Author(s):
NEED: About 15 years ago the NSF and AAAS sponsored a large-scale rethinking of the biology curriculum, resulting in the 2011 report, Vision and Change: A Call to Action. V&C outlines a set of core concepts and of core competencies for all biology undergraduates, as well promoting evidence-based pedagogy, undergraduate research, and inclusive practices. Most current Biology Education Research relates to at least some of its principles, and there have been efforts at dissemination, such as the PULSE program (Musante, 2013; Schlegel et al., 2013), but little is known about V&C’s broader impact.CONTEXT: The PALM network was designed to introduce evidence-based teaching to diverse instructors using a mentoring model, and it was largely effective at meeting that goal (Moore et al., 2000). PALM mentors and mentees are an interesting population for study with respect to V&C, since they represent a variety of instructors interested in teaching reform. Although many of the mentors were familiar with V&C, PALM did not require them to discuss V&C with their mentees, and the network never directly discussed V&C in journal clubs. However, if this group remains ignorant of V&C, then dissemination efforts have probably largely failed.GUIDING QUESTION: Did the PALM network aid in the dissemination of V&C to participants? Specifically, did V&C motivate members to join PALM, and did PALM educate members about V&C?RESEARCH DESIGN: Focus groups of up to 3 PALM members were recorded in 2023-24. A total of 25 participants were asked about their motivations to join PALM, their familiarity with V&C, whether they learned about V&C through discussions with their mentor/mentee or other PALM members; how PALM and/or V&C shaped the development of their teaching philosophies and strategies. We developed codebooks based on Expectancy-Value Theory (Sullins et al. 1995; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000; Reinholz et al. 2021) to characterize internal drivers for change within individuals to join PALM and/or learn more about V&C. Transcripts were independently coded by pairs of researchers, who then resolved any differences.OUTCOME: While nearly all mentees joined PALM to become better teachers, only 1 in 25 participants stated that they joined PALM because of V&C. On the other hand, PALM network members’ teaching philosophies and motivations align strongly with V&C principles, and the majority of participants used V&C in their teaching, particularly as a resource for course structure. BROADER IMPACT: V&C was published 13 years ago, and NSF is interested in learning whether it effectively created change across the country. We conclude that V&C does not drive people to improve their teaching. However, most PALM members were familiar with V&C and used its principles, even if they did not discuss the report explicitly. In addition, PALM was cited as being extremely beneficial for participants; therefore, the PALM model seems to work as a way of spreading evidence-based teaching strategies.
Coauthors
Dina Newman, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY; Carlos Goller, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC; Stephanie Mathews, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC; Michael Moore, University of Arkansas Little Rock, Little Rock, AR; Uma Swamy, Florida International University, Miami, FL; Michael Wolyniak, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden Sydney, VA; Jeremy Hsu, Chapman University, Orange, CA
