3 - Thinking about Thinking: Exploring Faculty Transformation Narratives to Fuel Best Practices for Critical Thinking Workshops

Abstract Information: In this contribution, we explore two case studies that feature faculty transformative narratives regarding their experiences in professional development critical thinking workshops that are centered on assessment practices in higher education. These workshops were intended to help guide and support faculty as they navigate instructional pivots relating to student assessment and evaluation. This presentation specifically focuses on answering the following research question: From faculty narratives, what best practices emerged during these workshops to help faculty understand data/instructional strategies? Better understanding the integration of best practices in faculty development workshops is important to ensure that the quality and content of the material is shared in a way that leads to the largest gains in critical thinking in their local higher education contexts. Additionally, identifying how these practices are interpreted by faculty are beneficial to developing a stronger partnership between facilitators and future opportunities. Data from facilitator reflections, formative feedback, and survey data collected from ten workshops with three two-year and two four-year universities will be utilized to investigate this question. A content analysis of the reflection and formative feedback data from both case studies will be presented. This will be supplemented by data from faculty face validity of a critical thinking construct from one case study and a descriptive analysis from survey data available for the other case study. Implications and outcomes from this analysis include the relevance of incorporating active learning in workshops and the establishment of teaching and learning communities post workshop to engage in transformative thinking regarding student learning and evaluation.

Relevance Statement: This presentation features an evaluative exploration of faculty voices and narratives from their experiences in critical thinking workshops that help to highlight best practices stemming from professional development opportunities geared towards assessment in higher education. In focusing on faculty narratives, we are sharing how their stories fuel evaluative insights, particularly with respect to professional development in student learning and assessment at the postsecondary level. Further, in accordance with evaluative practices, the faculty narratives are used to “engage in a process of figuring out what is needed to address challenges through the systematic collection and use of data” (Mertens & Wilson, 2019, p. 3). The training given to faculty were comprehensive in their methods, and the faculty feedback was imperative to better understand what worked, what became a challenge, and what was transferred into the classroom to directly improve student learning processes. The preliminary themes that emerged from the faculty narratives include, for example, metacognitive processes that were helpful, excitement about transforming student experiences, direct changes of teaching practices, and the establishment of teaching and learning communities. In terms of the connection to evaluation, we identify two primary American Evaluation Association (AEA) Competencies (2018) that are featured in this work: (3.0) Domain Context and (5.0) Domain Interpersonal. For the (3.0) Context Domain, as the workshops were implemented in different contexts and disciplines, the themes gleaned from the faculty narratives offer a unique understanding of diverse circumstances, multiple perspectives, and the changing settings of evaluations as they are leveraged in both the two-year and four-year postsecondary settings utilized in this study. Regarding the (5.0) Interpersonal Domain, the faculty narratives provide insight on how faculty are able to leverage professional development connections, community support, and knowledge gained to plan, redesign, and implement instructional strategies that are aligned with the content featured in the workshops. The knowledge generated by this study adds to the field of evaluation by offering a comprehensive perspective of faculty narratives concerning professional development workshops in the area of critical thinking that encompasses a myriad of postsecondary contexts, disciplines, and types of institutions.

References: American Evaluation Association. (2018). The 2018 AEA Evaluator Competencies. Retrieved from https://www.eval.org/Portals/0/Docs/AEA%20Evaluator%20Competencies.pdf Mertens, D. M., & Wilson, A. T. (2019). Program Evaluation Theory and Practice, 2nd Ed. New York: The Guilford Press.