Advancing a Culture of Inclusive Teaching on Campus

National University of SingaporeNovember18, 2019

M A R Y D E A N E S O R C I N E L L I Co-PI, STEM Education Initiative, Association of American Universities (AAU)Senior Fellow, Professor Emeritus & Founding Director, Institute for Teaching Excellence & Faculty DevelopmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst msorcinelli@acad.umass.edu

Toward a Theory of Culture

Believing that we are creatures suspended in webs of significance we ourselves have spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning.

-- Clifford Geertz, 1973

“Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture”

Session Goals

Identify the indicators that characterize and contribute to a culture of teaching and learning—WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

Strategize about levers for cultivating a culture of teaching and learning at National University of Singapore —HOW DO WE BUILD IT?

Share promising practices, successes, challenges

““ The search is on for new and more powerful ways to engage today’s diverse students, but campuses need more than new techniques.

They need to build a culture where these new approaches can take hold and thrive.

(Hutchings, 1996)

Building a New Culture of T&L

1. (individually): Where does your unit/NUS lie on this continuum?

2. (in pairs): Introduce yourselves and explain your response to #1. What indicators influenced your rating?

No indicators of a culture of T&L

Multiple, mutually reinforcingindicators

1 2 3 4

It’s About Pedagogy

We now know:

A good deal more about how students learn

With effective teaching, students learn more

What works pedagogically to support learning

It’s About Scaffolding

“

It’s About Culture

At the core is pedagogy.

But to successfully institutionalize the use of

evidence-based teaching practices, what is

necessary is scaffolding, or support for faculty

and students, and larger cultural change.

(AAU, 2014).

“

A Framework for Culture Change

(Austin, 2011; Sorcinelli, 2014; Weaver 2016)

DEPARTMENT/COLLEGE

INSTITUTION

FACULTY MEMBER

EXTERNAL CONTEXTS

STUDENT LEARNER

Levers for Culture Change

(Austin, 2011; Sorcinelli, 2014; Weaver 2016)

DEPARTMENT/COLLEGE

INSTITUTION

FACULTY MEMBER

EXTERNAL CONTEXTS

STUDENT LEARNER

Levers for Change : Faculty Professional Development

Build “communities of conversation” where educators can

talk together about their work with students and with one

another

Feed those conversations with evidence—from reading,

data/assessment

Make FD functional and efficient—connected to regular

faculty work (e.g. MAP, course design institute)

Levers for Change: Resources

Advocate for time to learn, plan, experiment with new pedagogies –creative scheduling

Find time-efficient incentives (e.g. course release, summer salary, “embedded expertise” such as undergrad or grad teaching fellows)

Involve students as a resource and strategy for change

Levers for Change: Academic Leadership

Make T&L visible from the top with stories, symbols, and data

Focus on the department as one key unit for pedagogical reform and culture building

Invest in facilities planning (e.g., “hit the trifecta” of new learning spaces, faculty professional development, assessment)

Levers for Change: Reward Systems

Tap into low-hanging fruit. Grants and prestige are “coins of the realm.”

Work toward merit, promotion, and tenure policies that value contributions to teaching and student learning

Recognize through intrinsic as well as extrinsic rewards

Make teaching visible

Offer opportunities, incentives, resources

Partner and align efforts across boundaries

Make good teaching count

(AAU, 2014; Austin, 2011; Henderson & Dancy, 2007; Hutchings & Sorcinelli, 2019; Weaver, 2016).

Advancing the Culture of Inclusive T&L

Sharing Promising Strategies

What indicators of a culture of inclusive T&L are most fully developed or powerful in your unit/NUS?

Which indicators are underdeveloped or missing?

What’s ONE idea about creating a culture of inclusive T&L that you can share from your experience?

Association of American Universities. (2014). Framework for Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Learning. Washington, D.C: Association of American Universities: https://www.aau.edu/education-service/undergraduate-education/undergraduate-stem-education-initiative/stem-framework

Austin, A. (2011, March). Promoting Evidence-based Change In Undergraduate Science Education. Paper Commissioned by National Academies National Research Council Board on Science Education.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and leadership. 4th Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Gawande, A. (2013). “Slow Ideas.” Annals of Medicine, The New Yorker, July 29.

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Hutchings, P. (1996, Nov/Dec).”Building a New Culture of Teaching and Learning.” About Campus

Hutchings, P. & Sorcinelli, M.D. (2019). Building a Culture of Teaching and Learning. In Gibson, C. & Mader, S. (Eds). Building Teaching and Learning Communities: Creating Shared Meaning and Purpose. Chicago, IL: Association of College & Research Libraries.

Kezar, A., & Eckel, P. (2000). The Effect of Institutional Culture on Change Strategies in Higher Education.ERIC Clearing House.

Kinzie, J. (2014). Research on Successful Learning Practices. In B. F. Tobolowsky (Ed.), Paths to Learning for Engagement in College, 11-30. Columbia, SC: Univ. South Carolina, Natl. Resource Ctr. for First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.

Kuh, G., Kinzie, J., Schuh, J., & Witt, E. (2005). Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter. Washington, DC: Association for Study of Higher Education.

Massy, W., Wilger, A., & Colbeck, C. (1994). Department Cultures and Teaching Quality: Overcoming ‘Hallowed’ Collegiality. Change, 26, 11-20

National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment: www.learningoutcomesassessment.org

Sorcinelli, M.D. (2007). Faculty Development: The Challenge Going Forward.” Peer Review: Emerging Trends and Key Debates in Undergraduate Education 9 (4), 4-8.

Sorcinelli, M.D. (September 16, 2014). Evidence-based Teaching: What We Know and How to Promote It on Your Campus. New England Student Success Conference, Amherst, MA.

Tagg, J. (2003). The Learning Paradigm College. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.

Varenne, H. “The Culture of CULTURE.” [Definitions of culture.] http://varenne.tc.columbia.edu/hv/clt/and/culture_def.html

Weaver, G. (2016). Why Now is the Time for Institution-level Thinking in STEM Education. In Weaver, G.C., Burgess, W.D., Childress, A.L., Slakey, L. (Eds.). Transforming Institutions: Undergraduate STEM Education for the 21st Century. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.