{"id":419,"date":"2020-07-10T14:33:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T14:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/teaching-excellence\/?page_id=419"},"modified":"2024-03-05T20:52:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T20:52:53","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/teaching-excellence\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Teaching Excellence Network project is collaboration between the School of Arts and Sciences (Mary Emenike<\/a> & Charles (Chaz) Ruggieri<\/a>), the School of Engineering (Phil Brown<\/a>), and the Learning Centers (Stacey Blackwell<\/a> & Corey Ptak<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It is funded by the National Science Foundation – EHR\/DUE Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE), with a total grant funding of $1,957,793.<\/p>\n

We gratefully acknowledge support from NSF (#2013315;<\/a> 10\/1\/2020-9\/30\/2025)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Project Summary
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A substantial body of research is available that demonstrates the benefits that reformed pedagogies have on student learning, equity, and diversity in STEM. However, implementation of reformed pedagogies remains sluggish in STEM higher education. This disconnect is the result of structural and cultural barriers that inhibit faculty agency when it comes to teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

Many teaching professional development programs for STEM faculty focus on developing and disseminating specific instructional ideas and practices to individual faculty through relatively brief workshops or seminars which treat faculty as receptacles of reform rather than engaging them as meaningful partners who bring unique skills and assets to the reform process. This deficit model ignores the constraints placed on faculty by the institution and fails to represent the influence of institutional structures on faculty agency.<\/p>\n

This proposal takes a non-deficit approach by framing course transformation as an issue of structure and agency. We operate from the premise that organizational and structural factors must be systematically addressed to enhance faculty agency and thereby bolster prospects of educational improvement at research universities. The programs described take an assets-based approach to target faculty agency to catalyze lasting institutional and cultural change around teaching.<\/p>\n

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Overarching Aims<\/h3>\n

A1<\/strong>. Empower faculty agency to produce sustained institutional change around teaching.<\/p>\n

A1.a. <\/strong>Formalize the coordination of existing institutional resources for teaching within a Teaching Excellence Network to make resources and opportunities more visible and accessible.<\/p>\n

A1.b.<\/strong> Design and implement new and complementary resources to decrease faculty barriers to course transformation.<\/p>\n

A1.c<\/strong>. Engage institutional leadership in promoting and valuing teaching reform efforts.<\/p>\n

A2<\/strong>. Generate knowledge on institutional change surrounding teaching and how faculty support programs influence faculty agency.<\/p>\n

A3.<\/strong> Develop, assess, and disseminate best practices for teaching professional development for STEM faculty that results in lasting institutional and cultural change around teaching.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Opportunities to Participate<\/h3>\n