UCLA Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences | Monthly Newsletter

August 15, 2018

Announcements

Congratulations to UPLIFT and CIRTL Scholar- Helen Vuong !

Helen is a scholar in the UCLA Postdoc’s Longitudinal Investment in Faculty Training (UPLIFT) program and received an award for her pedagogy poster at the 2018 Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) conference. Her poster described her teaching-as-research project, “Adapting Experiential Learning Activities to Enhance Neuroscience Education”, conducted as a certification component of UCLA’s Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning ( CIRTL ) program.

This culminating experience in UCLA’s CIRTL program earnedHelen Scholar status, the topmost level in the CIRTL certification pathway. Helen’s achievements embody the CIRTL mission to enhance excellence in undergraduate education through advancing effective teaching practices for diverse learners as part of successful and varied professional careers.

Advancing Mentoring Practices Workshop

September 12, 2018 | 8am - 5pm

Please see the event page for more information.

On behalf of the Graduate Programs in Bioscience at UCLA and the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) it is our pleasure to invite you to participate in a mentoring workshop to enhance your abilities to develop excellence in diverse trainees.

During Day 1 : You will learn evidence-based approaches to research mentoring from the Entering Mentoring curriculum, which is specifically designed for research mentors across career stages.

Day 1 agenda.

During Day 2 (optional), in this Train-the-Trainer session, you will gain the knowledge and facilitation skills needed to design and deliver mentor training at your program/institution.

Day 2 agenda.

Save the Date! 2018 Faculty Workshop on Best Practices in Teaching

September 20, 2018 | 8am - 5pm

Hershey Hall Grand Salon, Room 158

Please see the event page for more information.

RSVP TODAY!

The agenda for our 2018 workshop is currently being developed and will be posted shortly. You can refer to our 2017 Workshop Agenda to see the type of topics that will be covered and format of the day-long event. We hope you will be able to join us in September.

UCLA Minor in Biomedical Research is Hiring - Lecturer Opportunity

The UCLA Minor in Biomedical Research, an interdisciplinary program centered on undergraduate research, is hiring a full-time lecturer to begin in Fall 2018. Seeking an individual with a strong background in biomedical research and a passion for undergraduate education. Please see https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF03940 for more details.

i>Clicker Training Workshop

Monday September 24, 2018

2:30 - 4:00 pm Terasaki Life Sciences 1100

Kristin Strong, Senior Technology Specialist at i>clicker

Have you considered using clickers in your course but you are not sure where to start? Come to this workshop to explore iClicker - a great tool for engaging and getting feedback from ALL of your students (even in those large enrollment classes!). You can see how the tool works, install and practice on your own computer, and learn some tips for designing engaging clicker questions.

Bring your laptop and RSVP here so that we will have enough instructor kits available.

Postdoctoral Scholars & Graduate Students

Click here to view programs and initiatives for graduate students & postdoctoral scholars on our website.

See also: UCLA Professional Development for Graduate Students and Post-Docs

Resource: ScienceCareers - 2018 Career Handbook (PDF download available)

CIRTL @ UCLA - Professional Development Opportunities for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars

The Center for the Integration of Research,Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) provides national events and courses. UCLA is a CIRTL institution, and we offer in-person learning communities and training opportunities. For detailed information about CIRTL @ UCLA, please visit: https://ceils.ucla.edu/cirtl-at-ucla/. If you have any questions, please contact our program coordinator Dr. Rachel Kennison at rkennison@ceils.ucla.edu.

Preview upcoming Fall Programming here.

Newsworthy

Click here to view more/archived newsworthy publications on our website.

Resource: A favorite listserv for STEM education news, please subscribe to STEM|PROF

The Case for Teaching How to Teach | Miami's Community Newspapers

Graduate students who are taught how to teach are more likely to be prepared for the realities of working in higher education without affecting their research capacity, according to a new study.

Are Teaching and Research Mutually Exclusive? | Times Higher Education

Is the world-renowned researcher who is also a stellar teacher a realistic expectation? Times Higher Education surveyed academics to find out. (Times Higher Education)

The Lecture Juggernaut | CBE- Life Sciences Education

An essay examines why, in spite of the evidence in favor of active learning, changing the pedagogical practices of faculty is a difficult task with no simple solutions .

Student Evaluations of Teaching are Not Valid | American Association of University Professors

In a review of the literature on student evaluations of teaching (SET), Philip B. Stark and Richard Freishtat—of the University of California, Berkeley, statistics department and the Center for Teaching and Learning, respectively—concluded, “The common practice of relying on averages of student teaching evaluation scores as the primary measure of teaching effectiveness for promotion and tenure decisions should be abandoned for substantive and statistical reasons: There is strong evidence that student responses to questions of ‘effectiveness’ do not measure teaching effectiveness.”

Shake-up in Teaching Evals | Inside Higher Ed

Most institutions say they value teaching. But how they assess it tells a different story. University of Southern California has stopped using student evaluations of teaching in promotion decisions in favor of peer-review model. Oregon seeks to end quantitative evaluations of teaching for holistic model.

Learning from the Opposite of Good Teaching | Inside Higher Ed

Instructors can learn something by looking at the inverse of attributes of good teaching, writes Paul F. Diehl.

Teaching Turned Out to be a Highlight of Graduate School | Science

Teaching may be full of unexpected rewards if approached with an open mind and a willingness to learn.

Why We're "Speaking Up" About Inclusive Teaching Strategies | ACUE Community

Here are some tools to empower faculty to make their courses more inclusive, starting with course design and classroom environment.

Undergraduates "Want to Be Awakened" | Chronicle of Higher Education

Inclusive teaching holds the key to reducing high failure and withdrawal rates in introductory science courses, particularly among minority students, explains Bryan Dewsbury, assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island.

Interactive Strategies for Engaging Large and Small Classes Alike | Faculty Focus

One of the best ways to cultivate interaction is to literally go to where the students are.

Five Ways to Promote a More Inclusive Classroom | Faculty Focus

The graduation gap continues to exist between traditional and nontraditional students. Although the classroom experience has not been the focus of most institutions’ retention and persistence efforts, faculty can and do play a major role for improving the retention and success of all students. It’s a topic covered extensively in Kathleen Gabriel's new book, Creating the Path to Success in the Classroom: Teaching to Close the Graduation Gap for Minority, First-Generation, and Academically Unprepared Students. In this book, she offers ideas that can be incorporated in, or modified to align with, faculty’s existing teaching methods

Chemistry Education Research—From Personal Empiricism to Evidence, Theory, and Informed Practice | Chemical Reviews

This Review of Chemistry Education Research (CER) provides an overview of the development of research in chemistry education from the early days, when ideas about how to teach chemistry and help students learn were guided by practitioner wisdom, to current research that is based on theories of learning and provides evidence from which to make arguments about improving teaching and learning.

National Events & Webinars

Click here to view more/archived national (off-campus) events on our website.

SABER West - Call for Talk and Workshop Abstracts & Save the Date

The third annual SABER West conference will be held on January 19 and 20, 2019 at the campus of the University of California, Irvine. SABER is the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research and was founded in 2010.

CEILS will be organizing a UCLA group to attend this conference together. We hope you will consider submitting a talk, workshop, and poster abstract for this year's conference. Please save the date and we will share updates as they become available.

For more information on SABER, please visit the SABER website.

August Scientific Teaching in Practice Webinar:

Introduction to the Summer Institutes Community and Resources

View the event website for more information.

Friday, August 17, 3-4 PM Eastern Time (12-1 PM Pacific Time)

In this kick-off to our 2018-2019 webinar series, Elizabeth Luoma, Summer Institutes Program Director, will lead a discussion of SI community resources and engagement opportunities.

2018 NABT Professional Development Conference

November 8-11, 2018

Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina

View the event website for more information.

Early registration deadline: July 31, 2018

Submit a proposal to present at the 10th Annual Biology Education Research Symposium and/or the Undergraduate Biology Professional Development Summit at the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) 2018 Professional Development Conference.

Featured Job Opportunities

Click here to our job postings archive on our website.

2018-2019 Lecturer for UCLA Minor in Biomedical Research

UCLA