础的教学与设计/传播有效教材之间的关系。在同行评议的高质量期刊上发表循证教学材料，预计将增加循证教学对晋升和终身教职的价值，有助于通过终身教职跟踪和大学研究人员来支持这些做法。此外，通过项目活动获得的信息将被反复和直接用于改进课程资源课程，从而加强期刊在实施循证教学方面的影响。这一项目揭示的设计原则将适用于其他教育改革努力和教学资源的数字资源库。

Although many STEM courses have implemented evidence-based pedagogies, didactic lectures remain the predominant feature of most college classes. In fact, many STEM instructors hesitate to implement effective pedagogies, such as active learning and inclusive teaching practices, even when they know that these practices can improve student learning. However, improvements in undergraduate teaching effectiveness may not require full-scale revision of courses, but instead can result from small changes, and research supports the hypothesis that incremental changes can be enabled by the right kind of teaching resources. This project will support and expand the journal, CourseSource that was created in response to recommendations from the NSF/AAAS Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education initiative. CourseSource is a journal of evidence-based, field-tested lessons in undergraduate biology that publishes rigorously peer-reviewed Lessons in a common format. This project will support the development and publication of additional Lessons. In addition, it will support development of critical automation and functionality needed to make CourseSource a sustainable journal with high levels of usability and user responsiveness. Finally, development of a broad suite of web analytics will enable the identification of teaching materials characteristics that lead to adoption or adaptation by others.Developing CourseSource will provide an important avenue for publishing evidence-based teaching materials, and project outcomes will contribute to an understanding of the relationship between implementation of evidence-based teaching by higher education instructors and the design/dissemination of effective teaching materials. Publication of evidence-based teaching materials in a peer-reviewed, high-quality journal is expected to increase the value of evidence-based teaching for promotion and tenure, helping to support these practices by tenure-track, research faculty in colleges and universities. In addition, the information learned through the project activities will be used iteratively and directly to improve CourseSource Lessons, thus strengthening the impact of the journal on implementation of evidence-based teaching. The design principles uncovered as a result of this project will be relevant for other educational reform efforts and digital repositories of teaching resources.