Instructional module development system (IMODS)

To ensure that future generations of engineering, science, and other technological practitioners are equipped with the required knowledge and skills to continue to innovate solutions to solve societal challenges, effective courses or instructional modules that incorporate best pedagogical and assessment practices must be designed and delivered. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educators typically come from STEM backgrounds and have little or no formal STEM education training. Their approaches to learning, instruction, and assessment mimic the experiences they were exposed to as students and are not necessarily informed by scholarship in the area of how people learn. The road to effective STEM instruction starts with a wellconceived and constructed plan or curriculum that includes the tight alignment of content, pedagogical approaches and assessments, around the learning objectives, and draws upon bestpractices in each of these areas. An information technology (IT) tool that can guide STEM educators through the complex task of course design development, ensure tight alignment between various components of an instructional module, and provide relevant information about research-based pedagogical and assessment strategies will be of great value. This demonstration presents a Web-based software tool called the Instructional Module Development System (IMODS) that supports these ventures and broadens the impact and reach of professional development in the scholarship of teaching and learning, particularly to STEM faculty.