Better in STEM

Faculty leaders and department chairs learn about and improve their use of equitable, student-centered instruction and uncover departmental barriers/drivers to facilitate department-level change and reform.

A major purpose of BETTER in STEM is to transform teaching across STEM departments and our institutions and to study that change across diverse contexts. Concurrent to participating faculty working to improve their understanding and use of practices within the BETTER in STEM Equitable, Student-centered Instructional Framework, we have designed and adopted tools to assess broader departmental teaching practices, climate, and the barriers and supports to equitable, student-centered teaching. Similar to reports developed for individual faculty (see Instructional Change Teams), we developed reports for participating departments and worked with department chairs to interpret and use findings to enhance equitable, student-centered instruction; build systemic supports (e.g., rewarding effective teaching); and enhance the departmental climate.