FINDINGS ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON DOCTORAL STUDENTS MARK CONNOLLY, JULIA SAVOY, YOU-GEON LEE, & LUCAS HILL WISCONSIN CENTER FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH PRESENTATION TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL JUNE 1, 2015
PRESENTATION SUMMARY 1 2 3 4 5 BEGIN BACKGROUND FOR STUDY DEMOGRAPHICS DEMO- TD PARTICIPATION TD OUTCOMES CAREER PATHWAYS DISCUSSION
DOCTORAL STUDENTS ARE VITAL TO THE FUTURE OF UNDERGRADUATE STEM EDUCATION. 1 of every 3 STEM PhDs will be teaching at a college or university within 6 years of completing their doctorate.* *Connolly, M. R. (2012) [Postsecondary employment patters of STEM doctorate recipients.] Unpublished analysis of data from Survey of Doctorate Recipients. Of 27,051 STEM doctorate recipients in 2000, 8,900 (32.8%) were teaching in postsecondary institutions in 2006.
A KEY TO RETAINING AND GRADUATING MORE STEM MAJORS IS IMPROVING UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING. PREPARING CURRENT AND FUTURE FACULTY MORE EFFECTIVELY AS UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATORS IS A HIGH PRIORITY IN THE NATIONAL STEM AGENDA.
AIM OF TD TEACHING DEVELOPMENT (TD) FOR STEM DOCTORAL STUDENTS To help doctoral students interested in undergraduate education to gain knowledge, skills, and values needed to be effective teachers, advisors, and mentors. FORMS OF TD Workshops, seminars, short trainings Courses on college teaching Extended workshops, certificate programs TD INITIATIVES Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST-IV) Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) We need more and better information about the effects of teaching development programs on STEM doctoral students.
Funded in 2008 by NSF s Division of Undergraduate Education ($1.9M) Longitudinal: following a panel of STEM dissertators both TD participants and non-participants for at least five years (2008 2013) Mixed methods: uses both large-scale surveys and focused interviews
RESEARCH QUESTION How does participation in teachingfocused professional development affect STEM doctoral students Teaching preparation Teaching self-efficacy Career pathways Early-career performance
DATA SOURCES INSTITUTIONS PROGRAMS Located 77 TD programs as of 2010 STUDENTS Year 2 2010 Interviews with 75 early-career academics
UW-MADISON SAMPLE GENDER RACE URM 8% Asian Women 22% 55% 45% White 70% DISCIPLINE Life Sci Phys Sci Engr Social Sci Other 2.2% 44.2% 23.5% 11.8% 18.4% 2.2% n = 18 n = 367 n = 195 n = 98 n = 153
TD participation
HOW MANY UW MADISON STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN TD DURING THEIR DOCTORAL PROGRAM? All Respondents 82.9% Male 79.73% Female 87.45% Life Sciences 80.88% Physical Sciences 91.24% Social Sciences/Psychology 88.79% Engineering 71.19% Other Fields 58.33% 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %
HOW MUCH TD DID UW MADISON STUDENTS ENGAGE IN? > 55 hrs 20% None 20% 1-10 hrs 26-55 hrs 16% 22% 11-25 hrs 22%
HOW SATISFIED WERE UW MADISON STUDENTS WITH TD? 16% 6% 16% Very Dissatisfied Somewhat Dissatisfied Neither Somewhat Satisified Very Satisfied 39% 24%
INFLUENCES ON PARTICIPATION IN TD (ALL LSFSS PARTICIPANTS) Factors that most encouraged TD participation: department requirements interest in teaching and learning career goals Factors that most discouraged TD participation: lack of awareness of programs scheduling conflicts with TD events seeing TD as a lower priority Connolly, M. R., Lee, Y.-G., & Austin, A. E. (2014). Influences on STEM doctoral students participation in teaching development programs. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.
teaching experience
WHAT PROPORTION OF UW MADISON STUDENTS TAUGHT UNDERGRADS DURING PHD PROGRAM? All Respondents 88.62 % Male Female 87.89 % 90.41 % White Asian URM 81.18 % 83.33 % 91.38 % Life Sciences Physical Sciences Social Sciences/Psychology Engineering 88 % 90.51 % 94.34 % 86.44 % Other Fields 66.67 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %
TD outcomes
HOW MIGHT PARTICIPATION IN TD AFFECT CAREER CHOICES? While in doctoral programs, students experience a three-way mismatch Expectations of graduate school, Actual training experiences, and Career interests and opportunities (Golde & Dore, 2000) TD activities help participants clarify career interests and successfully compete for a wider variety of jobs * Connolly, M. R., & Benbow, R. J. (2012). Exploring the role of teaching development activities on faculty/academic career formation. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Las Vegas, NV.
EFFECTS OF TD PARTICIPATION (ALL LSFSS PARTICIPANTS) Influences certain teaching competencies (e.g., course design, assessing student learning)* Positively affects participants beliefs about ability to teaching undergraduates (selfefficacy)** * Connolly, M. R., & Lee, Y.-G. (2014, April 3-7). The effects of doctoral teaching development programs on STEM doctoral students college teaching competency. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA. ** Connolly, M. R., & Lee, Y.-G. (under review). The effects of doctoral teaching development on early-career STEM scholars college-teaching efficacy. The Review of Higher Education.
degree completion
HOW MANY UW MADISON STUDENTS COMPLETED THEIR DEGREE, AND WHEN? Graduation Year % of total (n) Cohort 1 2009 41.2 237 Cohort 2 2010 27.7 159 2011 Cohort 3 2012 25.2 145 2013 Dropped Out 1.9 11 Still Enrolled 1.9 11
HOW LONG DID UW MADISON STUDENTS TAKE TO COMPLETE THEIR DOCTORATE? All 6.03 yrs Men Women 5.9 yrs 6.18 yrs Life Sci Phys Sci 5.9 yrs 6.17 yrs Engr 5.3 yrs Social Sci 6.61 yrs Other 5.92 yrs 5 yrs 5.5 yrs 6 yrs 6.5 yrs 7 yrs Time to PhD in Years
career pathways
HOW MANY UW-MADISON STUDENTS WERE INTERESTED IN FACULTY WORK? Yes Not Sure No All Respondents 57.1 % 22.2 % 20.7 % Male 61.25 % 20.71 % 18.04 % Female 52.16 % 24.05 % 23.78 % White 56.14 % 22.46 % 21.4 % Asian 63.64 % 19.89 % 16.48 % URM 50.75 % 26.87 % 22.39 % Life Sciences 48.9 % 25.27 % 25.82 % Physical Sciences 60.31 % 19.59 % 20.1 % Engineering 44.21 % 30.53 % 25.26 % Social Sciences 79.08 % 13.07 % 7.84 % Other Disciplines 70.59 % 23.53 % 5.88 % Potential STEM Faculty
WHERE DO POTENTIAL STEM FACULTY LEARN TO TEACH? Teaching Exp YES NO YES 83.6% 2.2% Teaching Development NO 11.0% 3.1%
WHERE WERE UW-MADISON PHDS WORKING IN 2013? Associate's 3% Other 1% Unemployed 4% Postdoc 28% Master's 9% Baccalaurate 13% Non-Academics 29% Doctorate 55% Other Academics 10% NTT 6% TT Faculty 22% CAREER PATH (N = 567) Research/Med 20% INSTITUTIONAL TYPE (N = 346)
WHERE WERE UW MADISON PHDS WORKING IN 2013? Tenure-Track Non-Tenure-Track Others in Postdoc Total Demographic Group Faculty Faculty Academia % (n) n % (n) % (n) % (n) Associate s College 0.0% (0) 3.2% (4) 11.8% (4) 1.8% (1) 9 Baccalaureate College 0.8% (1) 27.6% (35) 26.5% (9) 1.8% (1) 46 Master s-granting Institution 1.5% (2) 18.1% (23) 8.8% (3) 3.6% (2) 30 Doctorate-granting University 69.2% (90) 44.1% (56) 44.1% (15) 50.9% (28) 189 Medical School/Univ. Research Center 26.9% (35) 7.1% (9) 8.8% (3) 38.2% (21) 68 Other 1.5% (2) 0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 3.6% (2) 4 Total n 130 (28%) 127 (22%) 34 (6%) 55 (10%) 346
TD ENGAGEMENT DURING PHD PROGRAM, BY YEAR 5 JOB TITLE None Low Low-Moderate High-Moderate High Postdoc 22% 22% 12.1% 22% 21.9% TT Faculty 8.3% 16.5% 27.3% 24.8% 23.1% NTT Faculty 6.5% 12.9% 29% 16.1% 35.5% Other Academic 27.9% 14% 11.6% 27.9% 18.6% Non Academic 27.4% 12.3% 26.7% 20.6% 13%
WHAT PROPORTION OF UW MADISON PARTICIPANTS TAUGHT UNDERGRADS? (BY CAREER TYPE) Postdoctoral Scholar 57.96 % Tenure-track Faculty 87.9 % Non-tenure-track Faculty 70.37 % Others in Academia 53.19 % Others outside of Academia 15.66 % 0 % 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 % Value Axis Year 5 Position
CAREER PATHWAYS OF UW MADISON DOCTORATES COHORT 1, BETWEEN 2009-2013 Year 5 (2013) Position Year 3 (2011) Position n Postdoc Tenure-Track Faculty Non-Tenure- Track Faculty Other Academic Role Nonacademic Unemployed Postdoc 78 43.6% 20.5% 5.1% 6.4% 19.2% 5.1% Tenure-Track Faculty 30 0.0% 86.7% 3.3% 3.3% 6.7% 0.0% Non-Tenure-Track Faculty 5 0.0% 20.0% 80.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Others in Academia 11 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 72.7% 27.3% 0.0% Non-academic 36 2.8% 2.8% 0.0% 0.0% 91.7% 2.8%
major findings
MAJOR LSFSS FINDINGS ABOUT UW MADISON PARTICIPANTS Very high rates of participation in TD during doctoral program (nearly 83%). Similarly high rates of UG teaching experience (89%). Proportionately, more women participated in TD and teaching. Women took slightly longer to complete the PhD. Women and URM students were less certain about a faculty career. A fifth of PhDs had no initial interest in faculty work. Nearly 78% are off the tenure track, although many in postdocs. Undergraduate instruction was provided by postdocs and non-academics.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS National Science Foundation Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education University of Wisconsin Survey Center Jessica Grettie, Project Manager Jennifer Vandenberg & Anh Dang, Undergraduate Assistants This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0817537. The Longitudinal Study of Future STEM Scholars is housed within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
questions and discussion