Professional Development for Part-time College Faculty to Enhance Student Success in STEM

This project aims to serve the national interest in high quality undergraduate STEM education by developing and evaluating comprehensive professional development for part-time STEM faculty. At many institutions, part-time faculty teach introductory STEM courses. As a result, these faculty have an essential role in creating equitable opportunities for student success in STEM.

However, institutional reliance on part-time faculty has been associated with lower first-year persistence and lower graduation rates. Few research studies have examined what part-time faculty do in the classroom and how their actions relate to student learning. STEM education reform efforts often do not include part-time faculty, even though studies document the desire of part-time faculty to be included in institutional efforts, their interest in collaboration, and their need for greater awareness of campus resources and policies.

This Level 1 Engaged Student Learning project intends to enhance the effectiveness of part-time faculty, leading to increased student success and persistence of students in first-year STEM courses taught by the participating faculty.

The project will develop a comprehensive faculty development program for part-time STEM faculty at Elmhurst University. Over the three-year duration of the project, 45 part-time STEM faculty members will participate in intensive faculty development. The development programming will combine training in teaching methods with training about campus resources, including institutional support mechanisms as well as retention and inclusion initiatives.

This comprehensive approach may serve as a model for other small, liberal arts institutions, that increasingly rely on part-time faculty. Through this sustained multi-year professional development effort, it is expected that part-time faculty will develop more student-centered conceptions of teaching, increase their use of evidence-based and inclusive teaching practices, and exhibit an increased sense of belonging with the institution.

The project will expand institutional support for part-time STEM faculty by establishing a STEM department chair workshop focused on integrating part-time faculty into departmental conversations around teaching and learning, as well as supporting sustained professional development through participation in an online course in effective teaching. The improvements in instruction, combined with a greater ability to connect students with campus resources, are expected to enhance student success in first-year STEM courses.

The proposed research study associated with the project will investigate specific changes in the part-time faculty members’ attitudes and behaviors related to their conceptions of teaching, use of evidence-based practices, and sense of belonging to the institution. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students.

Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.