This project aims to serve the national interest by advancing the culture of teaching in STEM departments within institutions of higher education. Our project aims to promote a Teaching Culture of Growth that is relatedness-supportive, competence-supportive, and autonomy-supportive within STEM departments by providing a professional development experience for STEM faculty who hold a variety of instructional roles (e.g. teaching faculty, research faculty, adjunct faculty, and graduate teaching assistants). We aim to support instructors' adoption of effective instructional techniques that meet the changing needs of today's students.

Using the TRIOS model, which is grounded in strength-based reflexivity, we plan to support instructors to reflect and modify their teaching to be more aligned with evidence-based and student-centered practices in instruction. The TRIOS professional developmental model, as well as the assessment of its outcomes, are framed by three central theories: self-determination, positive psychology, and diffusion of innovations.

The TRIOS Model

TRIOS is a professional development model that is Time-sensitive, Reciprocal, Inclusive, Operative, and Strengths-based. This model is rooted in self-determination theory, which focuses on autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

In the TRIOS model, faculty are paired into groups of three where they sit in on each other's classes and evaluate their peers' teaching. By focusing on a strengths-based approach, we find that faculty are more receptive to feedback from their peers while promoting a culture of sharing, dialogue, and innovation.

TRIOS is an opt-in program that opens a window into each others' teaching practices and relies on (1) observation, (2) individual reflection, and (3) group debriefing to provide a safe space to discuss teaching. An isolationist departmental teaching culture restricts the breadth of feedback and contrasting perspectives that are beneficial to making quality adjustments to one's teaching. TRIOS works towards making a shared and open approach of teaching the norm. The focus is on the department level so teaching faculty can focus on the needs of their students in the context of their disciplinary courses.

Seminal Paper by Dr. Bleiler-Baxter

The Onion Model breaks down self-reflection, such as in the teaching TRIOS debriefing sessions, into discrete aspects of one's core teaching identity. Like layers of an onion, the inner layers of the Onion Model represent core aspects of one's identity while outer layers represent more external aspects of one's identity.

Self-Determination Theory

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a broad theory focused on describing how the features of particular contexts can facilitate motivation and subsequent wellness in individuals. SDT includes six related mini-theories, one of which is the basic psychological needs theory. This theory suggests that individuals need competence, autonomy, and relatedness to foster motivation and subsequent wellness in their environment. Autonomy is the need to feel that one's actions are self-directed and align with one's values and interests. Competence is the desire to feel effective and capable of handling challenges and tasks. Relatedness is the need to feel connected and valued by others to foster a sense of belonging.

In ACT-STEM, we specifically use autonomy, competence, and relatedness to describe the psychological needs of faculty in STEM departments. We argue that STEM departments tend to suffer from three problematic cultural manifestations that result in unmet psychological needs of the faculty. These three problematic cultural manifestations include an isolationist culture (a culture that suppresses relatedness with respect to teaching relationships), a weed-out culture (a culture that suppresses competence with respect to teaching all students), and a stagnant culture (a culture that suppresses autonomy with respect to instructors’ imagination of and action toward pedagogical advancement).

Through the TRIOS, positive psychology, and diffusion of innovations, this project seeks to shift the culture of STEM departments towards a relatedness-supportive, competence-supportive, and autonomy-supportive culture, what we collectively refer to as a culture of growth.

By relatedness-supportive culture, we mean a teaching culture characterized by ongoing caring interactions, collaborative engagement, and a sense that all members belong, are valued, and trust one another.

By competence-supportive culture, we mean a teaching culture characterized by responsive support, high expectations, and a sense that all members are capable and have meaningful strengths to build upon.

By autonomy-supportive culture, we mean a teaching culture characterized by reflection, experimentation, and a sense that all members have the agency to make meaningful choices and shape teaching and learning in ways that are authentic to their values, identities, and goals.

Strength-based reflexivity

Strength-based reflexivity is an approach that uses positive psychology to encourage individuals to reflect on their experiences by focusing on personal strengths and resilience. It involves examining how one's strengths have been applied in past challenges or successes, allowing for greater self-awareness and confidence.

Positive psychology focuses on positive emotions, strengths, and virtues, in contrast to traditional psychology's focus on weakness, damage, and mental illness. It emphasizes amplifying strengths rather than repairing weaknesses. This approach counters shame or feelings of inadequacy that instructors might feel when entering into instructional reflexivity, instead allowing for a safe, supportive, and encouraging venue to share and reflect on one’s teaching. Identifying these strengths improves both personal and professional aspects of faculty life, such as helping them reflect on their teaching, feel less isolated, and improve practical teaching.

Diffusion of Innovation

Diffusion of Innovations Theory is a framework to explain the dynamics of the adaptation of new ideas or innovations by a society or social system. It places people or groups of people on a spectrum depending on their propensity to adopt and utilize the innovative idea. Those that develop new ideas and innovations and participate in pilot testing are known as innovators. Those that adopt new ideas directly following innovators are known as early adopters, followed by the early majority. The late majority are inclined to resist the innovation but adopt it after observing the early majority. The laggards, with the highest propensity to resist, tend to adopt the innovation last.

It is posited that once the innovative idea reaches the early majority, the continued spread of the innovation becomes self-sustained, i.e. the innovation begins spreading amongst adopters without significant efforts from the original innovators or administrators. This critical point between the early adopters and early majority is known as the “chasm” and is where a niche idea or innovation transforms into one with mass appeal. The ultimate success of an idea or innovation rests on whether the innovation successfully crosses the “chasm”.

In the context of ACT-STEM, Phase I will expand teaching TRIOS to early adopters by working with a small group of instructors to adopt TRIOS. Phase II will identify leaders within the Phase I instructors to leverage them to diffuse TRIOS throughout the remainder of the departments. The goal of Phase II is to learn how to bridge the “chasm” using departmental leadership training. Phase III will enact the diffusion to the early majority, with the Phase II instructors acting as leaders to TRIOS groups covering a larger proportion of instructors in the departments.

Culture of Growth

A Culture of Growth is supported through collaborative, heads-and-hearts, and innovative culture.

A collaborative culture is a culture that fosters relatedness. Instructors engage in ongoing, meaningful interactions with colleagues and students that foster mutual respect, shared learning, and a sense of belonging around teaching and learning.

A heads-and-hearts culture is a culture that fosters competence. Instructors develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to teach all students responsively, supporting both their cognitive growth (“heads”) and psychological well-being ("hearts").

An innovative culture is a culture that fosters autonomy. Instructors reflect on, experiment with, and refine their teaching, viewing their practice as evolving and feeling empowered to take informed risks, explore new approaches, and pursue growth relative to their current teaching.

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