"Improved Student Learning through a Faculty Learning Community: How Fa" by Emily R. Elliott, Robert D. Reason et al.

Education Publications

Title

Improved Student Learning through a Faculty Learning Community: How Faculty Collaboration Transformed a Large-Enrollment Course from Lecture to Student Centered

Authors

Emily R. Elliott, University of Pennsylvania
Robert D. Reason, Iowa State UniversityFollow
Clark R. Coffman, Iowa State UniversityFollow
Eric J. Gangloff, Iowa State UniversityFollow
Jeffrey R. Raker, University of South Florida
Jo Anne Powell-Coffman, Iowa State UniversityFollow
Craig Ogilvie, Iowa State UniversityFollow

Campus Units

Education, School of, Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Physics and Astronomy

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

Summer 2016

Journal or Book Title

CBE—Life Sciences Education

Volume

Issue

DOI

10.1187/cbe.14-07-0112

Abstract

Undergraduate introductory biology courses are changing based on our growing understanding of how students learn and rapid scientific advancement in the biological sciences. At Iowa State University, faculty instructors are transforming a second-semester large-enrollment introductory biology course to include active learning within the lecture setting. To support this change, we set up a faculty learning community (FLC) in which instructors develop new pedagogies, adapt active-learning strategies to large courses, discuss challenges and progress, critique and revise classroom interventions, and share materials. We present data on how the collaborative work of the FLC led to increased implementation of active-learning strategies and a concurrent improvement in student learning. Interestingly, student learning gains correlate with the percentage of classroom time spent in active-learning modes. Furthermore, student attitudes toward learning biology are weakly positively correlated with these learning gains. At our institution, the FLC framework serves as an agent of iterative emergent change, resulting in the creation of a more student-centered course that better supports learning.

Comments

This article is from CBE—Life Sciences Education 15 (2016): ar22, doi:10.1187/cbe.14-07-0112. Posted with permission.

Rights

This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Copyright Owner

E. R. Elliott et al.

Copyright Date

2016

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Elliott, Emily R.; Reason, Robert D.; Coffman, Clark R.; Gangloff, Eric J.; Raker, Jeffrey R.; Powell-Coffman, Jo Anne; and Ogilvie, Craig, "Improved Student Learning through a Faculty Learning Community: How Faculty Collaboration Transformed a Large-Enrollment Course from Lecture to Student Centered" (2016). Education Publications. 50.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/edu_pubs/50

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