Program Assessment Conference for Mathematics: Creating Tools for Math Departments to Self-Assess Professional Development Programs for their Graduate Student Instructors

这个项目服务于国家利益，通过开发工具，使大学数学系能够更好地为研究生教师在课堂上的职责做好准备。研究生在早期本科数学课程中起着至关重要的作用，在许多机构的一年级和二年级课程中，他们担任相当大比例的助教和首席导师。认识到大多数初学研究生没有教育经验，许多部门现在为数学研究生讲师提供教学专业发展(PDT)。不同院校的PDT项目的具体情况各不相同，而且通常是根据当地的因素量身定做的，包括在早期课程中服务的学生。然而，为了维持和改进这些计划，各部门和管理人员必须能够评估其有效性，并参与持续的改进努力。数学项目评估会议将在数学研究生专业发展的实施者、监督者和评估者之间建立伙伴关系。该项目将致力于创建一种灵活的评估工具。可持续发展项目是那些理解并分享他们的影响和改进故事的项目，项目创建的协议将授权数学系自我评估他们的研究生专业发展项目。一个高质量的工具不仅会改善本科教育，还会将改进推广到其他校园，因为许多研究生都是未来的教师。为了制定和完善协议，研讨会将分两个阶段进行。利用与会者的专业知识，研讨会的设计阶段将是面对面的，将产生重要的见解，从而导致议定书的制定。然后，(主要是虚拟的)测试和改进阶段将在六个高等教育环境中试行PAC-Math协议，根据反馈改进协议，并将其传播给数学界。大约一半的测试和改进阶段参与者将从参与设计阶段的专家中挑选出来。其余的测试和执行参与者将不会参与议定书的设计，以建立改进的新视角和想法。一旦试行和修订该议定书，它将向数学界广泛传播，并有可能在未来扩展到其他学科和背景。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project serves the national interest by developing tools that will allow college mathematics departments to better prepare graduate student instructors for their duties in the classroom. Graduate students play a critical role in early undergraduate mathematics, serving as teaching assistants and lead instructors for a substantive proportion of first- and second-year courses at many institutions. Recognizing that most beginning graduate students do not have prior experience as educators, many departments now provide Professional Development for Teaching (PDT) for graduate student instructors in mathematics. The specifics of PDT programs can vary across institutions, and is often tailored to local factors including the students being served in early courses. To sustain and improve these programs, however, departments and administrators must be able to assess their effectiveness and engage in continuous improvement efforts. The Program Assessment Conference for Mathematics will foster a partnership among those who implement, those who oversee, and those who evaluate the professional development of mathematics graduate students. This project will work toward the creation of a flexible assessment tool. Sustainable programs are ones who understand and can share their stories of impact and improvement, and the project-created protocol will empower mathematics departments to self-assess their professional development programs for graduate students. A high-quality tool will not only improve undergraduate education, but will also propagate improvement to other campuses because many graduate students are future faculty.In order to develop and refine the protocol, the workshop will take part in two phases. Drawing from a participants' expertise, the design phase of the workshop, which will be in-person, will elicit significant insights that lead to the creation of the protocol. Then, the (primarily virtual) testing and improvement phase will pilot the PAC-Math protocol in six higher education settings, improve the protocol based on feedback, and disseminate it to the mathematics community. Approximately half of the testing and improvement phase participants will be selected from the experts involved in the design phase. The remaining testing and implementation participants will not have been involved in the design of the protocol in order to build on new perspectives and ideas for improvement. Once the protocol has been piloted and revised, it will be disseminated widely to the mathematics community and will be potentially scalable to other disciplines and contexts in the future. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.