Why a grassroots Summer Institutes model failed: Exploring obstacles to evidence-based teaching awareness in low-awareness, low-support contexts

Abstract

As a global phenomenon, the spread of evidence-based teaching (EBT) in STEM education has been very uneven. Outside of the United States, parts of Europe, and Oceania, EBT awareness is generally regarded as being extremely low. In the United States, programs like the Summer Institutes (SI) have been used to help disseminate awareness and train faculty, precipitating efforts to understand EBT implementation barriers. Such studies have implied a distinction between awareness (the process in which instructors become cognizant of EBT) and enactment (the application of EBT practices in teaching) while generally focusing on the latter in contexts already endowed with high awareness or high support. As a result, very little is known about obstacles to EBT awareness in low-awareness, low-support contexts (LALSCs). The present study explores these through interviews and surveys of higher education STEM instructors in South Korea. Our interest was prompted by the failed attempt to implement a nationally accessible, grassroots EBT awareness program modeled off the SI. Several reasons for disinterest in EBT are revealed while faculty with and without research obligations were found to hold significantly different views about the utility of new teaching methods. Potential solutions for improving awareness are explored, revealing institutional supports and mandates through authority as the two options most likely to be effective. It is hoped this work may be used to inform the design of more effective EBT awareness programs, especially those in LALSCs.