Enhancing your Teaching and Developing New Leadership: Impact of the On the

Cutting Edge Professional Development Program

Ellen Iverson, Cathy Manduca, Carleton College; John McLaughlin, Managing for Results, Heather Macdonald,

College of William and Mary

NSF CCLI- 0127141

On the Cutting Edge Program• Improving undergraduate geoscience education

through supporting faculty in improving content and instruction– A synergistic, integrated multi-year series of workshopsworkshops– A websitewebsite to support workshops and reach the broader

geoscience community– An expanding community of geoscience educators with a

strong and diverse leadershipleadership• Research on what faculty need, how faculty work,

the impact of the program

serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/

Emerging topics workshops• Move new science content

and teaching methods into mainstream

• Brings together researchers, educators

• 2 per year• Examples:

– Geology & Human Health– Biocomplexity– Teaching with Visualizations– Understanding What Students

are Learning

Teaching “X” workshops• Explore teaching “X” effectively in the

classroom, lab, and field• Teaching Petrology (03)• Teaching Structural Geology (04)• Teaching Hydrogeology (05)• 70-80 faculty/workshop (> 10% of

those teaching “X” in the US)

Workshops repeated annually• Designing Effective and Innovative

Courses in the Geosciences

• Workshop for Early Career Faculty

• Preparing for an Academic Career

WebsitesWebsites to support workshops and reach the broader geoscience community

Program Awareness

• Question: Have you ever heard of the On the Cutting Edge workshop series for geoscience faculty?

• Answer: 34% YES aware of program• Random sample of 475 Geoscientists• Email survey

– 43% return from email– 90% confidence level– 7% margin of error

Determining the impact

• Online survey ~ 50% response rate

• 54 interviews with workshop participants

• 12 interviews with website users

Four major areas of impact:

• Change from “what do I teach” to “what are students learning”

• Introduction of new teaching methods into courses• Increased emphasis in course content on emerging

geoscience research and connections between geoscience and humans (Emerging theme workshops)

• Increased confidence, new skills, and new connections – expand their sphere of influence – take on leadership positions in a wide range of venues (e.g.

campus, regional, national, international) and in new professional areas (e.g. geoscience education, teacher preparation).

From “what I teach” to “what students learn”

• 38 of 54 (70%) participants described significant shifts in their attitude about the practice of teaching and study of learning.

• 14 of 54 (26%) participants talked about how the workshop reaffirmed their existing attitudes and belief about teaching and learning in geoscience.

New teaching methods into courses

• 45 of 54 (83%) participants noted biggest impacts was teaching and described specific active learning techniques and activities they incorporated.

• Department impact of new teaching methods– Complete curriculum overhaul for majors– Curriculum overhaul for teacher preparation

Emphasis in course content on emerging geoscience research

Connections between geoscience and humans

• Addition of Geology and Human Health into courses and curriculum

• Increased use and attention to the use of visualizations in teaching

Increased confidence, new skills, and new connections

• 42 of 54 (78%) participants highlighted outcomes from the workshop that demonstrated an expanded sphere of influence.– Leading regional workshops– Participate and lead cross-discipline curriculum or activities on

campus– Pursuit (and many times be awarded) grants related to workshop

outcomes– Develop outreach programs for local community education– Develop pre-service or in-service science teacher programs– Present or publish in area of geoscience education

Networking and Role of Trusted Source

Previous study* seven of eight faculty we interviewed (87%) identified colleagues as favorite source of information on teaching.

Workshop participants:– Identify networking at workshop as key to their learning– Create new networks on their campus or with other colleagues to

strengthen their geoscience teaching– Share resources with connections made at workshop

*Manduca, C.M., Iverson, E., Fox, S., McMartin, F. Influencing User Behavior through Digital Library Design An Example from the Geosciences D-Lib Magazine, May, 2005.

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/