PRISM: Changing Pedagogy of STEM Faculty
The Institutes and the Academy provided faculty with a learning community in which to learn from national peers and each other. Mini-grants provided support for faculty to adopt findings from the literature and what they learned from national leaders and each other at the Institutes. Conclusions faculty reached about the value of the interventions are their own because they were allowed to personalize the findings in their own classrooms. Implications are that faculty need to be provided a structure and support if meaningful, sustainable modifications are to be implemented in introductory college courses and labs.
Many of the course interventions are adding to the literature on the efficacy of active learning strategies in introductory courses. The author has high confidence that well designed Institutes and mini-grants support programs are effective ways to engage IHE faculty in introductory college course modifications. There is less confidence in the fidelity of individual course interventions. These need to be scrutinized on a case-by-case basis that is most easily achieved through a rigorous peer reviewed publication procedure. The above two examples are of high fidelity.
Another positive result of the initial PRISM work is that starting in July 2008 USG will use state funding to support the Institute as part of a STEM initiative that incorporates many of the PRISM strategies. Also, all 35 USG institutions will be eligible to compete for funds to support mini-grants programs.
