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Student-centered pedagogies promote student learning in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. However, transitioning to active learning from traditional lecturing may be challenging for both students and instructors. This case study presents the development, implementation, and assessment of a modified collaborative teaching (CT) and team-based learning (TBL) approach (CT plus TBL, or CT+) in an introductory biology course at a Minority-Serving Institution. A logic model was formulated depicting the various assessment practices with the culminating goal of improving the student learning experience. We analyzed qualitative and quantitative data based on students and instructors' behaviors and discourse, and student midsemester and end-of-semester surveys. Our findings revealed that the integration of multiple instructors allowed for knowledge exchange in blending complementary behaviors and discourse practices during class sessions. In addition, the frequent ongoing assessments and incorporation of student feedback informed the CT+ design during both in-person and emergency remote teaching. Furthermore, this course design could be easily adapted to a variety of STEM courses in higher education, including remote instruction.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many instructors were forced to adjust from in-person to emergency remote teaching; however, classroom observation protocols, like the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS), have only been developed and validated for in-person instruction. Therefore, we developed and validated an adapted version of COPUS, called Online COPUS (O-COPUS), to measure teaching and learning practices during online synchronous instruction. We collected COPUS and O-COPUS data from 35 STEM instructors teaching via in-person and online synchronous instruction at a research-intensive, minority-serving institution (MSI). By identifying emergent codes from live observations and using an exploratory coding process, we adjusted six instructor and six student COPUS code descriptions for O-COPUS. As we prepare for teaching in the future, it is important to have formative assessment tools, like classroom observation protocols, designed for all course formats to be able to measure and improve pedagogical practices in college STEM classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student-centered pedagogies promote student learning in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. However, transitioning to active learning from traditional lecturing may be challenging for both students and instructors. This case study presents the development, implementation, and assessment of a modified collaborative teaching (CT) and team-based learning (TBL) approach (CT plus TBL, or CT+) in an introductory biology course at a Minority-Serving Institution. A logic model was formulated depicting the various assessment practices with the culminating goal of improving the student learning experience. We analyzed qualitative and quantitative data based on students and instructors' behaviors and discourse, and student midsemester and end-of-semester surveys. Our findings revealed that the integration of multiple instructors allowed for knowledge exchange in blending complementary behaviors and discourse practices during class sessions. In addition, the frequent ongoing assessments and incorporation of student feedback informed the CT+ design during both in-person and emergency remote teaching. Furthermore, this course design could be easily adapted to a variety of STEM courses in higher education, including remote instruction.