The College Classroom collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu Peter Newbury Fall 2013

1. Week 10: Teaching as Research and
Success in an Educational Career
The College Classroom
December 4 and 6, 2013
with special guests
Beth Simon, Ph.D.
LSOE, Computer Science and Engineering
Sr Associate Director for Learning Sciences and Technology, Center for
Teaching Development
Valerie Ramey, Ph.D.
Professor, Economics

2. Today
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1. Teaching as research (TAR)
2. Success in an Educational Career (Beth)
3. Final project: microteaching
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3. Categories of Educational Research [1]
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Theoretical research
Comparative
Action or practitioner research
Ethnography
Evaluative
Case study
Experimental
Grounded theory
'Cause and effect' research
Systematic review
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Exploratory

4. Your posts: Education research in
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philosophy
organic chemistry
economics of education
sociology in med school
engineering
sociology of teaching
biochemistry
chemistry moocs
educational psychology
entrepreneurship
anthropology
MOOCS in higher ed
engineering
human geography
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oceanography
applied ethics
neuroscience
science self-efficacy
chemistry
MOOCs
history
biology
anthropology
sociology
chemistry
genetics
and more…

5. Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class
Deslauriers, Schelew & Wieman (2011)
5
 Weeks 1-11: PPT lectures + summative clicker qs
 Week 11: BEMA [3] concept test + CLASS [4]
Control Section
 Week 12: PPT lectures +
clickers as usual
Experimental Section
 Week 12: New instructors
use pre-reading, reading
quizzes, clickers, worksheets,
instructor feedback
 Weeks 13: both classes given access to Experimental
section resources
 Week 13: 12 question test
(Experimental)
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6. Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class
Deslauriers, Schelew & Wieman (2011)
6
Table 1: Measures of student perceptions, behaviors, and knowledge.
Control Section
Experimental Section
*Average value of multiple measurements carried out in a 2-week interval before the experiment.
Engagement also varies over location in the classroom; numbers given are spatial and temporal averages.
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7. Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class
Deslauriers, Schelew & Wieman (2011)
7
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8. What is the value of course-specific learning goals?
Simon & Taylor (2009)
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 3 classes (A = computer literacy Fa07, B = computer
literacy Sp08, C = microbiology Sp08)
 Last week of course (Wk 13): students asked to
complete up to five copies of, “For me, the use of
learning goals in this course is . . .”
Comments
A
225
B
252
C
120
total
597
Students
59
76
51
186
 Comments put into categories using content-analysis
based coding
(Evaluative)
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9. What is the value of course-specific learning goals?
Simon & Taylor (2009)
9
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10. Teaching as Research (TAR)
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
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The improvement of teaching and learning is a dynamic
and ongoing process, just as is research in any discipline.
At the core of improving teaching and learning is the
need to accurately determine what students have learned
as a result of teaching practices. This is a research
problem, to which instructors* can effectively apply their
research skills and ways of knowing.
CIRTL Network [6]
In its original form, this passage refers to “STEM instructors” but it applies to all
disciplines, not just science, tech, engineering and math.
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11. Teaching as Research (TAR)
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
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Teaching-as-Research involves the deliberate, systematic,
and reflective use of research methods to develop and
implement teaching practices that advance the learning
experiences and outcomes of students and teachers.
Participants in teaching-as-research apply a research
approach to their teaching practice.
CIRTL Network [6]
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12. Conceptual steps in the TAR process are:
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1. Learning foundational knowledge.
What is known about the teaching practice?
2. Creating objectives for student learning.
What do we want students to learn?
3. Developing an hypothesis for practices to achieve
the learning objectives.
How can we help students succeed with the learning
objectives?
4. Defining measures of success.
What evidence will we need to determine whether students
have achieved learning objectives?
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13. Conceptual steps in the TAR process are:
13
5. Developing and implementing teaching practices
within an experimental design.
What will we do in and out of the classroom to enable
students to achieve learning objectives?
6. Collecting and analyzing data.
How will we collect and analyze information to determine
what students have learned?
7. Reflecting, evaluating, and iterating.
How will we use what we learned to improve our teaching?
8. Sharing the results.
How can we inform the community of our findings?
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CIRTL Network [6]

14. Design a TAR project (in 10 minutes)
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1. One person at your table, pick a discipline and a
question to explore
2. Everyone together, sketch/draft/outline a research
project to explore that question.
 use the whiteboard to summarize the project
 be prepared to share your project
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15. 15
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(Image: Petra – Road block by Magh on flickr CC)

16. Institutional Review Board (IRB)
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Humans are involved in teaching-as-research. Human
subjects ethics approval from the IRB may be required.
analyze students’ test answers
video of yourself
(no students visible)
students’ other
classes, majors
concept test
pre- and postmiddle of term survey
(eg, keep quit start KQS)
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survey
monkey
collect gender, ethnic,
socioeconomic data
video with identifiable
features of students
protection of privacy

17. Institutional Review Board (IRB)
17
irb.ucsd.edu
irb.ucsd.edu/Exemption_fact_sheet.pdf
www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/checklists/decisioncharts.html
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18. Play it safe…
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 If you’re considering a teaching-as-research project,
consult with the Institution’s research ethics people.
 Inform your Department Chair but don’t proceed only on
his/her approval – likely untrained in human-subjects
research ethics
 Think carefully about an experiment that puts any
student(s) at a disadvantage – if it’s known an
instructional strategy works, you can’t (ethically) remove
that strategy from your instruction.
Summer Graduate Teaching Scholars will have an opportunity to
perform teaching-as-research in their Summer Session courses.
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19. Success in an Educational Career

20. Education as PART of your career
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 Academic at Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI)
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What if I want to do research in “education” in my field
What is needed/valued for promotion at PUIs
Grants in DBER (discipline-based education research)
 Academic at (more) R1-type institutions
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Can I afford to “do well” at teaching
Broader Impact in research grants
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21. Overview: Types of Institutions
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 Primarily Undergrad Institutions
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3 courses per term
Variety of courses
Hired to replace someone else
Research REQUIRED – how will you involve
undergrads?
 More research-focused institutions
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1 course per term?
Teaching well a “plus” (not enough to overcome not
meeting research expectations)
AAU and PCAST initiatives
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22. TAR for Beth has been
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 Studies of pre-conceptions of computing students
 Studies of Peer Instruction and student learning,
retention, experience
 Studies of assessments/exams
 Studies of new software developers in industry
 Studies of debugging
 Studies of educational technology (Tablet PCs –
Ubiquitous Presenter)
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23. Who funds TAR?
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 NSF alone
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TUES in Dept of Undergrad Education
(Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM)
Get advice before you write your first one
Go to a workshop on how to review NSF proposals
 NSF and NIH as “broader impact”
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Go to a workshop on how to review NSF proposals
Ask your Center for Teaching for help on the BI component
Ask on CIRTL alum network
Partner with someone active in DBER at a PUI (fellow grad,
local institution)
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24. Succeeding as an Educator:
Practicalities
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 Getting started (your first class)

Spend time early – reap benefits
 Don’t: “I’ll START with lecture, then switch”
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You won’t (who has time to invest twice)
Better to make mistakes early (show improvement!)
Literature supports you! (see AAU and PCAST reports
later)
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25. Succeeding as an Educator:
Practicalities
25
 Center for Teaching…
 Get all lecture materials (including exams) from
someone at YOUR institution
 Faculty Learning Communities
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Commitment to year-long project
Build connections – do this early – year 1!

(saves immense amount of work and stress)
 New Physics and Astronomy Workshop (your dept
chair applies for you)

Both R1 and PUI…
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Know any others?

26. Succeeding as an Educator:
Practicalities
26
 When you start to get jaded/when your colleague
says, “Students these days…”
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So did Plato…
But society seems to have improved…
 “Students don’t learn the way they used to…”
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Learning Styles: Debunked
See excellent review of learning styles vs “multiple
intelligences” at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answersheet/wp/2013/10/16/howard-gardner-multipleintelligences-are-not-learning-styles/
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27. Succeeding as an Educator:
Practicalities
27
 Reflective Teaching: Your promotion and tenure file

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Teaching Philosophy… but practical
Review of courses you have taught
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Identify what you did (provide examples)
Identify/document impacts
Identify what worked
Identify SOMETHING to improve (we aren’t perfect until
we’re dead)
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28. Questions!!!!
28
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29. Final Project:
Microteaching Experience

30. Microteaching: Create a lesson
30
You’re NOT going to teach it. Instead, you’re going to
talk about it with your colleagues. Why?
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teaching is only 1 part of a complete lesson: planning,
writing, before class, teaching, after class,…
I don’t want you “spend hours perfecting the visuals
[while] the content is very weak” (from Week 5:
Assessment)
feedback on entire lesson plan
practice talking about teaching with colleagues
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31. Microteaching lesson
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
learning outcomes
pre-reading assignment
pre-reading quiz
lesson outline
suggestions for assessment
Between December 9 -13, we’ll meet in small groups and
you’ll talk for 10 minutes about your lesson.
Check the College Classroom blog for all the details of
what to include and to schedule your presentation.
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32. After your microteaching presentation…
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1. You’ll be asked to complete a surveymonkey survey
that both gives us feedback about TCC and assesses
(roughly) your grasp of the content.
2. When that’s complete, you’ll receive a Certificate of
Participation with a description of the course you
can put in your CV, teaching statement, etc.
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33. References
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Lambert, M. (2012). A Beginner's Guide to Doing Your Education Research
Project. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Inc. via Tomorrow’s
Professor cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1233
Deslauriers, L., Schelew, E., & Wieman, C. (2011). Improved Learning in a
Large-Enrollment Physics Class. Science, 332, 603, 862-864. DOI:
10.1126/science.1201783
Ding, L., Chabay, R., Sherwood, B., & Beichner, R. (2006). Evaluating an
electricity and magnetism assessment tool: Brief electricity and magnetism
assessment (BEMA). Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 2, 010105.
Adams, W.K., Perkins, K.K., Podolefsky, N.S., Dubson, M., Finkelstein, N.D.,
& Wieman, C.E. (2006) A new instrument for measuring student beliefs
about physics and learning physics: The Colorado Learning Attitudes about
Science Survey (CLASS). Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 2, 010101.
Simon, B., & Taylor, J. (2009). What is the Value of Course-Specific
Learning Goals? Journal of College Science Teaching, 39, 2, 52-57.
Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (2010)
Teaching as Research. www.cirtl.net/CoreIdeas/teaching_as_research
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