Engagement in Higher Ed Instructional Development Using SDT

Hello, please join us for “Engagement in Higher Ed Instructional Development Using Self-Determination Theory.” My name is Swagata Sarkar. This session is presented by Karen Neubauer and me from the Center for Instructional Excellence at Purdue University.

Fifty faculty, staff, post-docs, and graduate students associated with college teaching participated in an instructional development program called the Certificate of Foundations in College Teaching during Fall 2024. Facilitators, including myself, worked with participants to articulate their teaching values and enhance pedagogical practices to create a diverse, supportive, and inclusive environment when they teach.

We used the SDT model in designing the program to address basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. This six-week asynchronous hyflex program was cohort-based. Participants engaged in small and large discussion boards to share their teaching philosophies and reflect on their own teaching and learning practices. They had opportunities to enhance their teaching and learning skills, recognize the value of evidence-based teaching and consider its implications for their teaching practices.

For this poster, we completed an initial qualitative analysis – using the lens of Self-Determination Theory -- of pre- and post-reflections submitted by participants. The data revealed the impact of autonomy and relatedness in the program design and the effect of evidence-based teaching approaches and critical reflective practice on participants’ perceptions of their teaching knowledge and practice.