On faculty development of STEM inclusive teaching practices

Abstract

Faculty development of inclusive teaching practices has become more common in response to significant differences in STEM student retention between underrepresented minorities in the USA and students from other ethnic groups. Approaches to solve this have shifted from focusing on student deficits to changing campus culture, including the mindsets of instructors who teach STEM courses. In this article, I argue that based on the literature informing the conceptual frameworks used for faculty development in inclusive teaching, faculty developers should reframe the message of their workshops to focus participants more on the scope of the journey, and shift the direction of overall efforts some to redevelop pedagogical training at the graduate and postdoc levels. Informed by historical as well as recent theories on the role of higher education to society, I highlight the areas of the literature that can effectively inform our current approaches to inclusion. I also briefly review the reasons why this approach is needed, and include suggestions for new faculty development approaches for long-term sustainable change in STEM inclusive education at the postsecondary level.

Keywords: STEM; faculty development; inclusive teaching; underrepresented students.