A model for an intensive hands-on faculty development workshop to foster change in laboratory teaching

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Christopher Beck, Emory University; Lawrence S Blumer, Morehouse College
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-10-31
• Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: ©2019 Author(s).
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v20i3.1799
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 3
• Grant/Funding Information: This study and publication was funded by National Science Foundation grants DUE-0815135, DUE-0814373, and HRD-1818458 to Morehouse College and Emory University. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
• Keywords: Laboratory Teaching; workshops; Faculty Development
• Research Categories: Education, Curriculum and Instruction; Biology, General

Abstract

Faculty development workshops are frequently used to bring about change in faculty teaching. Yet, the characteristics of successful faculty professional development in the context of laboratory teaching are unclear. In this Perspective, we describe our approach to intensive hands-on faculty development workshops for fostering change in laboratory teaching and present evidence for the effectiveness of the approach. The outcomes from our workshops and feedback from past participants support the following recommendations: 1) faculty should attend workshops in teams from their institutions, 2) workshops should allow participants to develop curricula that can be implemented with relatively little additional work after the workshop, 3) workshops should allow faculty time to “work” on tangible products and should involve hands-on activities, 4) workshops should be of sufficient duration to allow for faculty to develop expertise and tangible products but short enough that faculty do not “burn out,” and 5) a structure for ongoing and systematic follow-up with participants is essential.