Research Shows How UCLA’s PAROSL Program Helps Faculty Shift Their Thinking Towards Student Learning
Senior Survey Introduces Custom Questions About Academic Experiences
The annual UCLA Senior Survey collects feedback from graduating seniors regarding their academic and social experiences, campus life, and post-graduate plans; over the past decade, it has become a powerful tool to support program review and wide-ranging efforts to improve teaching and learning on campus. This year, we piloted a customizable bank of questions, inviting departments with upcoming program reviews to design their own survey items. Two majors and two minors have participated so far in this new opportunity, with questions about equity and inclusion at the forefront. We look forward to reviewing findings from our pilot effort this summer.
Two Publications Document How UCLA’s PAROSL Program Supports Inclusive, Student-Centered Pedagogy
Peer-Assisted Reflections On Student Learning or PAROSL is a UCLA program in which pairs of faculty observe each other’s classes, discuss student learning, and implement an innovative teaching technique. PAROSL supports faculty as they find ways to make their teaching more inclusive and student-centered. Two new studies published in the International Journal for Academic Development and Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning provide evidence of the positive impact that PAROSL can have on faculty thinking and pedagogy.
The author, Dr. Glory Tobiason (Clinical Faculty in Education at UCLA and a researcher at CRESST) developed and began studying the program in 2019, in collaboration with CAT, CEILS, and EPIC. By observing four cohorts of faculty (n=40) as they engaged in PAROSL, she found that the program helped instructors shift from a content-centered logic to a student-centered one (DOI: 10.1080/1360144X.2021.2015691). She also identified key design features of peer observation that support responsive teaching innovation (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2021.1987791).
The research comes at an opportune time, when universities across the country (including UCLA) are working to reform the way teaching is supported and evaluated. For institutions aiming to include peer observation in these reforms, programs like PAROSL suggest a promising way to strengthen inclusive, student-centered pedagogy. Details and abstracts for the articles are included below.
Citation:
Tobiason, G. A. (2021). Faculty supporting faculty… supporting students: Peer observation and responsive teaching innovations. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 53(6). https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2021.1987791
Abstract:
Research-based instructional practices make a difference for students, but simply telling faculty to adopt them does not foster lasting changes in teaching practice. More promising is faculty development that’s embedded in the day-to-day work of teaching. In the Peer-Assisted Reflections On Student Learning program at the University of California Los Angeles, pairs of faculty members observe each other’s classes, reflect on how student learning is unfolding, and collaboratively devise teaching innovations that respond to the actual needs of students. This model can be effective when it provides adequate time for reflection; is framed around student learning, not teaching; is explicitly nonevaluative; and provides coordinating guidance for faculty pairs.
Citation:
Tobiason, G. A. (2021). From content-centered logic to student-centered logic: Can peer observation shift how faculty think about their teaching? International Journal for Academic Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2021.2015691
Abstract:
This research investigates how peer observation programs can be designed to enhance faculty use of student-centered logic. Data include participants’ self-reports (interviews) and 50 hours of recorded faculty-faculty dialogue. Findings suggest specific design features that may increase fluency in student-centered logic. The study may be useful to academic developers interested in helping faculty move beyond content-centered, lecture-based approaches to teaching.
Summary of “The impact of screen-free zones in an undergraduate psychology classroom: Assessing exam performance and instructor evaluations in two quasi-experiments”
Summary of Rhinehart, L., Vazquez, S. R., & Greenfield, P.M. (2021). The impact of screen-free zones in an undergraduate psychology classroom: Assessing exam performance and instructor evaluations in two quasi-experiments. Teaching of Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283211017443
Many undergraduates look at screens during lectures. The instructor in Psychology 133G, Prof. Patricia Greenfield, and two long-term TAs, Dr. Laura Rhinehart and Salvador Vazquez, became concerned about the distraction produced by screens in class and decided to address the issue through both research and practice. Two quasi-experimental studies in Psychology 133G, Culture and Human Development, explored results of restricting screens to one area of the classroom on exam performance and instructor evaluations. Their results have been recently published in Teaching of Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00986283211017443)
In both studies, these policies improved exam scores in the class. Students who chose to sit in the screen-free zone did better on exams. Horizontal division of the classroom where students could use their laptops only if they sat in the back few rows of the classroom produced student pushback in the form of qualitative comments on their evaluation forms and lower evaluations in quantitative instructor ratings. In contrast, vertical division of the classroom where one side was for screens and the other side was a no-screen section was accepted without comment by students. Together, these studies show that students who sit in screen-free sections tend to do better on assessments. Additionally, students accept vertical division of a classroom into screen and screen-free zones. Now that we are returning to classroom teaching, these studies can be useful for students and instructors alike; they imply that students will do better if they attend at least some lectures in a screen-free section. While screens are of course central to remote learning, the findings also imply that students should listen and view remote lectures with notifications turned off and without multitasking online, like checking email or social media.
Research Collaboration Highlights the Role of Undergraduate Research in Building Career-Related Skills for Humanities and Social Science Majors
New research published in the summer 2021 edition (Volume 4, Number 4) of the journal Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research (SPUR) highlights the important role that participating in undergraduate research plays in helping humanities, arts, and social science students develop important skills desired by today’s employers.
While many studies on undergraduate research outcomes are focused on STEM fields, the widely variable experiences in the humanities, arts, and social sciences are less known and harder to study. The structure and standardization of the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) and Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (URFP), both offered through UCLA’s Undergraduate Research Center – Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (URC-HASS), however, provide a unique opportunity to study the outcomes of these students. Compared with a quasi-control group of non-research students, students engaged in research reported statistically significant better outcomes on average in attaining skills related to critical thinking/problem solving, professionalism/work ethic, and oral/written communication, three of the top four competencies desired by hiring employers, as ranked by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
This study and publication are the result of an ongoing collaboration between the URC-HASS and the Center for Educational Assessment (CEA). The authors of the paper are Drs. Kelly Kistner (Assistant Director, URC-HASS), Erin M. Sparck (Postdoctoral Scholar, CEA), Amy Liu (Research Analyst, CEA), Hannah Whang Sayson (Assistant Director of Data Analytics, CEA), Marc Levis-Fitzgerald (Director, CEA), and Whitney Arnold (Director, URC-HASS).
The full article can be accessed on the Council of Undergraduate Research’s website for Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research (SPUR) in Volume 4, Number 4.
Center for Educational Assessment Receives Racial and Social Justice Grant to Increase the Sense of Belonging within the UCLA Community
As the nation grapples with the impact of historical and structural racism, UCLA seeks to create systemic change on campus and within the community. As part of a larger effort, the Center for Educational Assessment (CEA) recently received the Racial and Social Justice Grant, funded by UCLA’s Institute for American Cultures (IAC) and the Office of Research and Creative Activities (ORCA). The project, “All Bruins Belong: Addressing Inequities Through Positive Academic Engagement,” will work with underrepresented minority (URM) students and faculty to explore factors related to inequities and positive engagement in the classroom. In doing so, the project will identify best practices that encourage critical thinking and respectful dialogue to increase the sense of belonging at UCLA.
“All Bruins Belong” will bring together a team of researchers from across campus, including Adrienne Lavine (Associate Vice Provost, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching; Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), Charles J. Alexander (Associate Vice Provost for Student Diversity; Director, Academic Advancement Program), Paul Barber (Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), Molly S. Jacobs (Coordinator for Curriculum Assessment, CEA), Marc Levis-Fitzgerald (Director, CEA), Victoria Marks (Professor, Department of World Arts and Cultures; Associate Dean, School of Arts and Architecture; Chair, Disability Studies minor), and Vilma Ortiz (Professor, Department of Sociology). For more information on the grant, visit the RSJ program information page here.