Techniques that encourage faculty participation in inclusive teaching professional development
Audience: Department chairs, center and program directors, and administrators – people in positions of leadership who seek to encourage faculty to participate in inclusive teaching professional development.
Definition of inclusive teaching: Inclusive teaching requires more than good intentions; it is an ongoing commitment to learning and making changes to pedagogical practices and curriculum to support all students.
Background: Research on STEM faculty professional development has highlighted the various reasons faculty are reticent to participate in teaching professional development, and inclusive teaching professional development in particular: They (1) believe they are already good teachers (many are) by receiving good student evaluations, and receiving praise; (2) see ‘training’ as compliance, a requirement by the institution or federal agency; (3) sometimes view ‘training’ as condescending and disrespectful of their often deserved expertise; (4) are mostly unaware of the research evidence identifying inclusive teaching as a learned skill that can be developed and enhanced through professional development, and even when aware are sometimes skeptical of such research; (5) view participation as time consuming and a lower priority than other urgent (research and funding oriented) activities; and (6) are generally not rewarded for their participation in teaching professional development.
Purpose: This document summarizes approaches developed by two national, NSF-funded projects around STEM faculty professional development. Recognizing the importance of context, these approaches may resonate differently across settings and departmental cultures. The approaches are loosely based on two motivational frameworks: (1) external motivation that encourages faculty to view teaching and inclusive teaching professional development as supporting the collective department or program mission and is incentivized through acknowledgement and rewards; (2) internal motivation, which focuses on the value of advancing inclusive teaching skills that enhances a faculty’s own career success and relationships with their own students. Depending on context, the first set of approaches (a-f) focus on acknowledgement and public sharing which supports faculty who already participate and encourage those on the sidelines, but doesn’t often work for the hard-to-convince. The second set (g-h) is broadly successful since they are associated more closely with rewards.
Acknowledge and amplify, incentivize and reward participation.
Departments or Programs can:
a. Publish on the Department or Program website (create a teaching professional development page) and post on announcement boards a list and pictures of faculty who have participated in teaching professional development;
b. Annually show a slide at the first faculty meeting each fall or program meeting of the faculty who have participated in teaching professional development; ensure a process that captures everyone
c. Ask recognized faculty who have participated to report on their experience; discussing the value of training and what they have implemented in the classroom and how it is working; share choice quotes on teaching website
d. Create a teaching philosophy for the department, encourage faculty to provide input, and adopt parts for themselves and create their own;
e. Share faculty teaching philosophy statements that appear on their research websites
f. Change the language and style of the activity, removing the ‘training’ and traditional titles that faculty sometimes view as redundant. Instead, offer sessions that address particular challenges, e.g. ‘teaching for all students in the new age’ or ‘supporting neurodiversity’ as facilitated discussions
g. Chairs (or Deans) announce a particular focus during annual merit review of teaching activities, especially those that support all students, including teaching professional development
h. Program or center directors can create incentives of value, like a set of participation expectations (seminars, committees, mentor professional development, etc.) that are rewarded with greater access to trainee slots or program funding.
i. Departments/Centers host an annual colloquium that describes the latest research on teaching, demonstrating to faculty its value to academic productivity and outcomes.
Please contact the ISTP project (inclusivestemteaching@gmail.com), or Bennett (bennett.goldberg@northwestern.edu) with questions or comments.