Most college teachers start teaching with no prior formal training on teaching and learning. They are considered content experts and are therefore expected to be excellent teachers. Unfortunately, these two do not necessarily correlate. The current widespread lack of professional pedagogical preparation of engineering faculty in the US has been voiced and various workshops or one-week orientation packets have been used to equip new faculty members to become “quick starters”.
Unfortunately, new faculty arriving on campus typically have very little time to prepare, with much of that time being occupied by administrative meetings and orientation sessions. Very little time is available for pedagogical training. In this study, we describe teaching seminar that focuses on research-based principles that can help better facilitate student learning. The training used a flipped format that required participants to engage in content online prior to a half-day in-person seminar. This allowed the seminar to dispense with delivering basic content and focus on engaging participants in higher-level learning, thus modeling good educational practice. The training was comprised of four distinct sections that required two half-day in-person seminars, and two half days of online work. Participants were expected to complete the pre-seminar online modules focused on learner-centered education, motivation, memory and best-practice principles, followed by the in-person seminar devoted to exploring and discussing best practices in higher education. Post-seminar online modules were provided as additional resources for cultivating participant practice. Finally, a half-day follow-up forum set towards the end of the first semester allowed participants to discuss progress and to develop further plans for support and improvement.
This paper describes the training format, content and activities and identifies challenges and successes associated with the flipped training framework. This paper will include preliminary Pre- and post-survey results indicate that the seminar was helpful, but did not improve teaching confidence. The significance of this study is that it describes a potentially efficient model for helping new engineering faculty employ research-based methods in their teaching practice.
John Tingerthal joined the Construction Management faculty at Northern Arizona University in 2007 and was appointed as a Distinguished Teaching Fellow in 2015. His engineering career spans a variety of design and forensic engineering experiences. He spent the first eight years of his career performing structural consulting engineering in Chicago. He earned his Doctorate in Education and is currently the Associate Chair of the Civil Engineering, Construction Management and Environmental Engineering Department. His academic interests lie in the field of discipline-based education. John is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).
Fethiye started working in CECMEE at Northern Arizona University in Fall 2014. She has received her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from University of Southern California in 2005. Her doctorate work focused on modeling of bio filters for air pollution control. After graduation, she has been involved in K-12 STEM institutions both as a teacher and administrator. Her research interests include biotechnology for environmental pollution, sustainability, engineering education and initiatives that facilitate success of minority students in STEM related fields including STEM readiness and teacher support.
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