Preparation in STEM Leadership Program

The Preparation in STEM Leadership Program is funded by the NSF Directorate for Undergraduate Education (DUE) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) #1432394.

What We Do

The Preparation in STEM Leadership (PSL) Program provides an opportunity for academic peer leaders (tutors, study group leaders, etc.) to participate in advanced training. Through this training, peer leaders improve their communication, leadership, and group management skills. They also have the opportunity to earn scholarships and partner with faculty conducting educational research.

Who We Serve

All academic peer leaders (PLs) in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines at Rutgers University are invited to apply to the program.

Participants in the PSL Program will benefit from

scholarships for participation in training
observations, feedback, and mentoring related to job performance, growth and development, and assessment responses
experience designing and conducting discipline-based education research

Participants in the related research project will benefit from

observations, feedback, and mentoring related to assessment responses, job performance, and growth and development over the course of the semester
All research procedures and protocols have been approved by the Rutgers Institutional Review Board (IRB).

How We Train

Peer leaders will participate in the following activities:

Co-enrollment in 3-credit, 300-level Peer Instruction Education course
Ongoing professional development training
Participation in seminars/workshops led by professional trainings from STEM industry
Ongoing assessment of learning outcomes with continuous feedback and mentoring

Apply for the PSL Program

Applications have opened for the PSL Program for the 2015-2016 academic year. Please visit our PSL application webpage for information about applicant eligibility and program requirements, and to submit an application form.

Grant Proposal

Abstract

Increasing persistence and retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is essential for building a highly qualified STEM workforce. This project at Rutgers University will support the development of a rigorous and structured peer leader training program in STEM disciplines: Preparation in STEM Leadership (PSL) Program.

The PSL Program will serve as a model for academic support services that moves beyond remedial support to create an environment of scholarship and enrichment. Such a transformation will provide a national model for maximizing the potential of academic support services using similar active, collaborative, and student-centered methods. The complementary development of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and leadership and communication skills at the college level will contribute to a better equipped STEM workforce because these participants will be prepared for leadership positions that involve mentoring, teaching, and training others.

In addition, this project will enable the compilation of a set of complementary valid and reliable assessment instruments to measure the cognitive and professional development of peer leaders. The evaluation of the PSL Program will identify specific criteria essential for successful peer leader training, which will serve as standards for programs within and beyond Rutgers.

The PSL Program will combine extended training in STEM content, mentoring, communication, leadership, and group facilitation with a 3-credit, 300-level pedagogy course to create a comprehensive professional development program. The PSL Program will be evaluated using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to measure learning gains in participants' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, changes in student's attitudes and epistemological beliefs related to learning science, improvement in job performance, and the development of leadership and communication skills.

Project Timeline

Years 1 - 3 (Grant Funded)

Academic Year 2014-2015:

Collect baseline data on peer leaders' skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge

Academic Year 2015-2016:

First cohort participates in training program and receives scholarships for successful completion
Collect data on peer leaders' skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge

Academic Year 2016-2017:

All cohorts participate in ongoing professional development and skills training
Second cohort participates in training program and receives scholarships for successful completion
First cohort participates in educational research and competes for three scholarships
Collect data on peer leaders' skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge

Years 4 - 5+ (Post-Grant)

Academic Year 2017-2018 (after grant period):

All cohorts participate in ongoing professional development and skills training
Third cohort participates in training program
Second cohort participates in educational research and competes for three scholarships
First cohort participates in educational research and competes for one scholarship
Collect data on peer leaders' skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge

Academic Year 2018-2019 (after grant period):

All cohorts participate in ongoing professional development and skills training
Third cohort participates in educational research and competes for three scholarships
Second cohort participates in educational research and competes for one scholarship
Collect data on peer leaders' skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge
If the program demonstrates success and funding is available, a fourth cohort will participate in the training program

Academic Year 2019-2020 and continuing

If the program demonstrates success and funding is available, the program will continue with each cohort participating in the training program during the first year, competing for three scholarships in the second year, and competing for one scholarship in the third year. Each year will also involve ongoing professional development and research opportunities.

Research

Evaluating the PSL Program

In order to determine the effects of developing a rigorous and structured PL training program in STEM disciplines that addresses content, pedagogy, and leadership, we will answer the following research questions:

Does the Preparation in STEM Leadership (PSL) program increase participating PLs’ content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and communication and leadership skills? If so, to what degree is this increased observed?

We expect that the PSL Program PLs will demonstrate statistically significant gains in knowledge, as well as higher gains than non-PSL Program PLs over the course of two-years in the program. For the latter expectation, we hope that the PSL Program participants’ gains are statistically significantly higher to demonstrate the importance of a rigorous training program.

What are the essential requirements of a comprehensive training program in STEM peer instruction?

We expect that the essential elements will include: instruction in pedagogy, continual training throughout the semester (i.e., not simply a one-time training at the beginning of the semester), feedback from observations, and the PLs reflecting on their experience and their results of their assessments.

What internal and external incentives drive undergraduate students to seek out, and participate in, peer leadership positions in STEM disciplines? Are the incentives the same or different for women and underrepresented groups?

We expect that there will be several incentives cited for participation in peer leadership positions, such as the development of content knowledge and skills, wanting to help others, experiences for future career goals (and to put on a resume), and money (for paid positions).
We are interested in the degree to which monetary incentives play a role for students attending a state institution and investigating other incentive structures that could replace the monetary incentive for those students needing a paid position.

How do Rutgers directors and staff (in programs providing peer support) perceive the quality of services offered by PSL Program PLs compare to non-PSL Program PLs?

We expect that directors and staff in programs providing peer support will observe differences between the PLs receiving the comprehensive training in PSL Program and those not in the PSL Program.

Determining the Assessment Toolkit

We plan to compile a collection of complementary (valid and reliable) assessment instruments that can measure the extent of PL development without resulting in assessment fatigue among participants. In order to determine the success of our assessment plan for learning gains among PLs (both in the PSL Program and not in the PSL Program), we will answer the following questions:

To what extent can changes in PLs’ content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and communication and leadership skills be quantified across a set of assessment inventories to provide a holistic representation of the effects of a comprehensive training program?

We expect that changes in the PLs’ knowledge can be represented through a series of assessments; however, we also expect that reflecting on the results of these inventories will be a crucial component of the effects of these assessments.

What combination of qualitative and quantitative assessments effectively measures PL development without requiring specialized training and without resulting in assessment fatigue by the PL?

We expect that PLs in the PSL Program will feel some degree of assessment fatigue because they will participate in all of the inventory categories (e.g., content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and skills inventory; however, we expect that purposeful reflection on the assessment results - guided by the project personnel - will alleviate some of the fatigue because the assessments will serve the purpose of helping students observe their development, rather than simply fulfilling a requirement.

Assessing Peer Leader Development

To assess the effectiveness of the program in supporting the overall growth and development of participants, we will address the following questions:

To what extent did the PSL program affect participants’ (a) content knowledge, (b) pedagogical content knowledge, (c) leadership and communication skills?

We expect that the PSL Program PLs will demonstrate statistically significant gains in content knowledge, as well as higher gains than non-PSL Program PLs over the course of two-years in the program. For the latter expectation, we hope that the PSL Program participants gains are statistically significantly higher to demonstrate the importance of a rigorous training program.
We expect that the writing samples of PSL Program PLs will demonstrate increasingly complex understandings of how teaching practices are informed by theory and affect learning outcomes of students. We also expect that these samples will demonstrate increasing sensitivity to the diverse needs of students, as well as a heightened awareness of the need for both group processing and self-reflection.
We anticipate that the observations of PSL Program PLs will demonstrate a farther shift towards student-centered and collaborative instructional practices compared to non-PSL Program PLs.

Dissemination

Describing the Program

Blackwell, S.; Katzen, S.; Patel, N.; Sun, Y.; Emenike, M. (2017) Developing the Preparation in STEM Leadership Program For Undergraduate Academic Peer Leaders, The Learning Assistant Review, 22(1), 50-84 (link to ERIC entry: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1142581)
Blackwell, S.; Huggins-Smith, A. "Rutgers’ Peer Leader Training Program". A workshop presented at the 2017 Regional LA Workshop, hosted at Rutgers University. New Brunswick, NJ., 4/8/2017.
Preparing STEM Leaders at Rutgers University. NSF Project Highlights, Mary Emenike and Stacey Blackwell, (“In Their Own Words” written piece): Envisioning the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Research and Practice. Washington, D.C., 2016
“An Introduction to the Preparation in STEM Leadership Program, an NSF Funded Initiative to Enhance the Career Readiness of STEM Students.” (2015) Stacey Blackwell, Mary Emenike, National College Learning Center Association Annual Conference. Milwaukee, WI. Oct 2015