HHMI IE3
Much previous work has shown that students in underrepresented groups experience disparities in performance, psychological metrics, and retention. The IE3 program challenges institutions to address those disparities through addressing one of three foci: developing a more inclusive curriculum, improving the teaching evaluation process, and fostering pathways from two-year to four-year colleges.
Vanderbilt has chosen to focus on developing a more inclusive curriculum and works with 13 other institutions in a Learning Community Cluster (specifically LCC3). At Vanderbilt, Kathy Friedman and I serve as co-program directors. The program officially kicked off in November 2022, following a year of informal work to pilot some efforts and develop some collaborative norms.
Together, the members of our Learning Community Cluster are developing and testing mechanisms to reduce the disparities in student experiences by adopting an achievement-oriented mindset within the curriculum. Each institution is addressing the challenge locally in three ways:
Student empowerment
Vanderbilt's LA program provides an important way to foster student empowerment. As part of the IE3 program, we are studying the LA program with an eye to improving its effects, both for LAs and for students in LA-supported courses. We'll be looking for a graduate student to support this work starting in Winter 2023-2024; email cynthia.brame@vanderbilt.edu or katherine.friedman@vanderbilt.edu to learn more.
Inclusive curricula
The primary way we are supporting the development of inclusive curricula is through Summer Course Improvement Grants.
In Summer 2022 (prior to the start of the IE3 grant), faculty in Biological Sciences, Chemistry, and Physics received grants to investigate course goals across sections.
In Summer 2023, five faculty in Chemistry worked together to review and revise the General Chemistry curriculum.
Interested in learning more? Email us!
Continuing education
Our continuing education efforts include faculty learning communities and seminar series. (The image above is from our kick-off seminar in the Spring 2023 series; Dr. Sabriya Rosemond was the speaker.)
In 2023-2024, we'll support four learning communities:
Alternative grading practices (facilitator: Lily Claiborne)
Lab pedagogy and practices (facilitator(s): TBD)
LA instructor learning community (facilitators: Thomas Clements and Amy Palmeri)
DEI in the disciplines: Discipline-based education research journal club
Want to join? Email us!