Proposal Title
Academic influencers: Teaching faculty as potential departmental change agents for inclusive pedagogy
Session Type
Presentation
Room
Somerville House, room 3345
Start Date
12-7-2023 2:00 PM
End Date
12-7-2023 2:20 PM
Keywords
Pedagogical change, social network analysis, faculty with teaching expertise
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
There is a disproportionate loss of minoritized undergraduate students from STEM majors. Faculty change efforts to confront this diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) challenge, such as the adoption of evidenced-based instructional approaches, has been slow. Research on affecting change in STEM departments suggests that initiatives are more successful when they are sustained and target departments rather than individuals. One potential change strategy to promote DEI-related change within a department is to embed tenure-track education-focused faculty within STEM departments. The specialist faculty have been demonstrated to pedagogically innovate within their department and consistently interact with their colleagues regarding teaching. Therefore, we sought to assess whether tenure-track education-focused faculty can influence their colleagues on instructional topics, including those related to DEI.
We surveyed five STEM departments at large research-intensive campuses. The surveys had faculty select colleagues who were influential upon various aspects of instruction, including methodology, course materials, and aspects of DEI. We constructed social networks of influence across these aspects of instruction. Our analyses reveal heterogeneity across these networks. Some, like the teaching strategies network, are highly connected and involve the majority of the department, while others, like the DEI influence network, comprise a significantly smaller population of faculty. We find that tenure-track education-focused faculty are influential across all aspects of instruction and are disproportionately so in the sparsely populated DEI influence networks. This suggests that embedding these specialist faculty within departments may lead to effective sustained change efforts in the DEI values held by STEM academic departments.
This research was approved by the institutional review board at the University of California, Irvine.
Elements of Engagement
This presentation will include active components and audience engagement.
Academic influencers: Teaching faculty as potential departmental change agents for inclusive pedagogy
Somerville House, room 3345
There is a disproportionate loss of minoritized undergraduate students from STEM majors. Faculty change efforts to confront this diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) challenge, such as the adoption of evidenced-based instructional approaches, has been slow. Research on affecting change in STEM departments suggests that initiatives are more successful when they are sustained and target departments rather than individuals. One potential change strategy to promote DEI-related change within a department is to embed tenure-track education-focused faculty within STEM departments. The specialist faculty have been demonstrated to pedagogically innovate within their department and consistently interact with their colleagues regarding teaching. Therefore, we sought to assess whether tenure-track education-focused faculty can influence their colleagues on instructional topics, including those related to DEI.
We surveyed five STEM departments at large research-intensive campuses. The surveys had faculty select colleagues who were influential upon various aspects of instruction, including methodology, course materials, and aspects of DEI. We constructed social networks of influence across these aspects of instruction. Our analyses reveal heterogeneity across these networks. Some, like the teaching strategies network, are highly connected and involve the majority of the department, while others, like the DEI influence network, comprise a significantly smaller population of faculty. We find that tenure-track education-focused faculty are influential across all aspects of instruction and are disproportionately so in the sparsely populated DEI influence networks. This suggests that embedding these specialist faculty within departments may lead to effective sustained change efforts in the DEI values held by STEM academic departments.
This research was approved by the institutional review board at the University of California, Irvine.