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

CEILS Monthly Newsletter | Issue #62 | June 9, 2020 | ceils.ucla.edu

Equity and Social Justice in STEM

Wednesday, June 10th:

#ShutDownAcademia and #ShutDownSTEM

This Wednesday, June 10th, a call has gone out to Academia to shut down normal operations to dedicate time to discuss and address issues of systemic racism.

We invite you to join us on Wednesday to take time informing and discussing your short- and long-term plans to do the work to eradicate racism and create a just, equitable and inclusive STEM field. :

Education: Take time to start reading the resource materials; Keep learning by reading books and blogs, watching movies, and listening to podcasts.

Action: Take responsibility to be actively anti-racist in your spaces of influence.

Healing: Racism creates this toxic space and those affected need to heal from it. We need to make time and space for this emotional work to occur.

Learn more about #ShutDownAcademia and how you can participate here!

View a list of additional resources here .

Spend time with the CEILS community discussing and planning actions towards eradicating racism and creating a just, equitable and inclusive STEM field at UCLA:

CEILS #ShutDownAcademia Action-Planning Hour

Wednesday June 10th, 4:30-5:30 pm

Join us on Zoom!

CEILS Resource for Teaching Through Traumatic Times

With recent events and the turmoil spreading across our country, there is a critical need for us to consider how this affects our classrooms and our students. In response, CEILS has created a new resource that can help you teach through traumatic times like the ones we are currently facing. Resources include four principles to consider in creating a more equitable classroom, quotes from students, and concrete ideas of actions you can take.

View the resource list here.

Additional Resources from Centers on and off Campus

The UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Acknowledging the Current Racial Crisis in the Classroom and Resources for Racial Trauma

The UCLA Center for the Advancement of Teaching: Supporting Our Students in Response to Racial Trauma and A Short Guide to Inclusive Strategies for Remote Teaching

The Science Policy Group at UCLA: What You Can Do

EAB: Guide to Improve Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Support for Remote Instruction

The New and Improved CEILS Remote Teaching Guides

CEILS gathered all the Remote Teaching resources we've collected this quarter and incorporated them into our existing Teaching Guides to help streamline your course development. Visit the website for CEILS resources such as:

Remote Teaching and Remote Assessments Checklists
Recordings of Past Webinars
Pedagogy Support and more!

View our new webpage here.

CEILS One-on-One Pedagogy Consultations

Need help planning for summer course design or getting a start on fall planning? Schedule a 30 min. meeting for a one-on-one consultation with the CEILS leadership team

Email us at media@ceils.ucla.edu to reserve a time .

Please briefly describe the help or advice you need and we will connect you with someone on the team with the requisite expertise.

Need One-on-One Zoom help or want someone to sit in on your Zoom session?

Email lazoomassistance@gmail.com to reach a team of CEILS-trained undergraduates standing by to help out. Indicate when you’d like an appointment, and they’ll respond as soon as possible.

In case you missed it:

Effective Faculty-TA Communication:

Working Together as a Remote Teaching Team

UCLA's Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) and CEILS collaborated on a workshop for faculty centered around what TAs wish faculty knew about their experience teaching during this extraordinary time.

View the webinar recording and supporting materials here.

Additional UCLA Workshops for Remote Teaching:

Preparing Your Course for Summer

Centers across campus are hosting workshops, webinars, and drop-in office hours to help support instructors plan for summer session classes.

To view a full list of available workshops and ways to join, visit the website .

National Webinars and Workshops

The Online Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching

July 20th - 24th

The Online Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching is designed for STEM faculty, grad students, and postdocs new to teaching. In this five-day institute, participants will experience a thorough introduction to the Three Pillars of Scientific Teaching: Inclusivity, Active Learning, and Assessment. By examining relevant research, working online in small peer groups facilitated by experienced instructors, and performing structured work independently, participants will develop a deep understanding of research-backed pedagogies proven to increase student success (ie, "scientific teaching").

Summer Institutes of Scientific Teaching: Friday Happy Hours

Join colleagues across the country for stimulating conversation and camaraderie each week on topics such as:

June 12, 1:00 - 2:00 pm, "Helping Students Identify & Mitigate Stress & Anxiety"
June 19, 1:00 - 2:00 pm, "Tips and Tricks for Building Online Courses"
June 26, 1:00 - 2:00 pm, "Conceptualizing Diversity in Higher Education"
July 3, 1:00 - 2:00 pm, "Fostering Student Motivation"
July 10, 1:00 - 2:00 pm, "How Flipped Classes Can Transition Seamlessly to Remote Instruction"

Taking Field Experiences Online Webinar | June 30, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

SI Component Workshop on Inclusive Teaching | July 3rd, 12:00 - 2:00 pm

CIRTL Network Office Hours:

Blending Asynchronous and Synchronous Teaching

June 16th, 1:30 - 2:30 pm | Register here .

This interactive online session explores the key choices an instructor makes in identifying the content and mode of learning between asynchronous and synchronous in online teaching and learning. This session helps instructors make the connections between modes that best motivate student activity and learning, and think through the timing for which these different components occur. This session will be a mix of interactive workshopping and Q & A.

Fundamentals of POGIL Virtual Workshop

July 20-21st | Register here.

This virtual event is an introductory workshop and is designed for those with limited or no previous exposure to Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). Participants will have the opportunity to engage in POGIL activities, observe facilitation strategies firsthand, and learn about POGIL classroom implementation.

Additional Workshop for participants:

Activity Writing Virtual Workshop

July 27th | Register here.

Participants for this Activity Writing workshop must either be registered to attend the Fundamentals of POGIL Virtual Workshop (July 8 & 9, 2020 or July 20 & 21, 2020) OR have previously attended a 1-day or 3-day POGIL workshop .

Webinar from the SEA Change Institute

Talking about Leaving STEM Revisited: Entering an Uneven Playing Field

July 21st 8:00 - 9:00 am | Register here.

Analysts discuss the consequences for college transition and survival in the early stages of STEM majors that arise from disadvantages of social class, race, ethnicity and gender. Most significantly, these include; under-preparation in the K-12 system, problems arising from choice of majors or career pathways, and the need to work while in college.

Future webinars in this series:

August 18th,, "STEM Learning Experiences and Their Consequences"
September 22nd, "Dysfunctions of the STEM Weed-Out System"
October 27th, "Dimensions of STEM Persistence"

Call for Proposals:

AAC&U Annual Meeting: Revolutionizing Higher Education After COVID-19

January 20 - 23rd, 2021

In this moment of unprecedented transformation and uncertainty, and in the broader context of an urgent need to educate students democracy, can higher education harness the resilience, creativity, and innovation that have been unleashed by the COVID-19 crisis and emerge from it strengthened? Will the inevitable restructuring and reorganization intentionally prioritize quality, equity, and inclusion? The 2021 annual meeting will explore these urgent questions now facing colleges and universities.

The Proposal Submission Deadline is July 20th

Visit the event website for more information.

Additional Remote Teaching Resources

Check out the CEILS Remote Teaching Checklists!

The Checklist for Quickly Moving to Remote Teaching

A detailed checklist, links to resources, and suggestions on preparing your classes for a quarter of remote teaching.

The Checklist for Remote Assessment Recommendations

Learn more about alternative assessment tools including those that can be used to disincentivize cheating.

The Instructor-TA Communication Checklist

Use this checklist to help guide conversations with your instructional team, including your TAs. See the associated workshop and materials here.

CAT Resources for Remote Teaching: A resource page for remote teaching guides, tips, and resources for instructors and TAs

Student Resources for Remote Learning: A compilation of resources for students to help them succeed during this quarter

Remote Resources for UCLA Library Users: Updates on resources and training available through the UCLA Library

Remote Control: How to Manage Your New Remote Classes: A new tool to help student learning in a remote environment.

Aspire Alliance Resources to Support Students: The Aspire Alliance has compiled several resources that are specifically tailored to inclusive and equitable responses to COVID-19.

Aspire Resources to Support Faculty During and After COVID: Students aren't the only ones who need support- faculty and staff need support and equity too.

Resources for Teaching Remotely: A Community Page: A CCLE site with resources and a space to connect with other faculty

Remote Teaching Resources for Grad Students and Post-Docs: A compilation of teaching resources on- and off-campus created specifically to share with graduate students and post-docs

In the News

The Reopened Campus: Special Report | The Chronicle of Higher Education

Whether in the fall or further down the line, institutions that sent students home as the pandemic encroached will welcome them back. This Chronicle series examines the complex practicalities, risks, and trade-offs of that unpredecented process. How would residence halls, dining facilities, and classrooms be used in a way that adheres to public-health guidance? After a spring of separation and, in some cases, trauma, what will students need and how should colleges respond? And what kind of liability issues might colleges face in the event of an outbreak? To explore the answers, read the series and sign up for the virtual events highlighted in this special report.

Online education platforms scale college STEM instruction with equivalent learning outcomes at lower cost | Science Advances

Meeting global demand for growing the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce requires solutions for the shortage of qualified instructors. The authors propose and evaluate a model for scaling up affordable access to effective STEM education through national online education platforms. These platforms allow resource-constrained higher education institutions to adopt online courses produced by the country’s top universities and departments. A multisite randomized controlled trial tested this model with fully online and blended instruction modalities in Russia’s online education platform. They find that online and blended instruction produce similar student learning outcomes as traditional in-person instruction at substantially lower costs. Adopting this model at scale reduces faculty compensation costs that can fund increases in STEM enrollment.

On Not Drawing Conclusions About Online Teaching Now- or Next Fall | The Chronicle of Higher Education

"On March 18, a little over a week into the official beginning of stay-at-home orders in Massachusetts, I posted to Facebook an image of my third daughter with her acceptance letter from the college she plans to attend in the fall. (Yeah, I guess I’m that kind of parent.) At the time we anticipated being in quarantine for a few weeks, or perhaps a month or two. Conversations about whether colleges and universities would open online in the fall were still only a low background hum."

Channel Outrage and Disillusionment Into Action | Inside Higher Ed

In response to protests motivated by the death of George Floyd, the rapper and activist Killer Mike delivered powerful remarks during Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s press conference late last week. Although his primary audience did not include teachers, administrators or other members of the education community, Killer Mike spoke to folks nonetheless, reminding us of the enormous responsibility we bear.

Five Takeaways from My COVID-19 Remote Teaching | The Chronicle of Higher Education

"This semester, if you (a) made a good-faith effort to identify what was essential for your students and (b) set up ways for them to keep moving forward, you did great. From what I’ve seen and read, faculty members around the world have been doing far more than just putting in a good-faith effort during the Covid-19 crisis. Most of us have moved heaven and earth to ensure some kind of continuity in our students’ education, even as we have spent our own days coping with emotional and personal strains we could hardly have imagined mere months ago."

CIRTL - Graduate Students and Postdocs

Attention UCLA Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars!

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is a national network providing graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with online training on evidence based teaching and professional development opportunities.

UCLA is a member of CIRTL, giving graduate students and postdoctoral scholars access to all CIRTL online programing across the network, as well as local learning communities and opportunities for professional development on campus. We also have a separate newsletter specifically for our CIRTL@UCLA community where we share information most relevant to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Subscribe to the CIRTL newsletter here .

Learn more about CIRTL@UCLA and get connected: https://cirtl.ceils.ucla.edu/

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