Building Research Capacity for STEM Faculty Development

在21世纪，科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学科的教师面临着越来越大的压力，包括作为教育者、研究者和企业家的多重角色。他们通常在本科和研究生阶段授课。他们撰写提案并获得资助，以支持不同层次的学生。他们指导本科生、研究生和博士后学者。他们在高度严谨的媒体上展示和发表他们的研究成果。他们被期望将他们的研究传达给广泛的受众，如科学界，本科生和研究生，K-12学生和教育工作者，以及公众。社会对他们专业知识的需求包括发现、创新和劳动力发展。为STEM教师提供专业发展，以支持他们的复杂角色，并将这种发展建立在研究证据的基础上，这一点至关重要。在21世纪，许多研究都集中在STEM教师的发展上，以支持教学和以学生为中心的学习，而很少关注教授的其他方面。因此，拟议的研讨会将汇集学者、从业者、政策制定者、工业合作伙伴和思想领袖等参与者，共同制定以STEM学科为重点的教师发展研究议程。在这个项目中，一个由30名专家组成的小组将在克莱姆森大学召开为期一天半的研讨会。这些专家将参加全体会议和小组活动的组合，以确定与教师发展相关的突出研究问题，并制定研究议程。研讨会的主要成果将是一套有效的STEM教师发展特征，这些特征可以基于研讨会的成果实施，并在未来的项目中进行探索。讲习班的调查结果和最后报告将通过一个项目网站、一个集体博客和在会议上的发言加以传播。该报告的广泛传播将刺激有关如何最好地支持教师作为未来工程师教育者的新研究。

Faculty in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines face intensifying pressures in the 21st century, including multiple roles as educator, researcher, and entrepreneur. They typically teach at both the undergraduate and graduate level. They write proposals and secure funding to support students at multiple levels. They mentor undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral scholars. They present and publish their research outcomes in highly rigorous outlets. They are expected to communicate their research to a broad array of audiences such as the scientific community, undergraduate and graduate students, K-12 students and educators, and the general public. Societal needs of their expertise include discovery, innovation, and workforce development. It is critical to provide STEM faculty with the professional development to support their complex roles and to base this development on evidence derived from research. Much research has been focused on STEM faculty development in support of teaching and student-centered learning with less attention on the other aspects of the professoriate in the 21st century. Therefore, the proposed workshop will bring together participants who are scholars, practitioners, policy-makers, industrial partners, and thought-leaders to assemble a research agenda on faculty development focused on the STEM disciplines. In this project a group of 30 experts will convene at Clemson University for a 1 1/2 day workshop. These experts will participate in a combination of plenary sessions and small group activities to identify the outstanding research questions associated with faculty development and craft a research agenda. The primary outcome of the workshop will be a set of effective STEM faculty development characteristics that can be implemented based on the outcomes of the workshop and explored in future projects. The findings and final report from the workshop will be disseminated through a project website, a collective blog, and presentations at conferences. Widespread dissemination of the report will spur new research on how to best support faculty in their role as educators of future engineers.