Oral Presentations: Session H

The involvement of undergraduate students in collaborative research with faculty is a proven and powerful pedagogy in view of the many educational benefits gained by students related to their cognitive, intellectual, professional, and personal growth. Yet, for a variety of reasons, undergraduate research (UGR) opportunities are still often optional and highly selective, missing the very students who could benefit the most. In this presentation, we will describe the Council on Undergraduate Research's five-year, NSF-funded Transformations Project, which engages 24 academic departments at 12 diverse institutions. To provide all students with more equitable access to the benefits of UGR, our project is conducting fundamental research on student, faculty, departmental, and disciplinary influences on the process of integrating and scaffolding research into undergraduate curricula emphasizing discovery, inquiry, and analysis. UGR expansion is critically dependent in adapting not only curricula, but on faculty and student engagement and departmental and institutional cultures. To achieve a cohesive curriculum that initiates students into a culture of inquiry and research in the discipline, departments are using a backward design approach to develop scaffolded, research-rich courses that build in deliberate ways to guide students to greater independence and ownership of their learning. This project is studying the student, faculty and disciplinary influences on the process of integrating and scaffolding UGR throughout the four-year undergraduate curriculum. We had previously developed a Theory of Change model using the lens of undergraduate research that articulates the conditions needed for change to occur within institutions. This model, and the assessment measures developed for the CUR Transformations project, are being refined to produce a new tool to guide departments beyond those involved with this project. We will share strategies being used to coach institutions to successfully scaffold UGR in ways that impact student learning, drive curricular transformation, and sustain cultural change.

The Biology Teaching Assistant Project (BioTAP) is an NSF-funded research coordination network with a goal to support evidence-based institutional change in biology graduate teaching assistant (GTA) teaching professional development (TPD) by increasing research on GTA TPD programs. GTAs are critical instructors in the movement to reform undergraduate biology education. They teach a large number of gateway biology courses, including laboratories, that are critical for the success of undergraduates. Despite this important role, GTA TPD offerings continue to be limited or nonexistent at many institutions. For widespread, multi-institutional improvement of biology student learning, research must be conducted to identify effective GTA TPD models and communicate how those models impact GTA instructional effectiveness in multiple institutional contexts. The planning and development of BioTAP were rooted in a core assumption that networks can be effective institutional change mechanisms. Our theory of change assumes that institutional transformations will occur via a strong focus on our network outcomes by the PIs and Steering Committee, a BioTAP Scholars program to increase the capacity for research among network members, and multiple mechanisms to advertise and disseminate network activities and results. These assumptions are similar to the eight essential features of a network proposed by Rincón-Gallardo and Fullan (2015). For example, stakeholders critical to the network outcomes were identified early in the project, and the PIs and Steering Committee meet regularly to build trust and accountability. The creation of the BioTAP Scholars Program started cycles of collaboration that sustain and support the network outcomes. Finally, the BioTAP listserv (170 members), website (biotap.utk.edu), and recent online virtual conference (attended by over 100 people) make connections outside the network to form new partnerships. By enacting our theory of change and disseminating the outcomes of BioTAP, we hope to sustain the network as an effective national change agent.