EDLI engages with instructors from our three colleges each semester to design, implement and analyze a project focused on enhancing teaching and learning practice in their coursework. This post highlights an example outcome from a faculty fellowship during the 2022-23 year, sharing our analysis of a large course’s alignment based on student survey data. The instructor in this partnership guided our research questions and instrument development, starting with a question about what represents the “optimum workload” for students to achieve their learning goals. EDLI developed survey instruments and analyzed the results. As we worked through the data over the course of a semester, we tailored our suggestions to the instructor’s values and interests based on our ongoing conversations, and to the features and constraints of the course.
Our Faculty Fellows program recognizes the time and energy faculty put into developing innovative and engaging courses, and provides opportunities for the faculty members to explore curriculum development, conduct research on pedagogies, or develop other aspects of teaching and learning in their courses. The outcomes from faculty fellows can vary based on a particular instructor’s interests. If you would like to participate in a faculty fellows project in the future, contact us at edli.team@msu.edu
This report was co-authored by Caitlin Kirby, graduate assistant Robert Randez, undergraduate Kate Schleusener, and Jeremy Van Hof. Kate Schleusener designed the final document. We completed the IRB process and received consent from all students whose data is presented in this report.