RUME 25
2023
Omaha, Nebraska
A Measurement Hat Trick: Evidence from a Survey and Two Observation Protocols about Instructional Change after Intensive Professional Development
Page: 429
Professional development about teaching is an important lever for change toward evidence- based instructional practices. Yet few studies in higher education offer robust evidence about whether and how instructors’ teaching practices actually change as a result of professional development. We studied instructors who attended a four-day intensive workshop on inquiry- based learning (IBL) in college mathematics and who provided data about their teaching before and after. Of 293 instructors who attended, 136 provided complete survey data and 15 video- recorded their teaching, which we coded using two observation protocols. Comparing pre- workshop and follow-up teaching data, we find significant and well-corroborated changes toward IBL methods across all three methods, with effect sizes near 1, generally viewed as large in education research. The findings demonstrate that well-designed professional development can have a substantial impact on instruction even within the first year of implementation.