Announcements
CEILS Annual Faculty Workshop on Best Practices in Teaching

Date: Thursday, September 19, 2019
Time: 8:30am - 5pm followed by social hour
Location: 158 Hershey Hall


This annual, all-day faculty workshop addresses select topics in science and math education appropriate for instructors who either are relatively new to college teaching or who have instructional responsibilities in the large enrollment gateway courses for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors.  The format and emphasis of this day-long event has been modified from previous years, so even if you have participated in this workshop before, you might consider attending again and learning something new!

Visit our website  for more information.
Scaling Active Learning Strategies to Large Classrooms: A webinar with Deb Pires

Date : September 25, 2019
Time : 3:00 p.m - 4:00 p.m. ET


Now that you are freshly armed with active learning techniques to transform your class into an inclusive, engaging and amplified learning environment, you remember experimenting with a technique or 2 in front of your peers with the teaching tidbit. But could you apply what you've learned to a classroom of 100? 400? 800? Deb Pires, a long-time Summer Institutes fellow and 2019 leader at Adelphi, Sam Houston State University and Shanghai Tech, regularly uses active learning to bolster engagement in classrooms of over 1000 students. According to Pires, "inclusive practices work for any classroom, but that might not be obvious to some faculty."

RSVP to join the webinar
SABER West 2020 Talk/Workshop Abstract Submission Open & Reviewer Solicitation

Abstracts Due: September 20, 2019
Conference Date: January 18-19, 2020
Location: University of California, Irvine

View the  event website  for more information.

If you are interested in serving as an abstract reviewer, please click here to complete the Google form by August 12th . Reviews of abstracts will begin on September 20th, and will be completed within two weeks.
 
Abstract guidelines for both talks and workshops are now available on the SABER West 2020 website . They will be using the same CMT system as the annual SABER meeting for abstract submissions. Abstract submissions are due September 20th at 11:59 pm (PST). Poster abstracts will be submitted during conference registration later this fall.
 
This year, the most highly rated talk abstracts from (1) 2-year affiliates, (2) 4-year affiliates, and (3) students/postdocs will present their work at the Sunday morning plenary session. These individuals will receive free meeting registration and up to $100 in travel reimbursement. To be considered for these awards, please indicate during the submission process to which of these groups you belong.

Abstract selection will be completed by early October, and the meeting registration will open by October 15th.
Inclusive Teaching: Supporting All Students in the College Classroom (Online Course)

View the  event website  for more information.

Inclusive teaching is an issue that has received increased attention on college campuses around the country and around the world. Understanding how course climate impacts students and their learning is increasingly important to faculty and administrators alike across a wide range of educational contexts. Yet creating equitable learning environments that support all students’ learning can be a challenge, especially when one considers that course climate consists of a variety of factors (e.g., student-student interactions, faculty-student interactions, course content and policies).

Participants in this course will consider multiple facets of inclusive teaching, including the creation of an equitable course climate, the design and implementation of accessible and inclusive classroom practices and assessments, and the selection and implementation of diverse course content. Participants will engage with key concepts in inclusive teaching and learn from experts in higher education who share their important research on student development, microaggressions, stereotype threat, and Universal Design for Learning.
The PALM Network Grant

View the  event website  for more information.

The PALM (Promoting Active Learning and Mentoring) Network Grant up to $2000 per Fellow / $500 mentor stipend, and $1000 meeting travel each for Fellow and mentor. The PALM Network was established to increase the use of active learning in undergraduate lecture courses. PALM guides instructors to put into practice effective methods of active learning under the sustained mentorship of other instructors with experience in evidence-based active learning. Each Fellow works individually with a mentor chosen to help the Fellow reach specific goals and objectives, but there are also shared resources, conference calls, and Network gatherings with workshops in which Fellows and mentors can learn from each other.

PALM Fellows can be postdocs aiming for a career that involves undergraduate teaching or they may be faculty at almost any stage of their academic career. They can be from any kind of post-secondary institution. PALM particularly welcomes participation from instructors at two-year institutions and minority-serving institutions. PALM is funded by NSF and addresses recommendations out forward by AAAS/ NSF in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education.

Application Deadlines: October 30, 2019
Instructor Resources
Writing a Literature Review and Avoiding Plagiarism

The UCLA WI+RE team recently published 2 new online workshops. Both workshops can be used at the links below, or embedded directly into CCLE sites.


Collaboratively authored by Kian and Taylor from WI+RE and Embedded Inquiry Specialist Jacy Black, this workshop helps students:
  • Identify strategies for avoiding plagiarism
  • Accurately cite sources in a consistent style
  • Know when and how to summarize, paraphrase, and quote

Kian and Taylor are back again with this fantastic hands-on introduction to writing a literature review! This workshop helps students:
  • Recognize key components of a literature review
  • Identify a knowledge gap in previous research
  • Organize their literature review effectively and logically
Many thanks to UCLA’s Undergraduate Writing Center for sharing their materials for face to face workshops, which provided significant inspiration for this online version!
Newsworthy
An Advice Guide on How to Make Your Teaching More Inclusive from K through College | Chronicle of Higher Education

Think-pair-share is a gateway technique to active learning. It’s the versatile little black dress of inclusive teaching. Yet we often shudder when we see it in practice, as faculty members tend to skip right over the thinking part.
How to Make Your Teaching More Inclusive | Chronicle of Higher Education

The changing demographics of higher education mean that undergraduates come to you with a wide variety of experiences, cultures, abilities, skills, and personalities. You have an opportunity to take that mix and produce a diverse set of thinkers and problem-solvers.
Teacher Incentive Programs can Improve Student Achievement | ScienceDaily

Though teacher incentive programs are growing in popularity, no one knows for sure if they have a positive effect on student achievement, or if they are worth the extra expenditure of precious state education funds. A new study by an economist at the University of California, Riverside shows that, if properly designed, teacher incentive programs can both improve student achievement in some subjects and be cost-effective.
Student Learning Dispositions: Multidimensional Profiles Highlight Important Differences among Undergraduate STEM Honors Thesis Writers | CBE—Life Sciences Education

Various personal dimensions of students—particularly motivation, self-efficacy beliefs, and epistemic beliefs—can change in response to teaching, affect student learning, and be conceptualized as learning dispositions. These learning dispositions serve as learning outcomes in their own right; that patterns of interrelationships among these specific learning dispositions are likely; and that differing constellations (or learning disposition profiles) may have meaningful implications for instructional practices.
Introductory Biology in Social Context: The Effects of an Issues-Based Laboratory Course on Biology Student Motivation | CBE—Life Sciences Education

Authors investigated the effects of a laboratory curriculum developed using the socio-­scientific issues (SSI) framework to contextualize scientific and socially relevant issues for students. Using self-determination theory and hierarchical linear modeling, they examined the effects of the SSI curriculum relative to a control curriculum on student motivation in a large introductory biology course for life science majors.
Who Gets Grant Money? The (Gendered) Words Decide | MIT Sloan School of Management

Female scientists are 16% less likely than men to get a high score on their grant proposal due to word choice. That needs to change. Blinded reviews for scientific research grants — in which all identifying information on the applicant is removed — are designed to remove gendered outcomes, among other biases.Female scientists are 16% less likely than men to get a high score on their grant proposal, and new research suggests word choice might be the reason why.
Esports Can Increase STEM Equity in Higher Education | EdTech

Competitive gaming opens new pathways for underrepresented student populations through scholarship opportunities and inclusion initiatives. Some experts speculate that esports could be a powerful way for universities to invigorate science, technology, engineering and math program enrollments, narrowing the racial and gender gaps persisting in STEM education.
STEM Class Size and Women's Participation | Inside Higher Ed

Increasing class size negatively impacts women's participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics classrooms, says a new study in BioScience. Based on data from 44 different institutions and 5,300 student-instructor interactions, researchers found that this effect kicks in at around 120 students per class.
National Events

POD Network: 2019 Annual Conference

Date: November 13 - 17, 2019
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

View the  event website  for more information.

This year’s conference theme is: Connection: Closing the Distance. To lead, support, and inspire meaningful change within our institutions, learning environments, and in their profession, it is essential that we build and foster connections—between faculty, students of all levels, administrators, programs, institutions, the wider higher ed community, and evolving educational tools such as technologies and social media. Effective teaching and learning requires evidence-based intentionality, but within a network of strong relationships.

Leaning on the theme of Connection: Closing the Distance, POD Network encourage proposals for this year’s conference that explore how human and digital connection can be intentionally leveraged by the educational development community to promote authentic connection in their ever-changing higher education landscape. The three prompts below are provided to guide the conference theme and promote two of the cross-cutting priorities from the  POD Network Strategic Plan : diversity and inclusion, and evidence-based practice.
Carnegie Foundation Summit on Improvement in Education

Date: April 1–3, 2020
Location: San Francisco Marriott Marquis

View the  event website  for more information.

The seventh annual Carnegie Foundation Summit on Improvement in Education will be held on April 1-3, 2020. This three-day event brings together a diverse and vibrant community of educators, researchers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and policymakers dedicated to accelerating improvement in education. Registration for the 2020 Summit will open in Fall 2019.

Summit participants come from all sectors of education from kindergarten to higher education, practitioners to policymakers, and funders to researchers. It is only by engaging and leveraging diverse perspectives in our improvement work and networks that we will be able to develop effective solutions that work for all of our students all of the time. Summit presenters detail their experiences addressing achievement gaps in order to improve outcomes for all students. The powerful presentations in breakout sessions often spark questions and insights from attendees that lead to meaningful conversations.
Online Events/ Webinars
Developing Quantitative Skills Using Educational Resources

Date : September 10, 2019
Time : 2:00 p.m - 3:00 p.m. ET

View the event website for more information.

This webinar will focus on how inclusive teaching practices can be used to increase students’ quantitative literacy and confidence working with data. The presenter will highlight engaging students through story-telling and collaborative learning, while integrating quantitative skills like data manipulation and graph analysis in introductory courses.

Upcoming webinars include:
  • October 8, 2019 - Staying Current: What Science & Skills do Educators Need to Know and Teach in Biotechnology?
Register for upcoming webinars online.
Implement Teaching Strategies that Engage
Generation Z

Date : September 11, 2019
Time : 1:00 p.m - 2:00 p.m. ET

View the event website for more information. Please note there is a cost to participating in this webinar.

Generation Z is the newest generation. Born after Millennials and now 14-24 years old, they’re likely in your classrooms in high numbers. Whether you associate this generation with positive or negative traits, you likely feel as though this is “one more dynamic” to keep pace with. Faculty and faculty developers who want to learn how to adapt current teaching strategies to more fully engage Gen Z students will benefit from this webcast.

Instructor will guide you through the following:
  • Characteristics of Generation Z
  • Strategies for Engaging Generation Z in the Classroom
  • Re-Thinking Your Curriculum
  • How to Bring Together All Generations in the Classroom
Featured Job Opportunities
UC Job Opportunities

Assistant Professor of Teaching in Disease Biology
University of California, Davis

An academic year (9-month) Assistant Professor of Teaching (formerly known as Lecturer with Potential for Security of Employment, or LPSOE) position is available in the Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with a focus on epidemiology and disease ecology. Expertise in plant pathology or a related discipline is required. Competitive applicants will also have interest and competency to support teaching and research in the broader context of One Health, including plant, animal and human systems.

Final date: Tuesday, Dec 31, 2019 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time). Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

► Please see posting details and how to apply here.
Postdoctoral Job Opportunities

Postdoctoral Scholar in The Center for Teaching and Learning
Georgia Institute of Technology
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Postdoctoral Associate Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Cornell University
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.
Additional Job Opportunities

Teaching Assistant Professor in Plant Biology, Ecology, and Evolution
Oklahoma State University
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Professor of Biology Education
The University of Melbourne
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
St. Edward's University
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Associate Director for Learning Innovation
Dartmouth College
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Assistant Director in Center for the Advancement of Teaching
Florida State University
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Instructional Designer in Center for Professional Development and the eLearning
Cal Poly Pomona
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Part-Time Lecturer in Chemistry
CSU Channel Islands
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Director Faculty Educator Development
Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Educational Development Specialist
Lethbridge College - Centre of Teaching, Learning, and Innovation
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Instructional Designer in The Foundation for Advanced Education
National Institutes of Health
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Program Manager in The Center for Teaching and Learning
Georgia Institute of Technology
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Multiple Job Opportunities in Life Sciences Education
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Data Science Educator
Battelle
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Science Outreach Specialist
Battelle
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Research Scientist - Ecoinformatics
Battelle
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Curriculum Writer - Field Science Training
Battelle
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.
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Connect with UCLA's Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences

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 our CEILS office in 222 Hershey Hall.  If you wish to be added to the CEILS mailing list for future newsletters and special announcements, please send your request to  media@ceils.ucla.edu .

Please note, this 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!