Developing the DELTA: Capturing Cultural Changes in Undergraduate Departments

Ngai, Courtney; Pilgrim, Mary E.; Reinholz, Daniel L.; Corbo, Joel C.; Quan, Gina M.

doi:10.1187/cbe.19-09-0180

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…This aggregated measure is then used to test whether the organizational collective climate has an impact on a desired outcome for this type of organization (e.g., productivity, job satisfaction). In contrast, studies on institutional or departmental climate in DBER aggregate the perceptions collected from individual members (e.g., take an average of the perceptions across members of a department) without testing for consensus across respondents (Landrum et al, 2017;Ngai et al, 2020). The aggregated value in these studies represents the average perception of the organizational climate by members of the organization (i.e., individual level measure of climate of the institution or department) and not the collective perception of the organizational climate (i.e., departmental or institutional level measure of climate).…”

Section: Two Measures Of Organizational Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the Departmental Climate around Teaching (DCaT) survey: neither psychological collective climate nor departmental collective climate predicts STEM faculty’s instructional practices

Shi

Stains

2021

IJ STEM Ed

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Background Investigations into drivers and barriers to the uptake of learner-centered instructional practices in STEM courses have identified the climate within a department as a potential influential factor. However, few studies have explored the relationship between adoption of learner-centered instructional practices and departmental climate around teaching. Moreover, surveys that have been designed to measure climate around teaching have been focused on measuring individual faculty member’s description of their colleagues’ perceptions of the climate within their department (psychological collective climate) and ignored whether there was a consensus among respondents within the same department on these descriptions. This latter measure (departmental collective climate) is best aligned with the definition of organizational climate. There is thus a need to explore whether departmental climate measured at the individual or collective level relate to the use of learner-centered instructional practices. Results This study demonstrates that the Departmental Climate around Teaching (DCaT) survey provides valid and reliable data that can be used to measure psychological collective climate within a STEM department. Analysis of the 166 faculty members who responded to the survey indicated that (1) four different types of psychological collective climate existed among our population and (2) multiple types could be present within the same STEM department. Moreover, it showed that measuring departmental collective climate is challenging as few constructs measured by the DCaT survey reached high level of consensus within faculty members from the same department. Finally, the analysis found no relationship between psychological collective climate and the level of use of learner-centered instructional practices. Conclusions Results from the validation studies conducted on the DCaT survey that most elements that define a climate (e.g., policies, practices, expectations) are lacking when it comes to teaching. These findings could explain the challenges experienced in this study in measuring departmental collective climate. Without these climate elements, faculty members are left to work autonomously with little expectations for growth in their instructional practices. Establishing policies, practices, and expectations with respect to teaching is thus an essential step toward instructional change at a departmental level.

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Section: Two Measures Of Organizational Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the Departmental Climate around Teaching (DCaT) survey: neither psychological collective climate nor departmental collective climate predicts STEM faculty’s instructional practices

Shi

Stains

2021

IJ STEM Ed

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“…, 2018 ). Even any cultural changes within STEM departments can be explored using social network analysis or SNA ( Ngai et al. , 2020 ).…”

Section: Social Network In the Community Collegementioning

confidence: 99%

Family Helps Transform the STEM Pathways of Community College Women of Color STEM Majors

Yap,

Foriest,

Walker

et al. 2024

LSE

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“…37,38 However, researchers do not determine the level of consensus among respondents before aggregating individual-level data. 37,38 Using this approach, aggregated data correspond to a measure of the average perception of policies, practices, and procedures. The resulting measure, which is still at the individual level, is termed psychological collective climate.…”

Section: Organizational Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Organizational climate has been measured via a different survey-based approach in discipline-based education research (DBER), where researchers asked postsecondary faculty members of a department to evaluate how other members perceive policies, practices, and procedures. , However, researchers do not determine the level of consensus among respondents before aggregating individual-level data. , Using this approach, aggregated data correspond to a measure of the average perception of policies, practices, and procedures. The resulting measure, which is still at the individual level, is termed psychological collective climate .…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Association of Departmental Climate around Teaching with Adoption of Evidence-Based Instructional Practices: A National Survey of Chemistry Faculty Members

Raker

2023

J. Chem. Educ.

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Faculty members in STEM report numerous motivators and barriers to adopting evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs), yet the degree to which these factors are associated with EBIP adoption in postsecondary chemistry courses is unclear. The role of departmental climate around teaching in driving or hindering EBIP adoption is particularly unresolved. This study investigates, via a national survey of chemistry faculty members (n = 983), the degree to which departmental climate around teaching and various other factors are associated with EBIP adoption in postsecondary chemistry courses. Measures of departmental climate around teaching were obtained using a modified version of the Departmental Climate around Teaching (DCaT) instrument. Results from multilevel regression analyses suggest that a climate of continuous improvement in which chemistry faculty members perceive departmental policies, practices, and expectations as reflecting a commitment to the continuous improvement of teaching is conducive to EBIP adoption. At the same time, a climate of continuous teaching evaluation and performance feedback may not be conducive to such adoption. Results from psychometric evaluation of the DCaT suggest that a consensus view of climate may not exist in most chemistry departments, potentially due to a lack of clear policies, practices and expectations surrounding teaching; however, associations involving individual-level measures of climate suggest that such consensus may not be necessary for instructional innovation. Several other contextual, personal, and teacher thinking factors were also associated with EBIP adoption. Results point toward productive avenues through which department leaders, chemistry education scholars, and pedagogical developers and disseminators can promote instructional reform.

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Developing the DELTA: Capturing Cultural Changes in Undergraduate Departments

Cited by 9 publications

References 44 publications

Development of the Departmental Climate around Teaching (DCaT) survey: neither psychological collective climate nor departmental collective climate predicts STEM faculty’s instructional practices

Development of the Departmental Climate around Teaching (DCaT) survey: neither psychological collective climate nor departmental collective climate predicts STEM faculty’s instructional practices

Family Helps Transform the STEM Pathways of Community College Women of Color STEM Majors

Measuring the Association of Departmental Climate around Teaching with Adoption of Evidence-Based Instructional Practices: A National Survey of Chemistry Faculty Members

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