Biology subjects

Hokanson, S. C.

Publications and source records attributed to Hokanson, S. C..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Community, Belonging, and Peer-Engagement: Participant Experiences Reflect Consistency of Facilitation Practices in Inclusive STEM Teaching Learning Communities

A primary reason for the persistent underrepresentation of minoritized people in STEM careers are their marginalizing experiences in STEM courses, which has spurred efforts to prepare STEM faculty to implement inclusive teaching practices. The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project (ISTP) addresses this nationwide challenge by providing STEM faculty a free, online course and associated learning communities (LCs) led by project-trained facilitators. ISTP centers identity, power, privilege and positionality and has successfully shifted educators mindsets and abilities. A central question is whether local LCs across contexts maintain equity-minded core practices and achieve inclusive, reflective practitioner outcomes. Our mixed methods analysis of LC participant (n = 165) and facilitator (n = 83) matching survey data spanning five course offerings over two years directly explores the relationship between the learning environments created by facilitators and their participant experiences. Findings demonstrate high fidelity of implementation to training by facilitators that resulted in consistent LC experiences of participants, especially around building a community, sense of belonging and positive peer engagement. Participants overall speak to the importance of facilitated LCs as an inclusive space where they can critically engage with one another as they reflect on, discuss, and ultimately improve their inclusive teaching practices.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2024

Nationwide Inclusive Facilitator Training: Mindsets, Practices and Growth

Advancing diversity in STEM requires competent and confident faculty and staff who can lead local professional development in inclusive teaching to improve classroom instruction and support all learners. This paper examines how a facilitator training model designed to promote inclusive facilitation impacted inclusive learning community facilitator self-reported confidence and practices. This mixed methods study reports on survey data from project trained facilitators (n=71) collected over four course runs. Facilitators reported significant increases in confidence, with the largest effect sizes in areas related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and identity. Qualitative findings indicate the training model effectively aligned facilitators with our approach to inclusive facilitation. Findings demonstrate that professional development in inclusive teaching, and by extension in other equity and diversity topics, can be successfully done at a national scale by centering identity, power, and positionality while upholding do no harm. This paper provides a strategy for how DEI-focused faculty development efforts can select, train, and support facilitators on a national scale while maintaining high fidelity to project values and goals.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2022

A national professional development program fills mentoring gaps for postdoctoral researchers

The Postdoc Academy: Succeeding as a Postdoc was designed to build postdocs skills in career transition, career planning, collaborative research, resilience, and self-reflection. This study examined self-reported changes in five skills as learners progressed through the course. Data were collected from participants who responded to both pre- and post-surveys and engaged with the course learning activities. Results from repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance revealed that all of the self-reported perceptions of skills improved significantly upon completion of the course. Hierarchical regressions revealed that underrepresented minority learners had greater gains in their development of skills in career planning, resilience, and self-reflection. Qualitative analysis of learners responses to learning activities found that postdocs perceived networking and mentor support as contributing factors to their skill advancement while tensions among multiple obligations and concerns of uncertainties were significant challenges to applying those skills.

scientific communication and education↗