cs 22: it takes a village to raise a scientist craig ogilvie and cinzia cervato...

CS 22: It Takes a Village to Raise a Scientist

Craig Ogilvie and Cinzia Cervatocogilvie@iastate.edu, cinzia@iastate.eduIowa State University

Goals for this session

• Understand the ingredients of an emergent, faculty-driven, large-scale educational change process

• Crowdsource to define the key characteristics of such a change process

• Start to plan what this might entail at your college/university

Engage 1st and 2nd-year science students

Inquiry labs rather than 'cookbook' labs

at 100/200 level

Large lectures, active learning, explicit focus on

broader science skills

5-6 week research modules in

200/300 level labs

Cross multiple depts: biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology, meteorology, psychology,…

HHMI–ISU Project 2010-2014

Large numbers of students~8500 students/year and growing

Mechanism of Change• ~ 60 Faculty in 4 Faculty Learning Communities (FLC)

o Place where faculty can discuss, debate ideaso Work collaboratively on projectso Broad base of faculty involved dept. change

• Solutions emerge from these communities o Drawn from national exemplars, adapted to local

• Science Teaching Fellows/postdocs (bio, chem)o Bring time, energy, scholarship, and urgency

• ~30 TAs in two Graduate Student LCs

Impact on STEM retention?

Encouraging, perhaps engaging students slightly increases the odds of deciding to stay as STEM major

Kick-off activity

• Please answer the questions in the sheets on your table

• Line up in groups based on letter from 1st question (type of institution)

o Then order yourself based on total number of points from the last two questions

Group task #1

What organizational or group mechanisms can help faculty start broad-scale curriculum change?

• Each person write 2-3 ideas (or more :)

• One idea per post-it note

• Place post-it notes on table surface, randomly

• Group at table organize notes into similar clusters

• Report out the clusters

Summary of Group task #1

What organizational or group mechanisms can help faculty start broad-scale curriculum change?

Mandate from admin

Faculty development office to support, $, release time

Faculty consensus on need for change

Faculty groups/collaborations, learning communitiesInterdisciplinary or discipline-groups

External mandates, e.g. accreditation

Centers to bring people together

Gather ideas from national meeting

Faculty Senate

Student DrivenFaculty know they havegreen-light to implement change

Group task #2

What are ways to allocate time (or people) who can implement, test, assess reformed courses?

•Each person write 2-3 ideas

•One idea per post-it note

•Place post-it notes on table surface, randomly

•Group at table organizes notes into similar clusters

Summary of Group task #2

What are ways to allocate time (or people) who can implement, test reformed courses?

Internal sabbaticals, release time

Course fees to pay for change

Grants

Use $ to pay for adjuncts

Team teaching

Leverage enthusiasm of new faculty

Assessment done well to build support

Partner with other institutionsUse student learning assistantsPay or course credit

Use local experts for assessment, education, pysch

Partner with centers for teaching

Teaching postdocs

Have educational change workcount as service to P&T

Upper I

Upper II

Inquiry lab

Research lab

Large lectureVillage

Wrap-up activity

Reflect and write in your notes how the leading ideas from the two tasks might translate to your institution1) What organizational or group mechanisms can help faculty start broad-scale curriculum change?2) What are ways to allocate time (or people) who can implement, test, assess reformed courses?

Contact info

• Craig Ogilvie, cogilvie@iastate.edu

• Cinzia Cervato, cinzia@iastate.edu