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

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...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Emery, Nathan, Maher, Jessica Middlemis, Ebert-May, Diane
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8087079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33930064
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250760
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author Emery, Nathan
Maher, Jessica Middlemis
Ebert-May, Diane
author_facet Emery, Nathan
Maher, Jessica Middlemis
Ebert-May, Diane
author_sort Emery, Nathan
collection PubMed
description 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.
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spelling pubmed-80870792021-05-06 Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices Emery, Nathan Maher, Jessica Middlemis Ebert-May, Diane PLoS One Research Article 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. Public Library of Science 2021-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8087079/ /pubmed/33930064 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250760 Text en © 2021 Emery et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Emery, Nathan
Maher, Jessica Middlemis
Ebert-May, Diane
Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices
title Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices
title_full Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices
title_fullStr Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices
title_full_unstemmed Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices
title_short Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices
title_sort environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8087079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33930064
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250760
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