Using faculty learning communities to promote the development of student-centered biology instructors

Instructors Are Told By 3rd Party How They Can Improve
Jill McCourt from the University of Georgia presented about the AARC (automated analysis of constructed response) and the learning communities that are being established at different level 1 research institutions. It is important to note that the AARC is run by seasoned educators. Membership in one of these communities includes having an instructor's students submit open-ended responses to biology questions to the AARC who reviews responses and issues reports back to the instructors. These reports inform the instructors about their students' intellectual misconceptions and provides information about what needs to be fixed. Data on teaching is also collected through semistructured interviews, classroom observations, teaching inventories and teaching practices to contextualize any frustrations or problems instructors may have. This extra data enriches the report that the instructors receive and may assist in the implementation of the recommendations from the report. Currently, the incentive for instructors to participate is monetary ($1500/year). To support instructors, they have access to learning communities within the network of participants.

Teaching Coordinate Plane
Imagine a coordinate plane. In this plane, the -x represents instructor-centered priorities while the +x represents student-centered priorities. The +y represents the use of reformed practices of instruction while the -y represents the use of traditional practices. Traditional lecturers exist in quadrant 3 where students typically use memorization to succeed in their classes. Quadrant 2 is where instructors who are superficially interested in reformed practices would be, but they often struggle with motivating students. In quadrant 1, instructors who are fully committed to active learning consistently maintain student interest through activities in class. Quadrant 4 features instructors who consider student ideas but struggle in adjusting content due to the stress of needing to cover content while still incorporating active learning. AARC strives to drive all instructors into quadrant 1 of the coordinate plane.

		reformed practice
		2	1
instructor-centered priorities				student-centered priorities
		3	4
		traditional practice