Friday Workshops

Cost: $30

12:00pm-4:00pm  Lunch and afternoon coffee provided  

R is a free and powerful statistical computing language. Most courses that teach R start with an esoteric computer science lecture and sample data about cars. This course will provide busy faculty and graduate students with tools to analyze actual classroom data to start you on the path to using quantitative methodologies to conduct education research. Part 1 is an introduction to R through the lens of classroom teaching, Part 2 introduces R for analysis of classroom data for education researchers. Attendees are expected to be novices to R.

Learning Outcomes 

• Summarize and carry out exploratory and descriptive analysis of data. 

• Conduct appropriate statistical modeling techniques for continuous, categorical, and dichotomous responses

• Use R competently to model and interpret the results for the analysis of data. 

• Present and communicate, both orally and in written-form, the results of data analysis in R.

Cost: $30

12:00pm-4:00pm  Lunch and afternoon coffee provided  

CourseSource is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes tested, evidence-based undergraduate biology activities. The articles include details in a format, style, and voice that supports replicability. Publishing activities in CourseSource provides authors with recognition of the creativity, experience, and time needed to develop effective classroom materials, while also supporting the dissemination of evidence-based teaching practices. Authors can list CourseSource articles in the peer-reviewed publication section of their curriculum vitae and use them as evidence for excellence in teaching.

In this workshop, we will help prospective CourseSource authors learn about the journal and submission guidelines. We will guide participants through each section of a CourseSource manuscript and provide helpful hints. Prospective authors will have time to work in small groups on manuscript ideas, receive feedback from peers, and ask questions of the editorial staff. Participants will work through a manuscript planning worksheet including all the components of a CourseSource Lesson article: learning goals, introduction, scientific teaching themes, lesson plan, supporting materials, and teaching discussion

We will also explore how current and future CourseSource authors can highlight their publications in job applications, teaching philosophy statements, and tenure and promotion documents. We will share how journal metrics such as number of views and downloads can be highlighted and collaborations with co-authors can provide evidence for institutional change. Finally, we will highlight examples of how authors can publish articles in education research journals such as Life Sciences Education and the corresponding instructional materials (e.g., clicker questions, lesson plans, web tools) in CourseSource.

Cost: $20

1:00pm-4:00pm  Afternoon coffee provided  

This workshop will provide a theoretical and experiential understanding of contemplative pedagogies and how they can be used to create learning spaces that foster belonging. Contemplative pedagogies embrace all aspects of students’ authentic selves to create more inclusive learning environments that honor and engage diverse ways of knowing and being. By providing an introspective frame for engaging with course content, contemplative pedagogies allow students to integrate their identities and experiences into the learning process, thereby finding greater meaning and connection to the world around them (Barbezat and Pingree, 2012). In engineering education, contemplative pedagogies have been shown to have a myriad of benefits including enhancing learning, well-being, productivity, self-awareness, empathy, and communication (Rieken et al, 2017; Forster and Shaw, 2022; Nolte et al, 2022; Huerta et al, 2021). In addition, contemplative pedagogies engender trust and belonging by inviting students to co-create their learning experiences in compassionate learning spaces (Venkatesh et al, 2020; Zastavker and Venkatesh, 2022). This workshop will invite participants to engage with contemplative pedagogies while also gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to apply them in their own local contexts. Specifically, through both interactive lecture and experiential practice, participants will be introduced to a set of contemplative pedagogies that are transferable to diverse learning environments. This session is intended for all audiences who support students’ learning so that they can engage these practices in fostering a personal and collective sense of belonging for their respective student populations.

After attending the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Leverage contemplative pedagogies to increase self-awareness and authentically connect with oneself and others in both personal and professional contexts.

• Applytheoreticalunderstandingandpracticalskillsrelevanttocontemplativepedagogiesto create cognitive and affective environments more conducive to students' learning, and inclusive of all ways of knowing and being.

• Design contemplative spaces that foster all learners’ sense of belonging in participants’ local contexts.