Abstract
This paper presents community college (CC) instructors’ responses to the Community College Anatomy and Physiology Educational Research (CAPER) project, a professional development program focused on active learning and educational research. We engage with conceptual change theory to better understand why and how CC instructors shifted their perspectives toward active learning. Qualitative data indicate that the participating CC instructors experienced pedagogical discontentment, leading to increased positive beliefs about active learning and educational research. In addition, we find that CC instructors have continued their pursuit of pedagogical change and educational research through communities of practice, which provide positive learning environments.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | ar49 |
| Journal | CBE life sciences education |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 1 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:studying the CC instructors’ pedagogical change. The CAPER project was based on the premise that involvement in educational research could effectively promote pedagogical transformation in CC instructors. The CAPER project did not, however, remove any time constraints or mitigate any institutional characteristics that are often seen as barriers to PD. This National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project (award no. 1829157, 2018–2020) engaged two cohorts of six CC instructors each (see Table 1). Note that all of the names that appear in Table 1 are pseudonyms.
Funding Information:
The CAPER project was funded by the NSF under award no. 1829157.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 A. R. Hyson et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education and 2021 The American Society for Cell Biology.
