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Discover how the OPEN Math project is paving the way for innovative online professional development (PD)! The University of Colorado Boulder's Ethnography & Evaluation Research (E&ER) team will be evaluating and researching effective techniques in delivering online teaching-focused PD, sharing their findings to benefit PD providers everywhere. With over two decades of expertise, E&ER specializes in conducting research and evaluation studies on higher education, career development, and inclusion of diverse people in science, engineering and mathematics. Their extensive work in STEM professional development supports instructors in enhancing student learning experiences.

What to Expect?

By participating in this evaluation process, you're helping us learn new ways to support college math instructors through online PD. The evaluation process allows us to provide high-quality workshops at a low cost to participants. Here's what you can expect:

  • Surveys—To track growth and gather valuable insights, we administer three surveys to participants over the course of a year: a pre-workshop survey, an immediate post-workshop survey, and a follow-up survey one year later.
  • Observation—A Professional Research Assistant will join new workshops as a minimal participant, focusing on the workshop's design and implementation. This allows us to identify effective practices without focusing on individual contributions. Workshops are also recorded for evaluation when real-time observation isn't possible. Please note that these recordings are kept private and are not shared publicly.
  • Materials - We request access to the workshop learning objectives and any materials shared with participants. 

Debrief - After the workshop, we'll have a short debriefing meeting with the workshop facilitation team to capture their immediate thoughts and reflections.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are you a current or prospective workshop facilitator curious to learn more about the evaluation process? Read this document our team created about the evaluation design, what we need from you, and resources to consider while designing your workshop.

OPEN Math is a collaborative project between the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-B). The MAA is supported by National Science Foundation Award No. DUE-2111260 and the University of Colorado, Boulder is supported by Award No. DUE-2111273. Any opinions, findings 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.