FOCUS (Faculty Opportunities for Collaboration, Understanding, and Support) is a group of cross-disciplinary faculty members who are striving to implement institutional change to provide effective STEM education and mentorship. This 3-year initiative aims to transform undergraduate STEM education through innovative programming coupled with evidence-based teaching practices that empower faculty and inspire students.
Our project aims to:
Improve the effectiveness of undergraduate STEM education:
- Providing faculty at Marshall University with a comprehensive framework for developing and incorporating active learning teaching practices to transform high-enrollment, lower-division courses within and across disciplines.
Enhance undergraduate STEM student success:
- Developing and propagating a STEM education community of practice sustained by motivated faculty interested in evidence-based student learning outcomes.
Create sustained institutional change:
- Working with partners to establish and adopt a culture that expects high-quality undergraduate STEM teaching with institutional support and compensation.
Program Components:
The FOCUS initiative provides participating faculty with
- The Mobile Summer Institute (MoSI) Workshop
- A Community of Practice and Lunc & Learn events
- MiniGrant funding to support classroom implementation
This project is two-fold, creating both change for students and faculty. In this initiative, we will provide educators with a workshop, community of practice, and mini grants for implementation.
This grant is funded by the NSF IUSE Directorate.
The grant title: Advancing STEM Learning and Institutional Change through Faculty Training, Resources, and Support to Adopt Evidence-based Instructional Strategies
For general information, please email focus@marshall.edu.