An Assessment of Professional Development for Astronomy and Physics Faculty: Expanding Our Vision of How to Support Faculty’s Learning about Teaching

Title of dissertation: AN ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS FACULTY: EXPANDING OUR VISION OF HOW TO SUPPORT FACULTY’S LEARNING ABOUT TEACHING Alice R. Olmstead, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor Derek Richardson Department of Astronomy and Professor Chandra Turpen Department of Physics In this thesis, we will explore approaches to faculty instructional change in astronomy and physics. We primarily focus on professional development (PD) workshops, which are a central mechanism used within our community to help faculty improve their teaching. Although workshops serve a critical role for promoting more equitable instruction, we rarely assess them through careful consideration of how they engage faculty. To encourage a shift towards more reflective, researchinformed PD, we developed the Real-Time Professional Development Observation Tool (R-PDOT), to document the form and focus of faculty’s engagement during workshops. We then analyze video-recordings of faculty’s interactions during the Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop, focusing on instances where faculty might engage in pedagogical sense-making. Finally, we consider insights gained from our own local, team-based e↵ort to improve a course sequence for astronomy majors. We conclude with recommendations for PD leaders and researchers. AN ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS FACULTY: EXPANDING OUR VISION OF HOW TO SUPPORT FACULTY’S LEARNING ABOUT TEACHING