Investigating Video-based Graduate Teaching Assistant Professional Development to Support Universal Design for Learning in Undergraduate Chemistry Courses

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving accessibility and inclusion for students with a wide range of abilities in undergraduate chemistry courses via professional development for graduate teaching assistants. Undergraduate students with disabilities enroll in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree programs at rates similar to students without disabilities; yet many students with disabilities leave before earning a degree.

One possible reason for the low graduation rates of students with disabilities may be that classroom instruction, which is designed to promote student learning, is not automatically inclusive and does not inherently support the needs of these students. In addition, STEM instructors often lack knowledge and expertise to support students with disabilities.

This project will support chemistry graduate teaching assistants in conceptualizing inclusive practices in their teaching by creating and testing video-based lessons designed to be incorporated into professional development for graduate teaching assistants. Findings from this project will support increased participation of people with disabilities and others who are underrepresented in STEM.

This collaboration between researchers at the University of Central Florida and the University of Connecticut Avery Point will employ the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to articulate, model, and assess research-based instructional principles to support the preparation of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) for chemistry courses. Materials will be created to support GTAs to enhance accessibility in the courses they teach and to promote meaningful learning for students with a wide range of abilities in undergraduate chemistry courses.

Three specific objectives guide the execution of the project. First is to examine chemistry GTAs’ current awareness, conceptualizations, values, and reported use of the UDL-aligned instructional strategies. Second is to develop a suite of video-based lessons and facilitator materials to illustrate best practices for implementing UDL instructional strategies in chemistry courses.

The final objective is to investigate how the materials are incorporated into professional development programs at a variety of institutions to shift GTAs’ views about accessibility, inclusivity, and UDL. This investigation includes examining how those who prepare and support GTAs integrate the materials developed into their department’s professional development programs and how they prefer to access the materials.

To accomplish these three objectives, the project team will curate video of GTAs integrating inclusive practices that research has shown to be difficult for chemistry instructors to conceptualize or implement. To explore the efficacy of the video-based professional development, the project team will compare outcomes for both GTAs and students across three different UDL professional development conditions (none, standard UDL, and the video-based UDL developed by the project).

The research team will collect and analyze responses to several key measures including pre- and post- Modified Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory, scenario assessments, and interviews to assess the impact that the video-based training lessons have on GTAs’ understanding, recognition, and application of inclusive practices in chemistry teaching and learning environments. Materials generated from this project will be shared with GTA training programs nationwide as well as with other stakeholders who are committed to facilitating inclusive STEM teaching and learning.

Ultimately, this project will contribute to our understanding of how to connect theory and practice to better understand UDL strategies and facilitate wider implementation in undergraduate chemistry courses. Further, the findings are likely to have implications for UDL-aligned instructor professional development in other STEM disciplines. Finally, since graduate teaching assistants are the future workforce of academia, the focus on GTA professional development enhances the potential for long-term impacts of the project.

The NSF IUSE: EDU program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its 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.