Preparing future STEM faculty through flexible teaching professional development

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276349
• Publication Date: 2023-10-12T17:42:59Z
• Authors: Bennett B. Goldberg; Derek O. Bruff; Robin McC. Greenler; Katherine Barnicle; Noah H. Green; Lauren E. P. Camp...; Sandra L. Laursen; Matthew J. Ford; Amy Serafini; Claude Mack; Tamara L. Carley; Christina Maimone; Henry (Rique) Campa
• Keywords: Affordance; Faculty Development; Asynchronous learning

We have prepared thousands of future STEM faculty around the world to adopt evidence-based instructional practices through their participation in two massive open online courses (MOOCs) and facilitated in-person learning communities. Our novel combination asynchronous coordinated, structured face-to-face community experiences provides flexible options for graduate students postdoctoral fellows pursue teaching professional development. A total 14,977 participants enrolled seven offerings introductory course held 2014-2018, with 1,725 (11.5% enrolled) completing course. results high levels engagement suggest that leveraging affordances educational technologies geographically clustered nature this learner demographic could be a sustainable model large scale development higher education. The preparation makes an important difference establishing high-quality instruction meets diverse needs all undergraduate students, initiative described here can serve as increasing access such preparation.