Workshop

The undergraduate mathematics education system remains a huge barrier to college completion and to equity in higher education. The problem in entry level mathematics courses is not a lack of innovation. Numerous projects and institutions have created, piloted, and occasionally replicated effective reform efforts that overcame particular challenges, like the need to improve pedagogical practices or attend to gender equity. The biggest barrier to systemic reform – implementing many of these research-backed innovations at scale – is a structural one, particularly at large research-focused institutions. This workshop will bring together a group of stakeholders to explore a new avenue for change, the rise of teaching-focused faculty at research-intensive institutions who increasingly influence introductory coursework. By creating a network that connects these faculty across institutions, change at scale across 50, 100, or even more institutions becomes possible – on issues ranging from pedagogy to equity to curricular innovation. Creating such structures would also allow for bringing future innovations to scale much more quickly than is currently possible. Guiding Questions: 1. Empowering teaching faculty to be change agents What enabled (or constrained) teaching focused faculty to contribute to and/or lead change efforts? What would leadership development look like that’s aimed at teaching-focused faculty to become change agents? What hiring and retention policies support (or hinder) teaching focused faculty to be change agents? What tools and resources would help teaching-focused faculty be more effective providers of professional development for teaching? How do (or could) teaching-focused faculty use data to inform departmental decision making?  2. Learning from previous change efforts (the good, the bad, the ugly) What are successful approaches (e.g., active learning, GTA professional development, course coordination, developmental math course reform) that have led to lasting change, at scale? What can we learn from efforts that did not live up to their potential in particular contexts? What are the important ways that local context shapes these efforts?  How has equity been successfully centered in such efforts?  What roles have teaching focused faculty played in transformation efforts? In what ways have these innovations positively impacted future secondary school teachers? 3. Building a national network of teaching-focused faculty who are change agents What would be needed to create a robust national network of teaching-focused faculty becoming effective change agents at their local institutions and more broadly? What professional learning for leadership development would equip teaching-focused faculty to contribute to and steward these efforts? What role should teaching-focused faculty play in designing, constructing, and running such a network? In what ways can a new network of teaching-focused faculty include the broader STEM disciplines? Download a PDF flyer to share with your network and colleagues View workshop photo album