Faculty learning community (FLC) as a structured intervention to prepare higher education STEM faculty for classroom integration of extended reality (XR)

Abstract

Numerous factors may have contributed to the slow diffusion of XR in higher education STEM classrooms. This research underscores the role of faculty as change agents for innovation and a key success factor for effective XR integration in STEM education. Focusing on faculty professional development, this research study aims to examine peer-led academic communities of practice known as Faculty Learning Community (FLC) as a structured intervention to foster faculty's acceptance, exploration, and hands-on experiment with teaching with XR across STEM disciplines. By evaluating the impacts of participating in a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded XR Faculty Learning Community (XR-FLC), this research studied two cohorts of twenty STEM faculty and their lived experience in the XR-FLC to understand their developed aptitude and perspectives toward meaningful and intentional classroom integration of XR through guided course redesign and tryouts. Multiple streams of quantitative and qualitative evaluation data were collected via formative and summative surveys and semi-structured interviews in focus groups. Thematic analyses were conducted to gain insights into how and to what extent the XR-FLC achieved its intended objectives. The research results revealed multifaceted barriers faculty typically encountered when integrating XR and suggested potential pathways to navigate them. Overall, the XR-FLC experience fostered faculty's growth in technological, content, and pedagogical knowledge, while enhancing their proficiency and confidence in the intentional use of XR in STEM classrooms.