Arkansas Educators Learn Transformative Teaching Techniques at Mobile Institute on Scientific Teaching

During the first week after the end of the spring semester, most people might assume that busy college professors would be relaxing, celebrating, or taking a vacation.

At the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, dozens of college professors and graduate assistants across disciplines spent the week of May 13-17 learning about science-based methods to become better teachers.

The Mobile Institute on Scientific Teaching (MoSI) workshop provides a focus on active learning because studies show that students are 1 ½ times more likely to pass classes in active learning classrooms compared to students in classes that use traditional lecturing only.

“I feel like the School of Art and Design makes it a priority to send new faculty members to MoSI,” said Clark Valentine, an assistant professor of drawing. “I am interested in finding out about interdisciplinary teaching and the crosspollination of ideas. Today, specifically, we were talking about how to approach your teaching like a research project, quantifying the data of your classroom. You learn how to use this data to track your teaching over the years, and you find evidence that your teaching is working. I’m excited to implement this into my teaching.”

Since UA Little Rock began offering the workshop in 2019, they have trained more than 150 people. Dr. Mark Baillie, assistant professor of chemistry, is part of a national Mobile Institute on Scientific Teaching leadership group and has run workshops at 15 locations around the world.

UA Little Rock received a nearly $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation in 2022 to enhance teaching, learning, and student success in undergraduate STEM education. One of the things the grant provides funding for is a stipend for up to 75 STEM faculty to complete the workshop over a five-year period. The UA Little Rock Office of the Provost generously provided matching stipends for any non-STEM faculty who completed this year’s workshop.

“The content of this program is great,” said Stephanie Davis, assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs. “We are getting moral support, and I am learning about institutional resources that I didn’t even know existed. Teaching is a part of your job, and you should approach it with the same rigor as you would your research.”

Participants had a hands-on experience on the impact of evidence-based teaching approaches such as active learning and inclusive teaching practices, with deliberate practice and backward design. This workshop has been identified as a major transformative event in the career of many college faculty, from R1 institutions to community colleges.

“For me, it was important to look at concepts on teaching, new ideas, and ways that you can adapt to the culture of the university and make the learning environment more engaging and fun for students,” said Jahaz Shine, assistant professor of biology at UA Little Rock.

Shine, who previously worked as a practicing physician teaching medical students on the West coast, said she’s enjoyed learning new teaching techniques as she adjusts to a new teaching environment.

“What worked for me in previous positions does not necessarily transplant here,” Shine said. “I think it’s important for me to adapt to new ideas and concepts. I’ve learned how to better engage my students and classroom management techniques based on incorporating some of the new practices. I will hopefully increase learning outcomes for students.”

Nickolas Doshier, director of music education, is a self-described “education nerd” who was excited to learn more evidence-based approaches to teaching that he can share with his colleagues and students.

“Any type of teacher education is interesting to me,” Doshier said. “I like that people at MOSI practice what they preach and are using evidence to back up their methods and techniques. This is a STEM-driven workshop, so it’s interesting to be a participant from the arts. A lot of teachers have adopted the practice of scientific teaching, and it’s easy to see how it would transfer to my classes.”

This year’s participants, who are named Scientific Teaching Fellows after completion of the workshop, include:

·  Nickolas Doshier, director of music education

·  Jenna Eastwood Hill, librarian

·  Janak Paudel, graduate student in applied physics

·  Jiabin Fan, assistant professor of sociology

·  Chieh Lin, assistant professor of accounting

·  Amanda Smith, faculty member in education

·  David Montague, associate vice chancellor of academic affairs

·  Kristen McIntyre, professor of applied communication

·  Clark Valentine, assistant professor of drawing

·  Stephanie Davis, assistant professor of public affairs

·  Kyungsun Lee, assistant professor of history

·  Ali Abushaiba, assistant professor of electronics and computer engineering

·  Kesong Hu, assistant professor of psychology

·  Robert Richards, assistant professor from the Clinton School of Public Service

·  Michele Noiset, assistant professor of illustration

·  Karen Dauenhauer, assistant professor of theatre

·  Jill Ellenbarger, associate professor of chemistry from John Brown University

·  Kenya Brooks, site coordinator for School of Education

·  Terri Guy, site coordinator for School of Education

·  Leslie Sharp, assistant professor of education

·  Jahaz Shine, visiting professor of biology

·  Ian Cliton, assistant professor of biology

·  Shweta Dabetwar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering

·  Laura Langley, visitor professor of education

·  Mahfuzul Hasan, assistant professor of chemistry from Philander Smith University

·  Ambar Rangu Magar, assistant professor of chemistry from Philander Smith University

UA Little Rock is currently the only higher education institution in Arkansas that runs MoSI workshops, but Baillie is hoping to expand in the future to other institutions in Arkansas.

Mahfulzul Hasan, assistant professor of chemistry and 2022 graduate of UA Little Rock, was one of three faculty members from Philander Smith University who was attending the MoSI workshop.

“I had talks with Dr. Mark Baillie about active learning when I was working with him as a teaching assistant just before my graduation,” Hasan said. “When I went into my classroom teaching organic chemistry, biochemistry, and analytical chemistry, I felt this workshop would be good training for me. I want to implement this into my teaching this semester, and we want to continue to use MoSI at Philander Smith. We will contact our administration and figure out how we can implement MoSI there in the future.”