2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Scaling up the SIMPLE Design Model for Faculty Development: Lessons Learned

Presented at NSF Grantees: Faculty Development 1

This NSF DUE-funded project has supported the scaling and study of the SIMPLE Design model for faculty teaching development. The SIMPLE Design model provides a framework for ongoing teaching development in discipline-specific peer groups (SIMPLE groups) designed to support instructors as the learn about and try new research-supported interactive teaching strategies. Broadly, these teaching strategies may be characterized as active, inquiry-based, student/learner-centered The SIMPLE model emphasizes a people-driven approach; participants in SIMPLE groups bring their own teaching challenges to the group and identify potential ways to address those challenges from a menu of options introduced and discussed by the group.

Over the life of the project, SIMPLE groups have been active in six STEM departments at a large public research university. Groups have been active for as little as one academic year and as long as three academic years. Data on group functioning has been collected via the following mechanisms: Yearly individual interviews with group leaders and participants, recordings of monthly group leader meetings, monthly “check-in” forms completed by group leaders to provide information about activities of their groups, topics they discussed, and challenges they faced.

Implementation of SIMPLE teaching development groups in six departments, each with a unique culture and a unique set of teaching challenges, provided an opportunity to identify lessons learned for best practices in creation, leadership, and support of ongoing teaching development groups. The full paper will describe the lessons learned through this project and data that support them. Here, we give two examples. One important take away is an appreciation of the nature and speed of teaching change. Teaching changes are not instantaneous; the process of identifying a strategy, adapting it to one’s needs, implementing, revising, and firmly adopting takes several semesters. That said, these slow changes are sustained once adopted, and by engaging in a long-term process of incremental change, instructors are making larger overall changes to their teaching. Hence, ongoing support for teaching development groups is necessary for sustained change. Analysis of data collected through this project also highlighted the value of discipline-based SIMPLE groups. Discipline-focused groups allow instructors to engage in deeper, informed discussions about the challenges presented by certain content and about how various courses in a curriculum are linked.

Authors

Prof. Jill K. Nelson George Mason University [biography]

Jill Nelson is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason University. She earned a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Economics from Rice University in 1998. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for graduate study, earning an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2001 and 2005, respectively. Dr. Nelson's research focus is in statistical signal processing, specifically detection and estimation for applications in target tracking and physical layer communications. Her work on target detection and tracking is funded by the Office of Naval Research. Dr. Nelson is a 2010 recipient of the NSF CAREER Award. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and the IEEE Signal Processing, Communications, and Education Societies.
Dr. Margret Hjalmarson http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-8609-1596 George Mason University [biography]

Margret Hjalmarson is a Professor in the School of Education at George Mason University. Her research interests include engineering education, mathematics education, faculty development and mathematics teacher leadership.
Prof. Anastasia P. Samaras George Mason University [biography]

ANASTASIA P. SAMARAS is Professor of Education in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University, USA. She is an educational researcher and pedagogical scholar with signature work in self-study research methodology including co-editor of Polyvocal Professional Learning through Self-Study Research (2015) and author of Self-Study Teacher Research (2011) and lead editor of Learning Communities In Practice (2008). She is recipient of the Dissertation Research Award, University of Virginia, the Outstanding Scholar Award, University of Maryland, a Fulbright Scholar, and a Visiting Self-study Scholar. She served as chair of S-STEP from 2013-2015 and is a current Co-PI of two National Science Foundation (NSF) funded grants: Designing Teaching: Scaling up the SIMPLE Design Framework for Interactive Teaching Development and a research initiation grant: Student-directed differentiated learning in college-level engineering education. Her research centers on facilitating and studying her role in faculty development self-study collaboratives.
Dr. Lori C. Bland http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4411-634X College of William and Mary [biography]

Lori C. Bland, Ph.D., is a clinical associate professor of curriculum and research, and the Director of Curriculum, Center for Gifted Education at The College of William and Mary. She teaches courses in program evaluation, educational assessment, educational psychology, data-driven decision-making, and gifted education. Bland received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia. Her current research focuses on assessing learning and professional outcomes in formal and informal STEM learning environments; how data are used to inform decision-making; and the uses of different research, evaluation, and assessment methods to solve educational problems.

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