Transformational Learning Opportunity (TLO) Workshops

Transformational Learning Opportunity (TLO) Workshops

The Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Office of Faculty Enhancement (OFE) will be hosting two workshops to help faculty plan for Transformational Learning Opportunities (TLOs) and to apply for the TLO Grant Program. The first session will provide an overview of the program and foundational perspectives. The second session will provide a hands-on workshop for developing effective assessment strategies.


The TLO Application Deadline for projects taking place in 2017-2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018) is Friday, October 28, 2016. Find more details on the TLO Application webpage.

Designing Successful Transformational Learning Opportunities (TLOs)

Friday, September 30, 2016, 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Social Sciences Building 51, Room 1205

RSVP to ofe@unf.edu or contact Dan Richard with inquires.

Faculty and staff interested in applying for Transformational Learning Opportunity (TLO) funds are invited to attend the TLO workshop titled, "Designing Successful Transformational Learning Opportunities (TLOs)." This session will provide an overview of the TLO concept, some examples of past successful TLOs, and guidelines for applying for financial support.   

Manageable and Meaningful Assessment of Transformational Learning Experiences

Tuesday, October 4, 2016, 1:30-3:00 p.m.

OFE/FA Conference Room, Building 16, Room 3108 
RSVP to ofe@unf.edu or contact Dan Richard with inquires.

UNF Faculty who apply for TLO funding design a wide variety of truly transformational learning experiences for students. Designing an assessment plan both enhances the TLO application and provides an important way to maximize student benefit from the experience.  Yet assessing transformational learning objectives can be difficult because the objectives can be difficult to define, and because TLOs may not include graded assignments in the same way as other classes do. This workshop will help participants define transformational learning objectives and develop manageable assessment strategies for determining the impact of the TLO experience. Faculty and staff interested in applying for Transformational Learning Opportunity (TLO) funds are especially encouraged to attend.

How Can Profs Keep Students' Attention? Put Them in Charge

It's important for faculty to work their hardest to ensure their courses, especially when they are long or comprised of tedious or difficult subject matter, hold their students' attention and keep them engaged. Because it can be so easy for students to drift mentally in class (research purports that college students retain only 10% of material covered in lecture-based courses), it is critical that faculty employ new and creative ways to hold engagement high and get students involved and thinking critically.

Raymond Benton, Jr., a professor at Loyola University Chicago, has managed to put a new spin on an active-learning classic. In what is known as a "jigsaw classroom", students are divided into subgroups within the class, with each subgroup learning a specific topic that they then teach to the rest of the class. Each subgroup member becomes an expert in their allotted area, and the subgroups must educate each other in order to complete an overarching assignment that all groups must complete as a class.

In Benton's version, the "jigsaw classroom" puts students in control of more than learning and communicating information in a given course topic. In an example he provides, a small class of students are given three assigned readings, all of which teach student must read before class, and are randomly assigned to a reading group and a discussion group. In each reading group, the students discuss one of the three articles thoroughly, comparing their own conclusions and understandings of the article. They become experts in that one article, knowing that the other group members will ask questions about that article they will be responsible for answering. Next, they discuss what they did not fully understand about the other two articles and form a list of questions for the other groups. The students then move to discussion groups, in which article "experts" are represented equally, and ask and answer questions and engage in conversations about the articles. Students then reconvene in their original reading groups to compare the answers they received from other groups and share how they answered questions about their group's article. Finally, the professor regroups the entire class to have a class discussion debriefing what they learned about all the articles.

This method is rich with opportunities for active critical thinking and deep levels of processing that will allow students not only to pay attention, but also to engage with the course material in ways they would not remotely approach in a traditional lecture.

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Reforming Physics Education: What’s the story?

2015-2016 UNF Physics Colloquium Series presents:

Reforming Physics Education: What’s the story?
by
Dr. H. Vincent Kuo
Teaching Professor of Physics, Colorado School of Mines
Friday, April 8, 2016
2:00-2:50 p.m. 
Science & Engineering Building, Building 50, Room 1202
Refreshments will be provided

 Much has been argued in recent years for the benefits of experiential learning environments, but how are such contexts operationalized? What are the elements that can characterize such reforms? In this talk I will discuss the differences between teaching and learning environments, present some examples of what the physics education and research communities had contributed in this arena, and describe the adaptation that Colorado School of Mines had implemented, as well as identify some of the unintended consequences of our implementation.
All those interested in teaching within the STEM disciplines or those interested in teaching innovations in general are encouraged to attend.

Gateway Course Conference in Atlanta - Call for Applications

The Office of Faculty Enhancement invites faculty who teach, coordinate and/or develop curriculum for high enrollment courses and/or high risk gateway courses to attend an upcoming conference on gateway courses in Atlanta, GA.

The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education will be hosting a conference on Improving Institutional and Student Performance in Gateway Courses. The conference will be held on April 3rd-5th, 2016, at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead, Atlanta, GA.

Gateway (high enrollment, high risk) courses provide unique challenges for students who may be unprepared for the rigor of the course or who may have difficulty progressing in their curriculum plan if they do not succeed. Helping students succeed in these gateway courses improves student retention and graduation.

The Office of Faculty Enhancement will support the travel and collaboration of 3-5 UNF faculty members to attend the conference and present what they have learned to the UNF faculty community. Faculty interested in attending and being a part of the UNF innovation team, contact Dan Richard at drichard@unf.edu with a brief statement of your interest in the conference and in gateway courses. Preference for funding will be given to faculty who teach gateway courses. 
Faculty interested in OFE providing travel support (funding) will need to contact drichard@unf.edu with your interest by February 29th. 

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FLIP Learning Community Spring 2016 Meetings

FLIP – Flipping Learning Innovation Panel

A flipped classroom is one in which lectures are delivered online and face-to-face time is devoted to student projects and homework.

If you are interested in learning more or if you have experimented with various forms of class flipping, this faculty learning community (FLC) is for you. Come and share your ideas and hear from others who are working on flipping their classrooms.
RSVP to ofe@unf.edu

We will be continuing our monthly meetings this semester, Spring 2016.
The dates of the upcoming meetings are:
Friday, February 12, 9:30 a.m. 
Friday, March 11, 9:30 a.m. 
Friday, April 8, 9:30 a.m. 

We will meet in the Office of Faculty Enhancement (Building 16, Room 3108) conference room. Here is a map: http://bit.ly/unfmapofe

On Friday, Feb 12th, Georgette Dumont, Assistant Professor in Political Science & Public Administration, will present on capturing short video segments for flipping the classroom. Come and join the conversation.



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UNF SoTL Symposium - Call for Proposals

SoTL Symposium - Call for Proposals 

The Office of Faculty Enhancement is pleased to announce its 

3^rd Annual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Symposium.

The Symposium will be held on Monday, April 11^th, 2016, in the Student Union. The SoTL Symposium will be held in conjunction with the 2016 Research Week (April 11^th-15^th), highlighting faculty and student research and scholarship at UNF.

Call for Proposals:

The Office of Faculty Enhancement invites proposals for the 3^rd Annual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Symposium that fit the theme of “Transformational Learning.”

The deadline for submitting 250 word summaries is March 15^th, 2016.

Submit your proposal summary online athttp://bit.ly/2016SoTLUNFsub

Transformational learning helps students adopt new perspectives, develop complex representations of the world, and find new ways of interacting with others who are different than them. Transformational learning practices may take students to places they had never been before, to see things they had never seen, and to imagine concepts they had never considered. The outcomes of such experiences are integrated connections across disciplinary boundaries, the ability to use complex frameworks, and self-knowledge that supports professional and personal growth. The SoTL Symposium will highlight transformational learning at UNF and invites all faculty who have used these strategies to submit a proposal to present at the symposium. The University of North Florida through the Undergraduate Dean's office has supported Transformational Learning Opportunity (TLO) grants for the past 10 years. Grantees are especially invited to submit a proposal, but receiving a TLO grant is not a requirement to present. Presentations can focus on any area of transformational learning including study abroad, undergraduate research, community-based learning, field experiences, co-op experiences, learning communities, leadership experiences, and others.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is the systematic investigation of questions related to teaching and student learning characterized by clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate methods, outstanding results, effective communication, and a reflective critique.

In sum, SoTL is about bringing a scholarly approach to teaching practice and student learning.

The deadline for submitting 250 word summaries is March 15^th, 2016.

Submit your proposal summary online at
http://bit.ly/2016SoTLUNFsub

 

More on SoTL:

Hutchings, P., & Shulman, L. S. (1999). The scholarship of teaching: New elaborations, new developments. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning,31(5), 10-15. 

Glassick, C. E., & Huber, M. T., (1997). Scholarship assessed: Evaluation of the professoriate. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. SF: Jossey-Bass.

http://www.unf.edu/ofe/teaching_learning/SoTL.aspx​

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New Education School Promotes Teacher Competency, But Questions Remain

The American public school system has long struggled to recruit and retain high-performing teachers, particularly in schools in lower income areas where there are less resources to go around yet more obstacles to learning to overcome. Another issue that needs improvement is that there there are not enough "high-performing" school teachers to begin with.

Critics believe that this is due to the lack of competency-based graduate level teacher education schools. As more and more teachers have some type of specialized graduate degree in education, with about 185,000 Master's in Education degrees awarded in 2010, issues with graduate education degrees have become more apparent. One planned school, created by outspoken teacher-education critic Arthur Levine, seeks to focus on critical competencies achieved rather than the amount of time spent in class learning how to teach.

The principal of establishing competency for educators may hold just as much value for those who teach in higher education as it does for those who teach in primary and secondary settings. Many faculty members at universities are in teaching positions because they are experts in their fields, but they are rarely required to demonstrate teaching competencies or educational standards. One group, , has proposed a competency-based system or teachers in higher education, including badges for mastering learning environments, assessment techniques, ethics, and leadership.
Digital Promise

Several problems with the school's proposed approach have yet to be reckoned with. First, the criteria for these competencies is nebulous, with no goals or practices specifically enumerated by the new school. Which competencies are critical, and what they are composed of, must be clearly delineated for both secondary and post-secondary educators.

Second, what is the best way to measure how good or competent a teacher is? Surely it has something to do with a unique ability to bring out the best in their students and to enable them to learn what they will need to succeed. However, although there are outcomes that reflect effective teaching, there is no set of accurate or quantifiable measurements to determine what effective or competent teaching is or how it is achieved. These issues are just as relevant for school-teachers as they are for higher education faculty.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, the proposed school is an entirely online curriculum. This format gives freedom to future teachers to work at their own pace to achieve the competencies and skills deemed necessary to graduate, but it seems unlikely that an online learning curriculum with no social interaction between teachers and no experiences with students will prepare graduates for an extremely person-focused profession. Results remain to be seen.


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3 Strategies for Making The Most of the Few Minutes Before Class Starts

Most professors arrive to class early, perhaps around five minutes before they will need to begin teaching. Typically, professors will use this time to collect thoughts, prepare technology, or organize slides and notes. Faculty who are newest to teaching may especially use this time to prepare themselves for lecturing, which can initially be intimidating. But once the jitters have gone and the course material has become second-nature, how can professors use that few minutes before class begins to maximize student learning? In a recent article, James Lang provides some suggestions on how best to use that time.

Get to know your students. In the book, How College Works, sociology researchers conclude that relationships formed in college are the most important and influential part of the undergraduate experience. This includes relationships formed with professors, which are key to motivating students and increasing their learning and performance. Learning is easier when students can relate to their professors and know that professors care about their academic success. Using the first minutes of class to simply ask one or two students how they are, what their major is, or what they enjoy outside of class is an effective way to open the door to a mentoring relationship or at least increase their trust and participation.

Provide context. Use the extra pre-class minutes to help students understand the greater framework for the course or its attached field of study by writing an agenda or schedule for the day's material. This gives students an awareness of how course information fits in the day's lecture, the overall subject, and the course's sub-groupings and allows them to make connections between specific facts and ideas. This leads students to a more practical understanding of course knowledge rather than strings of facts to passively memorize and regurgitate.

Engage the class. Giving your students a reason to focus up and learn is a great way to use the minutes before class when students are still trickling in and getting settled. Displaying a picture, quote, or idea that relates to the course in an especially interesting way fosters interest and enthusiasm. Other engaging ways to warm up your students include sharing a funny image, story, or jokes. Personally, I ask students to request a song the class to be played in the following class, pick my favorite request, and play it in the 3-5 minutes as students are coming in. Such efforts not only help to enliven the class by bringing them some entertainment and break the ice, but also help to humanize their professor.

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OFE Launches New Service: The Huddle

Sometimes it helps to put your head together with someone to discuss new ideas and solutions.

The Office of Faculty Enhancement (OFE) announces a new service to support faculty in their teaching efforts. The OFE Huddle is an opportunity to connect with an OFE representative who can help you address issues in your teaching efforts as they arise. To access this service, simply schedule a time that is convenient to you through our online calendar https://ofehuddle.youcanbook.me/ and we will connect using an online video chat according to what works for your schedule. You now have quick and easy access to private consultation about your teaching.

So, what are you waiting for? OFE Huddle 

Get in the game. Plan to win. 

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International Conference on College Teaching and Learning - Call for Proposals

Photo: Rob Bixby 2014

Each year, scholars and educators gather to discuss and exchange ideas on the best practices related to college teaching and learning.
The International Conference on College Teaching and Learning (ICCTL) will host it's 27th annual conference in Jacksonville, FL on April 4th-7th, 2016.
For more information about the conference, visit their website at http://www.teachlearn.org/ 

The Call for Proposals is open until February 1st, 2016.

From the ICCTL website:
The International Conference on College Teaching and Learning (ICCTL) is an engaging conference for higher education teachers, faculty and support staff that offers a variety of workshops, interactive sessions and presentations. The theme for the 27th Annual International Conference on College Teaching and Learning is “Building Bridges: Teaching Our Communities—Engaging the World.” In keeping with this theme, we welcome submissions that reflect engagement with students, faculty, and communities. This year’s conference tracks are: Engaging through Teaching and Learning, Connecting through Global and Civic Engagement, Using Technology to Engage and Connect and Promoting Engagement through Academic Leadership and Support.




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Conference on Gateway Courses: Call for Proposals

Please see the announcement below regarding a conference on student success in gateway (introductory and high failure-rate) courses. Success in such courses can be challenging for students who often arrive unprepared for the demanding nature of the courses. New strategies and technologies will be explored at this upcoming conference in Atlanta, GA.

Now is the time to submit a concurrent session proposal for the 2016 Annual JNGI Gateway Course Experience Conference. ***Deadline to submit is Jan. 11, 2016. 

The event takes place April 3 - 5, 2016 in Atlanta, GA.

Proposals should reflect the best thinking in the field of improving institutional and student performance in gateway courses - college credit-bearing and/or remedial courses that launch students into programs of study or majors. 

We invite proposals that address:

• Improving teaching and learning in historically high failure rate courses
• Creating and/or improving support for students in gateway courses
• Curricular and/or pedagogical innovation in gateway courses
• Using analytics and/or other technology to improve student success in gateway courses
• Research and assessment on gateway course issues

Hundreds of institutional leaders, faculty, student success specialists, teaching and learning technology and institutional research professionals will join us at the event.

Featuredspeakers include, Dr. Daniel Greenstein, Director of Education, Postsecondary Success, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Elaine Seymour

Director Emerita and Research Associate, Ethnography & Evaluation Research; Research Fellow, Center for STEM Learning, University of Colorado at Boulder.

***With less than one week left, there is no time like the present to submit your proposal. Registration is also open. Register by Jan. 31 and save!



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Should Students Write Their Own Exams? The Benefits of Innovation

Two marketing professors are espousing the view that traditional college exams, in which a professor writes an exam to assess students' knowledge of course learning objectives, may not be the most effective way to motivate students to learn. Their proposed alternative? Students write their own exams. While it is well-known that humans learn more effectively when they must manipulate materials and ideas to create a new product, rather than simply regurgitate information, many professors would undoubtedly be uneasy with the idea of students writing and taking their own exams.

In their study, the researchers asked students to create exam questions based on a range of recently covered course materials (like most exams) and then answer the questions they had written for themselves. Students were given specific guidelines in terms of what content they needed to cover in their questions, what practical learning objectives the exam should address, and the rubric that would be used to grade the exam. The questions were meant to be predominantly multiple choice, with one short essay question. Students wrote and answered their questions and brought them to class, where the normal time used to take the exam was used instead to discuss questions and answers, during which time students could alter answers, but not questions, if they wished. Then, students turned in their exams to be graded by the professors, who graded them based on the extent to which questions covered relevant course content and learning objectives, how challenging the questions were, and the accuracy of the answers.

The results may be surprising to those outside academia, but really shouldn't surprise any professional educators. Follow-up assessment showed that this method improved student learning outcomes. Because students had been forced to utilize the material at a higher level of processing, by analyzing, evaluating, and creating course information instead of memorizing and occasionally applying it, students learned more deeply. Students were thinking critically about material in the same way their professors had to in order to create an exam that would test student knowledge fairly and comprehensively. When they were required to think like those who have mastery in the subject, they were able to better approach mastery themselves. Although students reported that this method is more challenging than traditional exams, they also reported that they were more motivated to learn as a result and that their exam experience was less stressful. Although this alternative to traditional testing in higher learning is not perfect, it is an important reminder that when faculty stop thinking about education as a static system and start incorporating viable fresh perspectives, students are able to make breakthroughs in the quality of their learning.

AACU Encourages Civic Learning, Provides Practical Ways to Implement It

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) has made available a free publication on practical ways faculty can better produce civic learning. The publication, called Civic Prompts, addresses a goal that has been part of the American education system since its inception: to instill the values of democracy in American college students and inspire and enable them to take democratic action and further democratic process. In recent years, the American higher education system has been charged by United States leadership to define how each discipline can contribute to public well-being and how to incorporate civic learning into coursework.

Civic Prompts helps to provide faculty with resources to encourage civic learning and generate students who will use their degrees to benefit the nation as a whole and advance democracy worldwide. Some prompts include, "What are some big issues that are common to your disciplinary domain that lend themselves to civic inquiries and/or actions?", "What kinds of assignments generate a line of civic questioning or civic actions within the context of your disciplinary or interdisciplinary course?", and "What are some civic pedagogies suited to your disciplinary domain?". The AACU hopes priming faculty with these prompts will make civic learning more routine across the disciplines of higher education.

For STEM Instructors, Impartial Observation May Bring Needed Perspective

In any professional pursuit, it is often very difficult to improve performance without some form of assessment from an impartial observer. Receiving feedback from a colleague who is knowledgeable, yet not so deeply entrenched in the everyday context or style of a practice is essential to genuinely assessing strengths and weaknesses.

Instructors of STEM courses can benefit from this practice as well. In fact, third party observation may be especially important for STEM professors. STEM material is notoriously difficult to learn, and because of the difficulty of the material, the difference between effective and ineffective teaching may be more noticeable and result in greater changes in performance compared to other fields. Asking a colleague to provide perspective by sitting in on a class and observing your teaching methods, without necessarily even providing evaluation, may be eye-opening for some instructors. Using a set of classroom observation protocols for undergraduate STEM courses is a step that can help instructors breathe fresh life into their communication of STEM material and provide students with a better learning experience. When instructors discover what beneficial or detrimental habits that they were previously unaware of, they can begin to take action and adjust their teaching style for the better.

Liberal Education, Integrative Learning Best Preparation for Uncertain Post-Grad Future

Are higher education graduates equipped to address the challenges that face an ever-changing modern Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) Challenge encourages higher-education institutions to design their curricula in ways that help graduates develop the empirical reasoning, communication skills, and critical thinking skills that will prepare them to solve complex, real-world problems.
world? The Association of American Colleges and Universities' (AAC&U)

LEAP has begun the Signature Work initiative which asks student to pursue a long-term project in which they incorporate the knowledge they have learned in courses into their own motivations to produce tangible results. Such projects last at least one semester and could be in the form of research, community service, or other forms of experiential learning. Signature Work projects force students to make connections between different fields of study and their application.

This Signature Work helps to seal in the benefits of a liberal education and prepare college students for a future which will undoubtedly be unpredictable, complex, and varied in terms of its events, experiences, and opportunities. Preparing students to react to unforeseen changes by allowing them to experience how their own knowledge can be engaged in a practical format brings meaning to their time spent in the classroom. Being able to understand the world from multiple view-points is arguably the essence of a liberal education.

Quick Tips to Help Learn Students' Names

At the beginning of the semester, teachers in higher education often are faced with a large room of new faces. Past research suggests that teacher verbal and nonverbal behaviors, including calling students by name, were associated with student motivation and student learning.

Below are a few useful links containing some practical tips to help learn students' names at the beginning of the semester and remember them throughout!

Not Quite 101 Ways to Learn Students' Names

Tomorrow's Professor: Learning Student Names

Protecting teacher immediacy and social presence can be especially difficult in online classes.
Past research links social presence in online classes with learning.

New OFE Social Media Experience

The Office of Faculty Enhancement (OFE) has created a new facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/OFEFaculty) and a new approach to connecting with faculty at UNF. Follow the discussion by Liking the page, finding a post that connects with you, and comment. Feel free to share the posts with your friends as well.

The old OFE account will be discontinued, so you will need to connect with the new page to continue to receive notices through facebook.

We will still keep up with our OFE Newsletter blog, thecurrent, for news, announcements, and interesting teaching and learning ideas. We also maintain a twitter page (@OFEUNF) that posts tips and ideas for teaching and learning you might find interesting, mostly from conferences, symposia, and the like.

So what are you waiting for? Join the conversation online.

Regards,
OFE Staff

Lilly Conference on Teaching and Learning Call for Proposals

The Lilly Conference on Teaching and Learning has supported the scholarship of teaching and learning for over 30 years. Participants share ideas and evidence regarding effective teaching practices and demonstrated student learning outcomes. See the call for applications below. 

The 35th Annual Original Lilly Conference on College Teaching will be on November 19-22, 2015, and for the 35^th consecutive year will be held on the beautiful campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. 

To submit a contributed paper proposal for the Conference, go to http://www.units.miamioh.edu/lillycon/guidelines/

The deadline for submitting a paper proposal is
Monday, June 15, 2015

This year’s Conference features plenary sessions by Robbie Melton, Tennessee Board of Regents, Jim Sibley, University of British Columbia, and Dennis Cheatham, Miami University.

Visit the Conference website at http://www.units.miamioh.edu/lillycon/reg_info.php to register for the Conference (register by October 1 and receive the $50 early registration discount).

Beyond the ISQ: New Models, New Methods

Beyond the ISQ: New Models, New Methods
12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 10, 2015
Building 12, Room 2405
RSVP to ofe@unf.edu
Admission is free. Lunch provided for those who RSVP

Instructional Satisfaction Questionnaires (ISQ) are used ubiquitously in evaluating teaching effectiveness, yet may people question the validity and usefulness of such instruments in assessing quality teaching and learning. Moreover, in the Fall of 2013, UNF moved to a fully online ISQ process. The online administration of the ISQ raised concerns about response rates and the validity of this form of administration. In this session, the Office of Faculty Enhancement (OFE) will present evidence from a comparison of online administration to face-to-face administration of the ISQ. In addition, faculty will discuss different ways to demonstrate teaching effectiveness and student learning that go beyond the use of the ISQ. Topics will include quantitative approaches to learning data, pre-post strategies, and qualitative assessment of evidence of student learning. Participants will be encouraged to find strategies that will work in their own courses to demonstrate teaching effectiveness and provide assessment of student learning. Faculty are encouraged to come and join the discussion. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP to  ofe@unf.edu.
12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., Friday, April 10, 2015
Building 2, Room 2002
RSVP to ofe@unf.edu
Admission is free. Lunch provided for those who RSVP

Call for Proposals - Transforming STEM Education Conference

STEM Education has experienced a resurgence of interest, especially in the State of Florida, as Governor Rick Scott has made jobs in STEM fields a priority.  The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) have been leading STEM education reform for over 10 years. AAC&U has issues a call for applications to an upcoming conference on transforming STEM education. See the details below.

Crossing Boundaries—Transforming STEM Education

A Network for Academic Renewal Conference
Conference Date: November 12-14, 2015
Location: Seattle, Washington


Proposals Due March 18, 2015

The Association of American Colleges and Universities and ProjectKaleidoscope are pleased to announce their Call for Proposals for the 2015 AAC&U conference Crossing Boundaries—Transforming STEM Education.  Proposals are invited and encouraged to showcase evidence-based practices that reflect any of the themes below, and that can be adapted readily to a wide range of institution types, including community colleges and minority-serving institutions.  
We look forward to your proposals in the context of the four themes listed below.

Theme I:  Integrative Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Learning
This theme invites proposals for sessions that describe cross-disciplinary, innovative approaches for enhancing undergraduate STEM learning.  Proposals should represent research and/or practices from any disciplines that focus on achieving core STEM learning outcomes and/or development of research skills.

Theme II:  Inclusive Excellence/Broadening Participation in STEM Higher Education
This theme invites proposals for sessions that highlight theory driven models and innovations directed toward the recruitment, retention, and persistence of students from historically underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines.  A focus on the career advancement of underrepresented STEM faculty is also appropriate.

Theme III: Supporting, Rewarding, and Building Capacity of STEM Faculty
This theme will focus on specific faculty development initiatives that are easily transferable to a diverse group of faculty and/or diverse institutions of higher education. Proposals that emphasize innovative reward systems for STEM faculty are encouraged, including rewards for work in online, hybrid, or blended venues.

Theme IV: Institutional Transformation for Undergraduate STEM Education Reform
This theme invites proposals for sessions related to campus-wide institutional change efforts designed to achieve undergraduate STEM education transformation for both faculty and students.  Proposals addressing how college is training K-12 STEM teachers to prepare students for college STEM courses and curricula are encouraged.

Visit the Call for Proposals to find out how to submit a proposal to share your work at this conference.

For more information, please call 202.387.3760, or write to Siah Annand at network@aacu.org.