The Rewards and Challenges of Encouraging Instructors to Adopt InTeGrate Materials
Poster Session
Author
Diane Doser, University of Texas at El Paso
During the 2015-2016 academic year we began a series of workshops to introduce instructors at El Paso Community College (EPCC) and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) to InTeGrate materials. The workshops included tutorials on navigating the InTeGrate website, example syllabi showing how InTeGrate materials were implemented into face to face and on-line course materials, and "hands-on" run throughs of selected activities from the Climate of Change, Environmental Justice and Freshwater and A Growing Concern modules. Our first workshop held the first Friday afternoon of classes attracted 26 instructors (full-time faculty, lecturers, teaching assistants) from EPCC and UTEP including instructors from Chemistry and the Biological Sciences. This was the first time that many of the instructors had met one another and the workshop included time for social activities as well as covering instructional topics. A second workshop held in October involved 9 participants and a workshop in February focused on helping graduate student teaching assistants. About 30% of workshop participants went on to use InTeGrate materials for the first time in their fall or spring courses. Graduate students and newer faculty were more likely to adopt InTeGrate materials into their courses following a workshop, with several requesting follow-up consultations to determine how their course syllabi could be matched with InTeGrate content. About 15% of the instructors did not go on to use InTeGrate materials, but they did report adopting other active learning strategies in their courses. Nearly all instructors who used one InTeGrate activity in their class went on to include another InTeGrate activity the next time they taught the course.