Sustaining the reformed curriculum required acculturating newly-hired faculty who would be teaching both content and pedagogy in ways different from their own physics learning experiences. When did these new faculty first learn about the Paradigms in Physics program? How did they make sense of what they were being asked to teach as they assumed responsibility for one of the paradigm or capstone courses? For those without much, or even any, prior teaching experience, how did they gain confidence and competence in teaching? How did they learn about what came before and what was coming after the course that they were now teaching? How free did they feel to make changes? These were issues discussed with eight new faculty members and a faculty visitor who chose to teach one of the junior paradigms courses. Their insights refer both to what they experienced here and what they wish had been provided. These are reported here as recommendations for others interested in undertaking and sustaining curricular reforms:
Inform faculty candidates about the reformed curriculum during the hiring process
provide information about department teaching practices and curricular program
schedule session about teaching during interview process
describe and invite participation in the department’s community focused around teaching
Provide overview of teaching strategies and reformed curriculum
schedule discussion of teaching strategies and reformed curriculum as part of department new faculty orientation
engage new faculty in interactive teaching strategies as learners
provide handouts that summarize philosophy and structure of reformed curriculum
clarify opportunities and responsibilities related to curricular reforms
Provide resources for planning and teaching courses
give new faculty member a binder and electronic files with previous faculty member’s syllabus, course notes, directions for activities, and homework assignments
give new faculty member access to previous faculty member’s course website
guide new faculty member to additional resources that may exist such as department website describing courses and curriculum, papers describing curriculum, website providing details about specific teaching strategies and activities, videos of class sessions
Assign new faculty a teaching assistant who is familiar with the course and curriculum
structure TA assignment to include meeting before class to discuss issues about which the TA can alert faculty member (e.g., likely student conceptual difficulties, possible troubles with equipment, and ways this content connects to previous and future topics)
expect TA to come to class and to participate in instructional roles such as assisting with small group activities
expect new faculty member to include TA in designing handouts, activities, and quizzes
ask TA to keep track of time required for activities to facilitate planning when teaching course again
structure TA assignment to include meeting after class to reflect upon what happened and to plan what needs to be prepared for next class session
encourage TA to document and discuss interesting aspects of student learning noticed while grading assignments
Assign a mentor for teaching, who has taught course new faculty will be teaching
Encourage active investigation of purpose of content and pedagogical approach
identify original designer of course and arrange meeting with new faculty if feasible
introduce prior instructors and encourage multiple conversations during planning and teaching to gain better understanding of ways the course fits within the curriculum
encourage sitting in on classes taught by experienced faculty using interactive strategies
Acknowledge that all instructors learn new material when starting to teach a new course or in a new way, that this is expected and normal.
Schedule on-going faculty curriculum meetings
establish cycle of multiple curriculum meetings each term, separate from the regular all-faculty meetings (e.g., regular curriculum meetings for faculty teaching introductory courses, those teaching upper-division courses, and those teaching graduate courses)
create culture for curriculum meetings in which faculty expect to discuss what happened, changes made, student understandings and challenges noted during a course
encourage discussion of connections among courses, of dependencies upon what students learned in prior courses and will learn in future courses about topics being taught now
focus occasionally on strategies such as facilitating whole group discussions; initiating, monitoring, and reflecting upon small group activities; fostering student questioning
Establish culture in which faculty are free to make changes, while aware of implications
encourage investment in improving instruction by clarifying content and designing innovative activities
request discussion of intended changes with colleagues knowledgeable of overall curriculum in order to become aware of possible implications of omissions or additions
Set-up teaching triads
assign all faculty in groups of three to observe one another’s classes and then to meet and discuss whatever seems useful to ponder
make assignments with mix of teaching experiences and course levels with attention to needs of new faculty
start teaching triad process early in new faculty’s teaching experiences and separate this process clearly from teaching observations for promotion and tenure
Offer teaching seminar for interested faculty and graduate students
Encourage participation in conferences about teaching
provide funding to participate in new faculty workshops by professional organization
inform about local support for teaching such as workshops provided by an institution’s Center for Teaching and Learning
Perhaps offer generic advice:
don’t answer a question the students don’t have yet
find ways to make it safe for students to say in class “I don’t know”
recognize that students are smarter than you think they are; they just know less than you think they do.