Faculty Learning Communities as a Means of Fostering Interactive Teaching: Broadening or Deepening?

• In Event: 42.084 - Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: 42.084-7 - Current Issues in Faculty Development

Abstract

Multiple reports indicate the need for more interactive teaching at the university level. Faculty learning communities (FLCs) are viewed as one method to support and foster instructors’ use of interactive teaching. In this study, we explored two possible directions FLCs can have in achieving this goal: broadening (by changing lecture-based teaching to more interactive environments) and deepening (by enhancing the use of interactive teaching in already interactive classrooms). The development of interactive teaching was investigated using the Innovation-Decision Process framework (Rogers, 2003). We examined the innovation-decision processes in terms of interactive teaching holistically and for individual teaching strategies. Primary data included interviews with group leaders and members engaged in a multi-year study of learning communities in STEM departments.

Authors

• Daria Gerasimova, George Mason University

• Margret A. Hjalmarson, National Science Foundation

• Jill K. Nelson, George Mason University

• Lori C. Bland, George Mason University

• Anastasia P. Samaras, George Mason University