Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices

Abstract

Research-based teaching practices can improve student learning outcomes in a variety of complex educational environments. The implementation of learner-centered teaching practices in STEM can both benefit from or be constrained by different factors related to individual instructors and the teaching environment. Additionally, we know little of how the instructional climate varies across institutions and how this climate affects teaching practices. Our study sought to examine the relative importance of environmental influences and individual characteristics on learner-centered teaching practices across institutions. We also assessed differences in our study population and departmental climate for 35 US higher education institutions across the country. We found that self-efficacy in teaching and professional development exert a strong influence on faculty teaching practices in biology. While departmental climate did not emerge as a significant predictor of teaching practices, there was consistently low support for teaching, and institution size was negatively correlated with leadership and evaluation of effective teaching. We also found that intensive professional development programs, such as the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching IV program, may prepare instructors to teach learner-centered courses in different collegial teaching climates. Our results suggest that through cultivating self-efficacy and participating in iterative professional development, instructors can implement effective teaching practices in a variety of institutional environments.

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

“…Further, the relationship between departmental climate around teaching and EBIP adoption is also unresolved. Two preliminary investigations targeting a select number of institutions have found no evidence of association between departmental climate and teaching practices. , An investigation of this association on a large national scale is thus needed to evaluate whether this trend persists more broadly across institutions. Such insight will inform efforts aimed at promoting adoption of EBIPs in chemistry and other STEM disciplines.…”

Influence of Organizational Innovation Climate on Creativity and the Mediating Role of Feedback-Seeking Behavior—A Case Study of University Teachers in Hebei, China

“…A robust organizational innovation climate encourages mutual collaboration, information exchange, and interaction among members, in addition to providing adequate guidance for members to participate in organizational innovation (Aldabbas et al, 2021). Furthermore, the sense of psychological security generated among members under an organizational innovation climate can help provide the mental and emotional support required for creative activities (Emery et al, 2021).…”

Knowledge domain, research hotspots and frontiers in physiology teaching reforms from 2012 to 2021: A bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis

“…To assess teaching methods, Li et al highlighted the importance of clinical knowledge and experience on reform of teaching preclinical pathophysiology ( 8 ). Emery et al sought to examine the relative importance of environmental influences and individual characteristics on learner-centered teaching practices across institutions ( 9 ). Semsar et al described the development of a new, freely available, online, programmatic-level assessment tool termed Measuring Achievement and Progress in Science in Physiology (Phys-MAPS) to evaluate student learning of core physiology concepts at multiple time points during an undergraduate physiology program, thus providing a valuable longitudinal tool to gain insight into student thinking and aid data-driven reform of physiology curricula ( 10 ).…”