Professional development of STEM-H faculty: Implications of a cross-disciplinary workshop series for improving research on student learning

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of workshop series on education research in STEM-H (see AUTHORS, 2020)

Day	Topics	Summary of Workshop Experiences
1	Education Research Landscape Research Questions Conceptual Frameworks	Explore research purposes and audiences that meet a range of particular needs (e.g., from improving one’s own teaching to contributing to the field at large) Guidance on crafting specific, answerable research questions How and why conceptual frameworks undergird interpretations and decisions throughout the research process
2	Research Design Data Collection Surveys Observation Protocols	Overview of research design paradigms, with examples beyond classic experimental design Data collection and measurement quality challenges and considerations Focus on quality for surveys and observation protocols
3	Data Analysis	Overview of scales of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio) and consequences for data analytic techniques. Introduction to a decision tree for statistical analysis approaches guided by the nature of the data available and the type of question being answered (see Appendix B)
4	Reflections on Learning Next Steps Planning	Structured reflections on workshop themes and purposes, with opportunities for clarifying questions or discussion. Structured guidance for next steps planning to meet individual goals related to education research

Table 2. Workshop series participants

University Department	Position Description
Physics	Assistant Professor (term)
Industrial Engineering	Assistant Professor (term)
Engineering Fundamentals	Assistant Professor (Tenure-track)
Public Health	Associate Professor (term)
Engineering Fundamentals	Associate Professor (Tenured)
Engineering Fundamentals	Associate Professor (Tenured)
Physiology	Associate Professor (Tenured)
Psychology and Brian Sciences	Associate Professor (Tenured)
Physics	Associate Professor (Tenured)
Chemical Engineering	Full Professor (Tenured)
University Learning Center	Faculty Developer
Medical Education	Faculty Development Program Manager
Medical Education	Medical Education Research Manager

Table 3. Data collection timeline and instruments (see appendix A)

Time	Instrument	Description
Pre-workshop	Pre-survey	Reasons for participating, what participants hope to gain, and brief description of prior experiences with education research
Post-workshop	Post-survey	Strengths and weaknesses of presentation of each key topic of the workshop series
6 months after workshop	Interview	Semi-structured interview to solicit what did or did not happen in terms of implementing tentative next steps. Opportunity to offer any additional thoughts from this post-hoc perspective.

Table 4. Overview of faculty participant’s next-step outcomes

Number of participants	Next-Steps Outcomes
2 workshop participants	Recognized the complexity of ER was not feasible for current work schedule, ER study plans are on hold in part due to pandemic.
7 Interdisciplinary Research Teams	Refined and/or restructured their research approach due to the workshop experience and resources.
1 Research Team (2 workshop participants)	Completed and published their ER study.
1 Research Team (3 workshop participants)	Tightly refined their ER methodology and research design to deploy sound data collection in the following academic year.
1 workshop participant	Initiated a department research team and extended an invitation across STEM field for interdisciplinary research and data collection.
2 workshop participants	Submitted ER grant proposals, one pending and one funded by the time of the follow up interview.
2 workshop participants and 2 workshop facilitators	Submitted large-scale grant proposal to broaden and deepen the ER workshop initiatives identified through this study.

Note. Some faculty reported more than one next-step outcome.