CIRTL - Proposal

V. Impact of the CIRTL Professional Development Program

To estimate the number of graduates-through-faculty who will participate in CIRTL programs, we use UW as a model with 900 STEM faculty and 4000 STEM graduate students. We have several measures of baseline faculty participation. More than 40 STEM faculty at UW, including the chairs of chemistry, engineering physics, industrial engineering, mathematics, and physics, have already indicated their willingness to support the participation of their research teams in CIRTL. More broadly, over 100 STEM faculty have participated in the CCLE faculty development program, which was begun in the UW College of Engineering and then expanded to the entire faculty. These faculty represent a solid base on which to develop the CIRTL activities and learning community. Our goal is to have an ongoing participation of 100 STEM faculty in the CIRTL program.

The UW Graduate School Study (2001) found that over 50% of graduate students for whom teaching enrichment opportunities were available participated in them. Students felt that mentoring, peer discussions, and courses were the most effective experiences; however, only 38% of those surveyed had access to mentoring opportunities. Courses were available to even fewer students, but still were utilized by over half of those students to whom they were available. The study concluded that there was a graduate student demand for more opportunities and recommended their provision by the Graduate School.

The STEM enrollments in existing UW courses on teaching practice, in the KTI program, and in other development opportunities suggest a baseline number of 200 graduate students per year currently participating. In addition, teaching assistant training programs serve 250 STEM graduate students annually.

At startup in the UW laboratory the CIRTL Professional Development Program will have the capacity to serve approximately 100 STEM graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in academic year courses, experiential seminars, internships, and the learning community. Given the baseline numbers, we anticipate an initial demand comparable to this capacity. We will expand the program as demand increases and more graduates-through-faculty take on leadership roles. Conservatively, our goal at UW will be to annually serve 200 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers and to support 50 minor or certificate programs in STEM education during the academic year, and comparable numbers of graduates-through-faculty through summer programs and workshops.

If these numbers are representative for the entire CIRTL Network, at the end of 5 years the CIRTL Professional Development Program will be serving at least 2,000 STEM graduate students and post-doctoral researchers annually and have established learning communities for graduates-through-faculty at 10 research universities. The ultimate national impact will be to seed all undergraduate institutions with faculty bringing a new, dynamic approach to teaching and learning, and thereby enhance STEM education for all students.