Supporting faculty course transformation through the Teaching Excellence Network.

We present the Rutgers Teaching Excellence Network (TEN), a program for supporting STEM faculty course transformation and pedagogical development. TEN was developed to support often-siloed faculty at a large research institution in developing their teaching practices. Developing TEN included bridging university structures and resources for faculty support; TEN created new spaces for faculty to participate in an intensive course-design summer institute and in small groups that meet throughout a semester to engage with specific teaching-related topics.

Using structuration theory and expectation value theory, we examine how university structures impact faculty agency and motivation around course design. Using an iterative coding approach known as thematic analysis, we examine interviews with faculty participants. Using our theories as a lens, we examine how institutional structures have impacted our participants’ agency and motivation around course transformation.

We will conclude this talk by discussing the importance of attending to institutional structures, as well as people’s internal structures, when implementing faculty change. Our focus will be implications for faculty development programs, and how they can be part of structural change to support faculty.