Matthew T. Hora

Organizational Factors and Instructional Decision-Making: A Cognitive Perspective

Given the limited adoption of research-based teaching methods at the postsecondary level, research is necessary that examines why faculty choose to teach the way they do. In this article, I draw on insights from research on teacher cognition and naturalistic decision-making research to identify how perceptions of organizational factors influence instructional decision-making. Results indicate that respondents perceive structural and socio-cultural factors as constraining and affording practice by exerting normative pressures on teaching decisions, imposing logistical constraints, and encouraging autonomy. The relationship between these factors and teaching practice was moderated by factors such as status and other individual characteristics.

Exploring Faculty Beliefs about Student Learning and Their Role in Instructional Decision-Making.

This study utilizes theory from situated cognition to investigate faculty beliefs about student learning and their influence on teaching decisions. Results of interviews with and observations of 56 science and math faculty found that the two most common beliefs are: (a) students learn best through repeated practice, and (b) students have different learning styles. The remaining 13 beliefs exhibited an underlying dimensionality regarding whether teachers or students are responsible for constructing knowledge and understanding. These findings provide insights into factors that can be used to design locally attuned interventions in contrast to a “top‑down” model of change.

Data driven decision-making in the era of accountability: Fostering faculty data cultures for learning

One of the defining characteristics of current U.S. educational policy at all levels is a focus on using evidence, or data, to inform decisions about institutional and educator quality, budgetary decisions, and what and how to teach students. This approach is often viewed as a corrective to the way that teachers have made decisions in the past—on the basis of less reliable information sources such as anecdote or intuition—and is seen by advocates as a core feature of successful educational reform (Mandinach, 2012). Underlying

Navigating the Problem Space of Academic Work

Despite an increasing focus on the quality of teaching in postsecondary institutions, little research exists that examines how faculty actually plan their courses in real-world settings. In this study the idea of the “problem space” from cognitive science is used to examine how faculty construct mental representations for the task of planning undergraduate courses. Using data from free lists and retrospective interviews, I report the factors that most shape the planning space and subsequent strategies and curricular artifacts used by a group of 58 faculty. Results indicate the primacy of fixed affordances, such as workload constraints, course content, and class size, and that these constraints contribute to the routine maintenance of preexisting lecture notes and PowerPoint slides. I recommend that educational leaders consider these cultural practices when designing instructional reforms and enact policies that require faculty to engage in brief, postclass reflection that results in minor updates to these artifacts.

Cultural Models of Teaching and Learning in Math and Science: Exploring the Intersections of Culture, Cognition, and Pedagogical Situations

While researchers have examined how disciplinary and departmental cultures influence instructional practices in higher education, there has yet to be an examination of this relationship at the embodied level of culture. In this article we utilize cultural models theory to examine the theories of student learning and teaching practice espoused and enacted by undergraduate math and science faculty. To examine these cultural models of teaching and learning we use thematic analysis, clustering, scaling, and graphing techniques to analyze interview transcripts and classroom observation data among 41 undergraduate math and science instructors across three universities in the United States. We then focus on three individual cases of instructors to examine how their cultural models interact with other cultural models, existing forms of teaching practice, and features of instructional environments to shape their teaching practices. The article concludes by setting forth an agenda for future research and arguing that the “cultures of teaching” in these disciplines should not only be perceived as barriers but also opportunities for meaningful pedagogical innovation.

Cultural Capital at Work: How Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills Are Taught, Trained, and Rewarded in a Chinese Technical College:

Purpose: Community and technical college student employability is a pressing concern in the United States and China. Policy makers focus on developing students’ human capital in the form of credentials and cognitive skills. However, the focus on completion overlooks the role that noncognitive skills and contextual factors may play in student employability. Method: In this exploratory study, conducted among educators and employers in the manufacturing and biotechnology fields in a large eastern Chinese city, we use a cultural capital framework to address the following questions: (a) What forms of cultural capital are valued by educators and employers? (b) How are these forms of capital being cultivated in the classroom? (c) How do considerations of cultural capital influence hiring and workplace training? and (d) What contextual factors influence these phenomena? Inductive thematic analyses of interviews, classroom observation, and notes from factory tours with eight educators and two employers were completed. Results: This study revealed a shared view that both cognitive and noncognitive skills are essential. Results also reveal a cultural predisposition within Chinese classrooms to lecturing but also a growing use of active learning techniques, a commitment to general education, the importance of “cultural fit” during the hiring process, and job quality and the cultural devaluation of the skilled trades as salient contextual factors. Conclusion: Implications for research, policy, and practice are considered, particularly the need for all students to acquire both cognitive and noncognitive skills as well as a more nuanced and culturally informed perspective on student employability.