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Description of the Program

The Delta Program is a research, teaching and learning community for graduate students, post-docs, faculty and staff that is helping current and future faculty change the landscape of science, engineering, and math higher education. The Delta Program is founded on 3 interrelated core ideas. 1) Teaching-as-Research: applying the rigor of research methods to the challenge of teaching; 2) Learning Community: creating a community of educators and future educators through collaborative activities and programs that both supports growth in teaching and learning and creates a foundation for institutional change; 3) Diversity: bringing together diverse views that broaden and strengthen our approaches to help diverse students succeed in STEM courses. The Delta Program, launched in September 2003, is implementing these core ideas at the University of Wisconsin - Madison through graduate courses, small and large group on-going discussions, and internships, all within a learning community environment.
Graduate students, post-docs, new and experienced faculty members and academic staff are invited to come together to explore issues related to teaching, learning, and academic life in a collaborative and communal environment.

Delta is currently offering or developing the following programs and courses:

Creating a Collaborative Learning Environment (CCLE) - a year long program for small groups who met weekly to collaboratively explore learning and its implications in teaching.

Expeditions in Learning - a semester long program for small groups of 7-9 colleagues to explore the vast array of teaching and learning resources on campus, and engage in facilitated discussions about their experiences.

Integrating Learning in STEM Education (ILSE)- a learning community of graduate students and post-docs who meet to discuss issues relevant to their career development, as well as identify and generate professional development opportunities.

Roundtable Dinners - a monthly format for discussion and connections among Delta participants which focuses on topics of general interest.

College Classroom - a course designed for graduate students and faculty in STEM who want to improve their classroom teaching through discussion and practice of issues of learning, teaching, and assessment.

Teaching with Technology –a course is designed for graduate students and faculty in STEM fields who desire to incorporate instructional technology into their teaching style and practices.

Instructional Materials Development –a course designed for teams of faculty/staff and grad student(s)/postdoc(s) to develop instructional materials for STEM undergraduate courses.

Informal Education – a course designed to guide participants through the process of transforming a research results into an effective communication and outreach product.

Internship Program - under the teaching as research model, students and partners will define a problem in teaching and learning and work toward a solution together. This program also will serve as the culminating experience of Delta participants who wish to receive a Delta certificate.

The Delta Program is a project of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning, a National Science Foundation Center for Learning and Teaching.

Outcomes of the Program

The Delta Program was launched in September 2003; offering 2 courses, 2 formal discussion groups, 1 informal discussion group, and many individual events. The participation in this first semester is encouraging. The College Classroom course and Informal Education course have a combined enrollment of 38 students. Currently, 36 participants (10 faculty, 3 post-docs, 20 graduate students, and 3 staff) are actively engaged in our two formal discussion groups; CCLE and Expeditions in Learning. Participation in the informal discussion group (ILSE) ranges from 8 to 30 depending on the meeting topic. In addition, participants have taken part in several workshops and attended to guest lectures/discussions on a range of topics relevant to research, teaching, and learning. Many of these participants (50) also attended our roundtable event designed to bring participants from many different facet of the program together. Participants in Delta come from many disciplines within three colleges: Engineering, Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Letter and Sciences including, but not limited to industrial engineering, chemistry, horticulture, statistics, physic and oncology. Participants are at various points in their careers, ranging from 1st year grad to tenured faculty. Assessment and evaluation of each element of the Delta program is critical. Course instructors, program facilitators, and course participants themselves have begun implementing assessment and data is just beginning to be collected.

Implementation of the Program

While the implementation of the Delta program is very recent, development of the program offerings has been underway for a year. During this period of development, teams of STEM faculty, staff and students met regularly to plan courses, develop new programs, assess campus needs, and create an infrastructure for a growing learning community. Implementation of the program has been recent and has been met with great interest and enthusiasm. Our greatest challenges thus far concern creating programs that will be aligned with the universities infrastructure to assure sustainability. In addition, we have placed the home base of Delta in a unique setting on campus with the hope that such central home for the program will help facilitate interest and give participants a physical place to come together and from which to explore issues of research, teaching, and learning.