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| Paper: |
Integrating Research, Teaching and Learning: Preparing the Future National STEM Faculty |
| Volume: |
431, Science Education and Outreach: Forging a Path to the Future |
| Page: |
411 |
| Authors: |
Hooper, E. J.; Pfund, C.; Mathieu, R. |
| Abstract: |
A network of universities (Howard, Michigan State, Texas A&M, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt) have created a National Science Foundation-funded network to prepare a future national STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) faculty committed to learning, implementing, and advancing teaching techniques that are effective for the wide range of students enrolled in higher education. The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL; http://www.cirtl.net) develops, implements and evaluates professional development programs for future and current faculty. The programs comprise graduate courses, internships, and workshops, all integrated within campus learning communities. These elements are unified and guided by adherence to three core principles, or pillars: “Teaching as Research,” whereby research skills are applied to evaluating and advancing undergraduate learning; “Learning through Diversity,” in which the diversity of students’ backgrounds and experiences are used as a rich resource to enhance teaching and learning; and “Learning Communities” that foster shared learning and discovery among students, and between future and current faculty within a department or institution.
CIRTL established a laboratory for testing its ideas and practices at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, known as the Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning (http://www.delta.wisc.edu). The program offers project-based graduate courses, research mentor training, and workshops for post-docs, staff, and faculty. In addition, graduate students and post-docs can partner with a faculty member in a teaching-as-research internship to define and tackle a specific teaching and learning problem. Finally, students can obtain a Delta Certificate as testimony to their engagement in and commitment to teaching and learning. Delta has proved very successful, having served over 1500 UW-Madison instructors from graduate students to full professors. UW-Madison values the program to the point of now funding it internally. |
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