Researchers at Seattle Pacific University are creating a Video Resource for Professional Development of University Physics Educators that is based on compelling classroom video of best-practices university physics instruction and are disseminating the Resource for professional development of university physics educators, including four-year university faculty, two-year-college faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and undergraduate learning assistants. This resource creation and dissemination is occurring in tandem with needs analysis for the various populations, so that as the researchers learn how best to serve, for example, two-year-college faculty, iterative improvements to the resource will reflect that understanding.
The video workshops produced for this project provide structured opportunities for physics educators to examine critical moments in real university classrooms. The Video Resource offers users a view of other institutions' transformed courses, supporting and expanding the home institution's vision of its own instructional improvement. The project showcases a variety of exemplary instructional formats including Tutorials in Introductory Physics, Modeling Instruction, Peer Instruction, and Open Source Tutorials, expanding on the success of a prior project aimed at undergraduate learning assistants.
Dissemination is a major activity in this project and is taking place primarily through the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and online at the Physics Education Research User's Guide. This project facilitates the implementation of instructional strategies that reflect advances in what is known about teaching and learning, improving physics education for a broad group of undergraduates - including at two-year colleges, where many underrepresented minorities and women experience their first physics and science courses and make critical career choices.
