Friday Workshops

Cost: $30

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

The Education Research Initiative invites you to participate in a workshop, “Statistical Thinking for the Analysis of Education Data” at SABER West 2022. The purpose of the workshop is to assist faculty, research staff, graduate students, and postdocs who already have some familiarity with statistics to learn how to select analyses that correspond with their research questions and develop a framework to carry out exploratory data analysis and analyze their data. Participants will have a chance to present their education research projects and get peer feedback related to their research. Participants are encouraged to bring projects that are at any stage to discuss.

This workshop aims to support statistical thinking for the analysis of education data. The workshop will also be of interest to those practitioners and scholars who would like to improve their ability to identify appropriate analyses that support their research questions. Participants will receive support for identifying appropriate statistical models as well as learn the importance of descriptive statistics and exploratory data analysis.

The workshop will feature a group coaching session as well as group discussions covering the following topics:

• Identifying analyses that correspond with your education research questions

• Describing your data and performing exploratory data analysis

• Interpreting regression coefficients

• Navigating different statistical methodology (linear regression, logistic regression, linear mixed effects models)

• Reproducible research (Chapter 17 of Statistical Thinking for the 21st Century)

This workshop will leverage material from the following textbook:

Statistical Thinking for the 21st Century

Russell A. Poldrack

https://web.stanford.edu/group/poldracklab/statsthinking21/index.html

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: $15

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

Nearly half of all undergraduates are enrolled at community colleges (CCs), including the majority of students representing groups presently underserved in the sciences. Yet, only a small minority of studies published in biology education research (BER) journals involve CC biology students, faculty, courses, or authors. Thankfully, many CC instructors are excited to engage in BER to share their interventions and showcase their students’ voices and perspectives.

At this workshop, participants will build community with instructors from a diverse array of CCs to explore opportunities in CC BER and identify potential collaborations based on geographic similarity and research interests. Participants will further engage in discussions surrounding a sample of studies that illustrate common BER research strategies/methods they can expect to hear about and can use in their own work. Finally, participants will reflect on how they plan to use their workshop experiences to fully engage in the BER community as Community College Faculty.

Learning Outcomes

● Articulate the importance of community college biology education research (CC BER) at national, regional, and institutional levels

● Nucleate a community of peers to support you in exploring and pursuing CC BER

● Meet potential CC BER collaborators based on similarities in your geography and research interests

● Gain familiarity with several common BER evidence collection strategies

● Brainstorm possible means of support for BER work at CCs