A Faculty Development Workshop program was launched as part of our Comprehensive Student Success Program in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry. The goal of the workshops was to begin conversations that would lead to changes in teaching practice away from the “sage on the stage” model towards an environment where students would be engaged in their own learn.

In the first two years of the program, a book study model was used. We invited anyone in the department that wanted to participate. The participants received a copy of the book “The Handbook of College Science Teaching” from NSTA press. The book was chosen because it had short chapters that covered a broad range of subjects pertinent to good teaching. In the second year of the program, we used the book the “College Science Teachers Guide to Assessment” also by NSTA press.

In Fall 2014, the Faculty Development Workshop Program was expanded to include all departments in the College of Natural Science and Math and the College of Engineering. All faculty, instructional, tenure-track, and research, get the e-mail announcements. Postdocs and graduate students also are invited. With the expansion of the program, book studies became cost-prohibitive so we have moved to a system of selected topics using guest speakers from our own faculty with an occasional outside guest speaker. When bringing in outside speakers, we invite the guest to give two talks: one on their scientific research and one on teaching and pedagogy. The dual talk platform opens up more discussions about teaching with faculty that attend research seminars but do not usually participate in teaching seminars.

The biggest benefit to the Faculty Development Workshop series is that it creates conversation. Faculty began to talk more to each other about teaching and began comparing notes. The series generates dialogue and that is perhaps the single biggest driver of change in teaching practices in the department. Faculty that do not attend the sessions themselves often find themselves in conversations with people who did attend and were asking questions.

Faculty Development Materials

• Accessibility: Creating Accessible Course Materials
• Assessment of Student Learning
• Concept Mapping
• Creating an Engaging Online Learning Environment
• Creating Intellectually Stimulating Environments in Large Classrooms/Valuing Teaching in the Merit/Promotion Process at UCI: A story of incremental change.—Dr. Diane O’Dowd, University of California, Irvine
• Engaging Students in Large Lecture Classes
• Evaluating Information on the Internet
• Freshman Research Immersion Program; Dr. Nancy Stamp, Binghampton University-SUNY
• Grading Philosophies
• How to Teach Novice Students How to Study-Dr. Chad Wayne
• Incorporating Primary Literature into Science Teaching
• Information Literacy
• Inquiry Based Labs
• Just-in-Time (JIT) Teaching
• Peer Instruction
• Quantitative Reasoning in Biology Courses
• Research in Education
• Rubric Design
• Science Literacy K-12 Benchmarks and Standards
• Summer Institutes Program on Scientific Teaching and the Development of a Teachable Tidbit—Dr. Richard Knapp, University of Houston
• Teaching Students How to Take Exams and Evaluate Their Own Performance
• Teaching Students How to Take Exams and Evaluate Their Own Performance
• Technology Enriched Learning Environment
• Understanding Cultural Competence in the Classroom
• Understanding Our Students: Considerations and Best Practices for Developing an Inclusive Teaching Environment
• Using Case Studies to Teach Science
• Using Technology to Enhance Teaching and Tips for Teaching Large Classes
• Writing Using Multiple Choice Questions NSM template ZIP

Faculty Development Workshop Series Videos

• Academic Honesty: Best Practices in Submitting a Case - Donna Stokes
  • Academic Honesty: Best Practices in Submitting a Case
• Dancing Your Science-Integrating Dance as a Teaching Strategy to Illustrate Scientific Concepts - Becky Valls and Donna Pattison
• Flipping the Classroom 101 - An Introduction to Flipped Learning - Dr. Julie Schell
• A Research Intensive Undergraduate Course: Trials, Tribulations and Practice - Dr. Tim Cooper
• Stimulating Genuine Teamwork in a Large Enrollment Core Course - Dr. Ann Cheek and Dr. Ana Medrano
• Using Interactive Lecture Demonstrations in Traditional Lecture Hall - Dr. Rebecca Forrest