Teach How We Were Taught

I realize it may be a bit early, but some of us are beginning to think about the summer and time for research and perhaps continuous improvement on our teaching. So, this week I would like to share a recent (March) article entitled, “Prior experiences as students and instructors play a critical role in instructors’ decision to adopt evidence-based instructional practices” by Kraft et al (2024).

In this paper, the authors discuss the factors influencing teaching decisions to address the slow uptake of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs). Primary influencers of instructors’ decision to implement EBIPs include classroom layout and departmental norms. Other factors could include instructors’ past teaching experience and their views on learning. In this study, the authors conduct an in-depth exploration of individual factors and EBIPs’ features that influence instructors’ decisions to incorporate a selected set of EBIPs in their teaching.

The EPIPs explored in depth were Rogers’ model: PI (Mazur, 1997) and the 5E Model (Tanner, 2010). In PI, an instructor poses a question and collects responses via student response systems. The instructor will ask students to pair up to discuss their reasoning and vote again individually. This practice can be implemented in a short amount of time and requires minimal pre-class preparation. The 5E Model supports students in constructing a new conceptual understanding guiding through questions in a learning sequence. There are five stages of this process: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Each stage of the cycle serves as a foundation for the next, creating a coherent scaffold that frames a lesson or unit.

The authors found that the main drivers of faculty decisions to implement EBIPs were (1) the compatibility with their past experiences as students/instructors and teaching values (articulated in their Teaching Philosophy/Statements); and (2) experiences provided in pedagogical courses they had taken (through CTLs). They concluded that faculty development programs should leverage their participants' prior knowledge and provide an opportunity for instructors to experience new EBIPs as learners and instructors.

Finally, the paper shares recommendations for faculty development programs:

1. Validate participants’ past experiences with EBIPs with evidence of their effectiveness; 

2. Provide participants with authentic and positive experiences with EBIPs in a student and instructor role; &

3. Engage participants in reflecting on how their past experiences with EBIPs and experiences within the faculty development program shape their teaching values.

References

Kraft, A.R., Atieh, E.L., Shi, L. et al. (2024). Prior experiences as students and instructors play a critical role in instructors’ decision to adopt evidence-based instructional practices. IJ STEM Ed 11(18). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00478-3 

Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual.

Tanner, K. D. (2010). Order matters: using the 5E model to align teaching with how people learn. CBE Life Sciences Ed, 9(3), 159–164. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-06-0082