2013-2014 Biology Scholars Program Capstone Event

Thursday, May 15th, 2014

10:00am 3:00pm

DoubleTree by Hilton

Boston North Shore Hotel

Danvers, Massachusetts

Pre-Capstone Assignment

Pre-Capstone Assignment Instructions...2

Assessment Scholars3

Research Scholars...23

2013-2014 Biology Scholars Program Capstone Event

Thursday, May 15th, 2014

10:00am 3:00pm

DoubleTree by Hilton Boston North Shore Hotel

Danvers, Massachusetts

2013-2014 Biology Scholars Capstone Pre-Assignment Instructions

1. Read the publication, Creating a Faculty Culture of Student Success: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/content/docs/pubs/Creating%20A%20Faculty%20Culture%20of%20Student%20Success.pdf

2. Click the "Attach File or Image"button at the bottom of the Wiki Capstone page (you must be logged in to the Wiki). Upload the following information as one Word Document:

a.An abstract of your of your journey since leaving the training Institute last summer (up to 300 words). Include what has worked well, what has been a challenge, and what you still hope to accomplish as a Biology Scholar Alum;

b.A table or a figure that helps to illustrate your past years work; and

c. 1-3 references that have informed your past years work.

3. Familiarize yourself with your institutions mission statement and/or goals. Bring 20 hardcopies of this information to share with other Scholars at the Capstone.

ASSESSMENT SCHOLARS

Sarah Ades

Penn State University, University Park, PA 2013-2014 Assessment

After reading this abstract, you will understand what shaped my approach to teaching in the past year and the challenges and hopes I have for the future. In short, my evolving understanding of the concept of learning objectives had an enormous impact on how I taught this year. The BSP residency, emphasizing the links between objectives, classroom activities, and assessment, helped me realize how valuable objectives are. In planning for classes early in the year, I would start with my default of having lists in my head of what to cover, but I would catch myself and ask, What should the students know at the end of this class or unit, and how are you going to get them there? Intellectually this process made sense last summer, but putting it into practice made everything come together. In addition to this teaching approach epiphany, Ive used more active learning techniques. In my seminar course, we changed from trying to lead unstructured group discussions to using small group discussions, peer editing, role-playing, etc. This approach worked amazingly well, and students noted it on their semester evaluations. The lesson plans that I developed last summer for my lab course helped immensely. The castle diagrams were incredibly useful in organizing what to do when. I had also developed a problem set related to the last lab module based on data from the primary literature. The problem set made the students think about what the experiment meant before they did it on their own. I plan to develop similar problem sets for other lab modules. My major challenge is time management- how to balance ideas for teaching, for building more courses incorporating research and active learning, with sustaining my research program. My solution? Dont stop! Im joining the 2014-15 BSP Research Residency.

My approach to teaching has become more and more like my approach to research. I expect them to meld even more as I start to do research on teaching and learning.

References that informed my work:

1. Handelsman, J., Miller, S., and Pfund, C. Scientific Teaching. New York : W. H. Freeman and Co., 2007.

2. Branchaw, J., Pfund, C., and Rediske, R. Entering Research: A Facilitators Manual. New York : W. H. Freeman and Co., 2010.

3. Ambrose, S.A., Bridges, M.W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M.C., and Norman, M.K. How Learning Works. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.

Diane Hartman

Baylor University, Waco, TX 2012-2013 Assessment

I attended the Summer 2012 Assessment Residency. Upon returning home I was very discouraged, frustrated and disappointed. This was not what I had anticipated. There were no truly tangible assessments that I felt confident about using in my large introductory biology and microbiology classes of 100+ students.

My position as lecturer does not come with teaching assistants or undergraduate student worker funding. Many of the activities and rubrics work best with more one-on-one interaction. Colleagues evaluated my classes as part of my 2013 performance review. The overall summary was positive. One professor said that watching me run around the room to help the groups exhausted him. Another said that this was exactly what we are supposed to be doing for active learning. A third noted that several students were checking email and shopping during the group work time. It is very challenging to incorporate active learning in the context of large classes with fixed seating.

Grades for the larger classes are based primarily (80%) on summative assessments (multiple choice exams) with i