Biology CCTT Cohort Workshops & Activities
Two cohorts of 20-25 biology educators will be recruited to participate in a year-long professional development experience in which they create and publish a collection of Core Concept Teaching Tools (CCTTs) to address the core concepts across scales and sub-disciplines. Each cohort will participate in two in-person summer workshops: a CCTT development workshop at the beginning of their experience and a CourseSource writing workshop at the end. They will form a community of educators who continue to collaborate online between the workshops during the academic year when they implement and evaluate the CCTTs.
Summer 1: Core Concept Teaching Tool Development Workshop
This 3-day summer workshop in Madison, WI will guide biology instructors to develop their CCTTs using a common template. The goals of the workshop will be to: 1) provide training in evidence-based pedagogies that develop students’ skills to transfer and apply information; 2) develop a collection of CCTTs that provide students opportunities to practice transferring and applying their core concept knowledge across scales and subdisciplines; 3) establish collaborations to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of each CCTT in multiple classes during the academic year; and 4) build a community of scholars.
Cohort 1 Development Workshop: August 12 - 14, 2024
Cohort 2 Development Workshop: June 25 - 27, 2025
Academic Year: Implementation, Evaluation, and Revision of CCTTs
Each CCTT will be implemented and evaluated in at least two undergraduate biology courses at different institutions, in addition to the developer’s own, in the fall and spring semesters following the summer development workshop. Instructors and students in the courses will be asked to complete online evaluation surveys (administered by the evaluation team) to report their perspective on whether using the CCTT supported their teaching or learning and to provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. The feedback from the fall semester implementations will be shared with authors in the winter to guide revisions between semesters. Revised CCTTs will then be tested in a different set of courses in the spring semester. Spring semester evaluation data will be shared with the authors in early summer to make final revisions in preparation for the summer CourseSource writing workshop.
Each CCTT will be implemented and evaluated in at least two undergraduate biology courses at different institutions, in addition to the developer’s own, in the fall and spring semesters following the summer development workshop. Instructors and students in the courses will be asked to complete online evaluation surveys (administered by the evaluation team) to report their perspective on whether using the CCTT supported their teaching or learning and to provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. The feedback from the fall semester implementations will be shared with authors in the winter to guide revisions between semesters. Revised CCTTs will then be tested in a different set of courses in the spring semester. Spring semester evaluation data will be shared with the authors in early summer to make final revisions in preparation for the summer CourseSource writing workshop.
Summer 2: Course Source Writing Workshop
Following two semesters of implementation, evaluation, and revision of the CCTTs, participants will attend a 3-day writing workshop in Madison, WI hosted by CourseSource to finalize and submit their CCTTs for publication. Workshops begin with a welcome and description of the components of CourseSource articles, followed by separate sessions devoted to writing and peer reviewing the Abstract, Introduction, Lesson Plan, Scientific Teaching Themes, and Discussion sections of the articles. Along the way, facilitators provide individual help, answer questions, discuss ways of approaching the writing, and provide helpful resources, examples, and references.
Cohort 1 Writing Workshop: June 23 - 25, 2025
Cohort 2 Writing Workshop: TBD