PDP Description
PDP Experience PDP Approach Selection Process History
Info sheet on benefits to participants
The PDP experience in Detail
Inquiry Institute: This 4-day series of workshops provides background in research that supports effective teaching, with an emphasis on inquiry. A major component of the Inquiry Institute is experiencing inquiry as a learner. Participants engage in one of two activities -- "Li
ght & Shadow" or "Analog To Digital" -- and then compare and contrast the experience with other learning and teaching experiences. Participants then take early steps toward designing their own inquiry activity, by identifying the primary learning outcome around which they will build their own teaching unit, and how they will assess their learners' proficiency. Participants also discuss equity and inclusion issues in STEM and strategies for building an equitable and inclusive learning environment. All PDP participants attend the Inquiry Institute at a single location. The PDP program encompasses a suite of workshops organized into two intensives, a practical teaching experience, and reflection on what was learned. The program begins in March or April each year, and participants complete their teaching experience sometime between May and November. Participants often return to lead teaching teams or take on other leadership roles in our community. These returners receive leadership and project management training as they adopt advanced roles. PDP training is centered on three core themes that are founded in research – Inquiry, Equity & Inclusion, and Assessment. The overall program experience includes:
- Design Institute: At this 2-day series of workshops, participants work in teams to further develop their inquiry activities, with a focus on employing research-based teaching methods and creating equitable learning environments. The goal of the Design Institute is for teams to make substantial progress in designing their inquiry activity, and establish teamwork processes that will carry them through the remainder of the program. Participants attend the Design Institute at the closest available site to their home institution.
- Independent Design & Preparing to Teach: After leaving the DesignInstitute, teams work independently to finish designing their activity. The team leader uses leadership skills learned earlier to help the team make progress, maintain motivation, and communicate with PDP instructors. Teams meet in person or remotely and over time create a teaching plan that outlines the details and rationales of their activity design, and can be used as an instructor guide when they teach. When teams are close to teaching, they meet with an ISEE instructor in a final workshop that transitions them from design to preparing for in-the-moment teaching.
- Teaching Experience: All PDP participants teach the activity that they have designed, co-teaching with their teammates. This is an essential part of the PDP experience, and is often transformative as PDP participants see and feel what it is like to engage with learners in a challenging and stimulating inquiry. Many PDP activities end up taking a period of about 4-6 hours, broken up over a two-day period.
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Reflection and documentation: After teaching, the PDP team debriefs their experience. This is a very important part of the overall experience that takes advantage of the rare opportunity of working on a team to design and teach. ISEE provides a format that facilitates the process of debrief and reflection, encouraging participants to consider ways in which they could improve. Participants each complete an individual post-teaching report, that can be used as a basis for future teaching statements and job application materials.
PDP Approach
The PDP models many effective teaching strategies through a well-designed inquiry activity, and requires that participants spend a great deal of time carefully and collaboratively designing their own inquiry activity. This experience will likely be the most time that participants will ever spend on designing a single activity, because it is meant to be a transformative design and teaching experience that participants draw on for many years. The program includes discussions on educational research and theory, emphasizing why and how the strategies work, so that PDP participants are equipped to select and adapt teaching strategies in new contexts. The PDP does not provide a recipe, or a simple list of strategies, but rather builds a foundation for participants to innovate from. It focuses on things that are hard to teach, like deep conceptual understanding and cognitive practices or reasoning skills. Finally, the PDP focuses on the small things that a single instructor can do to make learning more equitable, through the design of a learning activity or a brief interaction with a student.
PDP Application and Selection Process
Participation in PDP requires an application and acceptance into the program. The selection criteria for the PDP include a constellation of factors, including (but not in order of priority):
▪ Interest in developing teaching and professional skills, in particular, an indication of openness to the PDP approach (above), and an openness to reconsider assumptions and/or past experiences with teaching and learning
▪ Interest in teaching at the college level or above
▪ Interest in ISEE’s Themes
▪ Schedule availability and disciplinary match with an appropriate teaching venue
▪ Availability of applicant to make a commitment to the full PDP experience
▪ Potential of applicant to become a member of the ISEE community in the longer term, ideally returning to the PDP in leadership roles in the future
▪ Affiliation with UCSC or a Regional ISEE Chapter
▪ Funding
▪ Accommodation of qualified applicants who we could not accept in prior years due to space or funding limitations
History
The Professional Development Program (PDP) was developed by the Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) Education & Human Resources program in 2001. The CfAO was funded through the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center (STC) program, and the PDP was a cornerstone of the Center’s innovative programs and thriving community. The PDP was originally open only to the CfAO’s graduate student and postdoc community, but demand grew and the PDP expanded to serve new disciplines and institutions.
The PDP is now open to scientists and engineers at all levels (including faculty members and other professionals), although the primary audience is still graduate students. In 2008, UC Santa Cruz recognized the success and high demand for the PDP and committed institutional resources to sustain the program beyond the original STC funding. The Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators was formed, and the PDP continues to serve the UC Santa Cruz community, as well as many national and international partners.
