Workshops

Workshop presenters:

Claire Meaders, Assistant Teaching Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology, UC San Diego

Petra Kranzfelder, Assistant Teaching Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Merced

Workshop description:

The Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) is a tool that can be

used to characterize how instructors and students are spending their time in the classroom

(Smith et al. 2013). COPUS is a commonly used observation protocol by both practitioners,

centers for teaching and learning, and education researchers at individual, departmental, and

institutional levels (Denaro et al., 2021; Lund et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2014; Stains et al., 2018;

Tomkin et al., 2019) . In this interactive workshop, participants will gain familiarity with COPUS

and how the quantitative information can be used in teaching portfolios as measurable

evidence of teaching effectiveness.

Participant outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

•  Summarize how the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) can be used to document instructional practices.

•  Compare and contrast the 25 instructor and student activities coded by COPUS.

•  Apply COPUS codes to example classroom observations.

•  Describe how COPUS data can be used as evidence of teaching effectiveness for merit, promotion, and tenure and/or teaching awards.

Workshop presenter:

Brian Sato, Professor of Teaching (UCI) 

Workshop description:

There are a variety of opportunities, both local and national, for teaching faculty to obtain funding to pursue their education research and teaching interests. In this workshop, we will explore the range of grant opportunities, what such funds can be leveraged for, discuss budget construction, talk through potential pitfalls in the submission process, and walk through the construction of a rough grant outline based on each participant’s interests. This will also enable attendees to receive feedback on their ideas, and ideally, lead to a new grant submission in the near future! 

Participant outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will:

• Gain familiarity with relevant funding agencies

• Have a grant structure that can be leveraged for future grant submissions

• Learn about the grant submission process at UC campuses

• Construct an outline for a relevant grant idea (and possibly identify collaborators!)

Workshop presenter:

Erik Arevalo, Postdoctoral Scholar (UC San Diego) and Stanley Lo, Teaching Professor (UC San Diego)  

Workshop description:

The process of hiring teaching faculty, just like those of any search committees, can be riddled with biases. In this workshop, we will explore literature examples and the collective wisdom from recent UC teaching faculty search committees to discuss practices for different stages of teaching faculty hiring from writing the job advertisement and formatting the search committee to reading the application materials to interviewing candidates. Together, we will identify potentially inclusive practices that can be adapted to different departments based on each participant’s contexts.

Participant Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will:

• Gain familiarity with relevant literature on biases in faculty hiring

• Develop a list of potentially inclusive practices to be leveraged for future searches

• Learn about teaching faculty hiring processes at different UC campuses and departments

Workshop presenter:

Matthew Casselman (Associate Professor of Teaching, UCR) and Jack Eichler (Professor of Teaching, UCR Distinguished Professor)

Workshop description:

There is an ongoing effort in higher education science education to promote three-dimensional learning in gateway introductory courses. The three-dimensional learning framework is analogous to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), in which students apply core ideas to engage in broader scientific practices and crosscutting concepts. Three-dimensional learning concepts can be incorporated into both assessment and classroom learning experiences. 

Participant Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will:

●      become familiarized with the three dimensional learning framework.

●      hear a brief overview of two implementations of three-dimensional learning activities.

●      use a backward design process to create a three-dimensional learning assessment and corresponding in-class activity.

Workshop presenter:

Kameryn Denaro, Research Scientist (UCI), Veronika Rozhenkova, Postdoctoral Scholar (UCI), and Sabrina Solanki, Senior Research Associate (UCI) 

Workshop description:

The workshop will provide a comprehensive introduction to discipline-based education research (DBER). The workshop will cover key topics and research questions being addressed in the field and discuss potential ways to address these questions using research designs that support both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The workshop will also discuss the role of theoretical frameworks in informing DBER studies. Lastly, the workshop will review different ways to measure student success outcomes using course-level data, student survey data, and focus group/interview data. These discussions will revolve around both academic outcome measures and non-academic outcome measures (e.g., social-psychological measures that capture student experiences and engagement). Participants will be given the opportunity via small group discussions to outline a research design and receive feedback.  

Participant Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will: 

• Identify research questions relevant to their interests and goals 

• Know when to apply quantitative and qualitative analysis

• List academic and non-academic outcome measures relevant to their study goals 

• Have access to resources to design and implement a research study