Announcements
HHMI Summer Hackathon on Active Learning Exercises for Quantitative Biology
August 8-9th, 2016 (Monday & Tuesday)
QCB Collaboratory, Institute for Quantitative & Computational Biosciences Boyer 529, UCLA

Designing active learning exercises that really help students learn requires a clear recipe of what "ingredients" make an exercise. In this two day workshop led by instructors from five universities, we'll go through this "recipe" with examples and best practices (Monday morning session), discuss online platforms for deploying exercises so students can work on them with immediate feedback (Tuesday morning session), and conduct two working sessions where we work together on exercises for two quantitative biology topics, dynamic programming sequence analysis (Monday afternoon session), and principal component analysis (Tuesday afternoon session).

Learn more:

CIRTL Learning Community for "An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching" this Fall

This open, online course designed to provide future STEM faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with an introduction to effective teaching strategies and the research that supports them. The goal of the eight-week course is to equip the next generation of STEM faculty to be effective teachers, thus improving the learning experience for the thousands of students they will teach. 
Graduate students, post-docs, and faculty from UCLA as well as our neighboring 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities are welcome to participate in the MOOC and attend the weekly local learning community meetings at UCLA, Tuesdays 4-6 pm in 168 Hershey Hall for 8 weeks from Sept. 27th - Nov. 15th. Please RSVP to join the local learning community by contacting CEILS Media & Communications ( media@ceils.ucla.edu )
Journal Club
CEILS Journal Club for STEM Education Research 
Fridays from 2:00 – 3:00 PM   Location:  1100 TSLB   

Enjoy your summer!
 J ournal Club will resume in Fall 2016!


Upcoming Events
Women in Science: Dealing with the Imposter Syndrome (Brown-Bag Lunch)
September 16, 2016 12-1pm Ghonda Conference Room UCLA
Learn more and RSVP.
Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB
October 23-25, 2016, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Apply by September 2!
Learn more and register online.
Problem-Based Learning (PBL) 2016 International Conference:
Problem-Based Learning and Active Learning Methodologies
September 8-10, 2016, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop:
A pre-conference event of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium Annual Conference
October 9-10, 2016 , Omaha, Nebraska
International Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research (BEERS)  
October 14-16, 2016, College of Charleston, North Carolina
80th Annual Meeting of the  Southern California Branch of the American Society for Microbiology (SCASM)
October 28-29, 2016, Hyatt Regency, La Jolla, CA
2016 Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education: Implications for 21st-Century Society
November 3-5, 2016 , Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, Massachusetts
2017 General Education and Assessment: Design Thinking for Student Learning
February 23-25, 2017, Westin Phoenix Downtown Hotel, Phoenix, Arizona
Learn more and register online.

J ohn N. Gardner Institute 2017 Annual Gateway Course Experience Conference
February 26-28, 2017 , The Westin Las Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

2017 Diversity, Learning and Student Success
March 16-18, 2017, Hyatt Regency Jacksonville, Florida
Newsworthy
Women in physics face big hurdles - still
Published in Nature

There are more women in the sciences than ever before. They hold leading faculty and administrative positions while their representation in fields such as biology, sociology and psychology has increased. Yet the physical sciences are woefully behind when it comes to the number of women at all levels.


A Teaching Intervention that Increases Underserved College Students’ Success
Published by AAC&U

TG Philanthropy funded the Transparency and Problem-Centered Learning project ( www.aacu.org/problemcenteredlearning ), with Tia McNair, Ashley Finley, and Mary-Ann Winkelmes as the coinvestigators. In its first year, the endeavor has identified a simple, replicable teaching intervention that demonstrably enhances students’ success, especially that of first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented college students in multiple ways at statistically significant levels, with a medium to large magnitude of effect. These results offer implications for how faculty can help their institutions to right the inequities in college students’ educational experiences across the country.


Low Math Confidence Discourages Female Students from Pursuing STEM Disciplines

Study finds that lack of confidence in mathematical ability, not mathematical capability itself, is a major factor in dissuading female students from pursuing STEM.


CIRTL MOOCS - Ongoing

This online course prepares science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instructors to develop and implement teaching practices that advance the learning experiences and outcomes of both students and teachers.  While this course is currently in progress, you can view course materials at any time. 

“An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching” is an open, online course designed to provide future STEM faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with an introduction to effective teaching strategies and the research that supports them.  The goal of the eight-week course is to equip the next generation of STEM faculty to be effective teachers, thus improving the learning experience for the thousands of students they will teach. 
Graduate students, post-docs, and faculty from UCLA as well as our neighboring 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities are welcome to participate in the MOOC and attend the weekly local learning community meetings at UCLA, Tuesdays 4-6 pm in 168 Hershey Hall for 8 weeks from Sept. 27th - Nov. 15th.. Please RSVP to join the local learning community by contacting CEILS Media & Communications (media@ceils.ucla.edu).

CIRTL COURSES - Fall 2016
Registration Now Open - Space Limited!

Teaching with Technology
Learn how to enhance your STEM teaching with a range of classroom technologies
Course schedule:  Tuesdays, September 13 through November 22
Online meeting times: 3-4:30PM ET/2-3:30PM CT/1-2:30PM MT/12-1:30PM PT
Instructors:  Robert A. Linsenmeier, Northwestern University; and Sabrina Kramer and Stephen M. Roth, University of Maryland

Creating Assessments and Evaluation Plans
Learn techniques to help you assess what your students are actually learning
Course schedule:  Tuesdays, October 4 through November 15
Online meeting times: 12-1:30PM ET/11AM-12:30pm CT/10-11:30AM MT/9-10:30AM PT
Instructors:  Mary Besterfield-Sacre and Julie Breckenridge, University of Pittsburgh

Diversity in the College Classroom: Teaching the STEM Undergraduate
Develop inclusive teaching practices to support all STEM learners
Course schedule:  Thursdays, September 29 through December 1
Online meeting times: 11AM-12:30PM ET/10-11:30AM CT/9-10:30AM MT/8-9:30AM PT
Instructors:  Jean Alley, Vanderbilt University; Robin Paige, Rice University
 

Professional Development
Post-Docs & Graduate Students
Two Great Resources for Learning About Opportunities in Science
Science.gov has recently created a new pair of web-based portals to help undergraduates and graduate students alike search for Federally-sponsored opportunities in STEM. If you are interested, please see the links below.
The O*NET program is the nation's primary source of occupational information, containing information on hundreds of standardized and occupation-specific descriptors. The database provides the basis for the Career Exploration Tools, a set of assessment instruments for workers and students looking to find or change careers.

Job Opportunities

Physics Instructor Needed (2 Positions)
Los Angeles City College
►For more information please see this link.

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Center for Research on Instructional Change in Post-Secondary Education, Western Michigan University
[Desired start date of September 2016]
►For more information please see this link.

Academic Coordinator Position in Biology
University of California, Riverside
[Application Deadline: September 1, 2016]
►For more information please see this link.

Teaching-As-Research Program Coordinator
Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning | UW Madison
[Application Deadline: August 15, 2016]
► http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/Weblisting/External/PVLSummaryApply.aspx?pvl_num=87405

Research Fellow, Focus on Assessment and Evaluation
University of Michigan Biological Station
[Application Deadline: August 19, 2016]
► http://umjobs.org/job_detail/127856/research_fellow

Assistant/Associate Director for STEM Initiatives
Brown University
►http://www.cirtl.net/JobPosting-Assistant/AssociateDirectorSTEMInitiatives-BrownUniversity

Public Engagement Project Director, AAAS
Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology, AAAS
►https://workforcenow.adp.com/jobs/apply/posting.html?client=AAAScience&jobId=113916&lang=en_US&source=CC3

Policy Research Fellow at AAC&U
Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)
►http://aacu.org/open-position-policy-research-fellow


Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics Education
Lund University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physics
[Application Deadline: September 1, 2016]
► https://lu.mynetworkglobal.com/en/what:job/jobID:107323/


Associate Director - Center for Teaching and Learning
New York Institute of Technology
[Open Until Filled]
► http://www.nyit.edu/human_resources/careers/associate_director_centerfor_teaching_and_learning?utm_content=bufferdfb25&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer


Education Scientific Training Fellow 
American Society for Microbiology
[Application Deadline: August 1st, 2016 or until position is filled]
► www.asmcareerconnections.org/jobseeker/job/29000337/


Program Development Specialist
Learning Resource Centers, Rutgers University
► https://jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/26944


Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology Education
Michigan State University, Plant Biology Department
[Application Review begins June 20, 2016 and continues until the position is filled]
► http://www.cirtl.net/JobPosting-MSU-PostdoctoralResearchFellow


Director for Educational Effectiveness
University of Rochester
[Posting Number 195002]
►http://www.cirtl.net/DirectorofAssessment-URochester
 
Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences | UCLA

For more information about CEILS events and resources, including a list of STEM education events from previous mailers, please visit the CEILS website at  www.ceils.ucla.edu  or stop by the CEILS office in Hershey Hall (Rooms 122 & 126).

  If you wish to be added to the CEILS mailing list, please send your request to  media@ceils.ucla.edu .

Please note, this Bi-Monthly Newsletter is circulated through many departmental listservs. Most other CEILS correspondence, including special event announcements and reminders, are sent to CEILS mailing list recipients only. Thanks!