Proposal Title
Waterloo’s Science Undergraduate Teaching Initiative: Observations of the impact on teaching, learning and culture
Session Type
Presentation
Room
FNB 1220
Start Date
3-7-2019 1:30 PM
Keywords
funding initiative, collaboration, course transformation
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
In early 2018 the Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo announced a one-time commitment of $500,000 for an initiative to support teaching and learning in Science. The focus of the initiative is to provide funding for implementing innovative and effective evidence-based teaching approaches within the Faculty. Applicants were encouraged to develop collaborative proposals involving either multiple courses or multiple departments, and include relevant support units as appropriate. The departmental Faculty Teaching Fellows and the Science Liaison from the Centre for Teaching Excellence helped guide proposal development, adapting many of the principles of course transformation of the Wieman Science Education Initiative to our context (Chasteen & Code, 2018). An intended outcome of this initiative is to foster connections and build community within the Faculty to create significant networks and a culture of teaching quality (Roxå & Mårtensson, 2009).
We will describe some of the funded projects and steps taken to coordinate resources for course design, implementation, and assessment of impact. Although the initiative is still in the early stages of implementation, we will share observations regarding the immediate impact of the initiative on faculty engagement and teaching community/culture. We will share our framework that could be used as a starting point for other institutions, highlighting some of the challenges, successes and lessons learned. Participants will engage in discussion and brainstorming around the opportunities and challenges of cooperative yet competitive initiatives, sustainability after implementation, and how one measures success of such an initiative.
Roxå, T., & Mårtensson, K. (2009). Significant conversations and significant networks –Exploring the backstage of the teaching arena. Studies in Higher Education, 34(5), 547–559.
Chasteen S.V, & Code W.J. (2018) The Science Education Initiative Handbook. Accessed at https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/seihandbook/.
Elements of Engagement
Although we will be presenting our process and preliminary observations, we will engage the participants in discussion and brainstorming around the questions:
- What opportunities and challenges do you see arising from a cooperative yet competitive initiative such as this?
- How does one sustain change in teaching practice and culture once the projects are completed and the money is gone?
- How would you measure success of an initiative such as this?
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Waterloo’s Science Undergraduate Teaching Initiative: Observations of the impact on teaching, learning and culture
FNB 1220
In early 2018 the Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo announced a one-time commitment of $500,000 for an initiative to support teaching and learning in Science. The focus of the initiative is to provide funding for implementing innovative and effective evidence-based teaching approaches within the Faculty. Applicants were encouraged to develop collaborative proposals involving either multiple courses or multiple departments, and include relevant support units as appropriate. The departmental Faculty Teaching Fellows and the Science Liaison from the Centre for Teaching Excellence helped guide proposal development, adapting many of the principles of course transformation of the Wieman Science Education Initiative to our context (Chasteen & Code, 2018). An intended outcome of this initiative is to foster connections and build community within the Faculty to create significant networks and a culture of teaching quality (Roxå & Mårtensson, 2009).
We will describe some of the funded projects and steps taken to coordinate resources for course design, implementation, and assessment of impact. Although the initiative is still in the early stages of implementation, we will share observations regarding the immediate impact of the initiative on faculty engagement and teaching community/culture. We will share our framework that could be used as a starting point for other institutions, highlighting some of the challenges, successes and lessons learned. Participants will engage in discussion and brainstorming around the opportunities and challenges of cooperative yet competitive initiatives, sustainability after implementation, and how one measures success of such an initiative.
Roxå, T., & Mårtensson, K. (2009). Significant conversations and significant networks –Exploring the backstage of the teaching arena. Studies in Higher Education, 34(5), 547–559.
Chasteen S.V, & Code W.J. (2018) The Science Education Initiative Handbook. Accessed at https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/seihandbook/.