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Fellow Cohort Building & Networking
Fellows will join a thriving DBER-E and DBER community at UNL. Cohort building among the fellows and bonding with DBER-E faculty and the greater community will occur through both formal programming and social events. A bi-weekly discussion, DBER-E Fellows & Faculty Community Conversations, will be held to discuss timely topics relevant to the Fellows’ progress through the program (e.g., Boundary Spanning 3-Cs, individual development plans, mentoring-mentee relationships, proposal writing, research budgets, job search preparation: documents and interviews). Activities will also include monthly, outside of work gatherings (e.g., dinners, visiting local sights) to integrate fellows into the Nebraska community.
Across UNL there are over 20 DBER faculty with graduate students and postdocs in wide variety of STEM disciplines, including biology, chemistry, entomology, and natural resources. With the help of UNL Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education, this DBER group hosts a weekly listserv, a bi-weekly seminar, and periodic social activities. This community provides multiple ways for fellows to network and share their research.
The DBER faculty will leverage their networks to help fellows develop their own national and international networks.
Research Activities
Fellows will have the opportunity to work on a structured research project with one of the DBER-E faculty mentors in Year 1 while they develop a plan for an independent, DBER-E project that they can execute during their two-year fellowship. Throughout year 1, fellows will build relationships with engineering faculty partners who have an interest in engineering education research. Fellows are encouraged to develop an independent project that leverages connections with disciplinary faculty. In Year 2, fellows will: (1) launch their research agenda with a project that will put them on an accelerated track to research funding success, (2) build boundary spanning skills while working with one or more faculty in the engineering departments to conduct research, and (3) generate preliminary data for an early-career grant proposal (e.g., NSF CAREER, IUSE, RFE).
Teaching Activities
A variety of teaching professional development opportunities are available for the Fellows.
A modified version of the College of Engineering's Faculty Teaching Fellows Program will be available. Participating Fellows will have Learning by Design using the Backwards Design framework by Wiggins and McTighe (2005) training and practice, Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) training, opportunities to engage in Peer Observation of Classroom Activities (POCA), and an opportunity to present a teaching topic to colleagues. COPUS is a means of capturing instructor and student interactions in a classroom and is used in the POCA, which is a formal mechanism for College of Engineering instructors to engage in peer review of their teaching practices.
CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning) Certification at UNL is possible. CIRTL is nationally recognized for its efforts to prepare future STEM faculty. Three certification levels are offered: Associate (describe and recognize value in evidence-based teaching practices), Practitioner (develop and implement a research project), and Scholar (advance and disseminate research project results).
Mentoring Activities
The DBER ecosystem of graduate and undergraduate students provide opportunities Fellows to mentor junior scholars in engineering education research. Mentor training is available. Fellows may be paired with graduate and undergraduate students who are working on the same research project or working with the same Co-PI. There are currently 12 students in UNL’s PhD in Engineering - Specialization in Engineering Education Research program.
The DBER-E faculty mentors also host a 10-week summer NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program (#2244323) on engineering education research. Fellows can assist with mentoring a student on the student's research project and participate in weekly REU training sessions. Additionally, UNL has deep roots in undergraduate research opportunities that are internally and externally funded through various programs (e.g., summer and AY programs, first-year experiences, McNair Scholars). The DBER-E faculty are mentors to multiple undergraduate students each semester.
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