Faculty Workshops
TRIAD members have offered a variety of faculty development workshops over the years. If you are interested in inviting a member of TRIAD to facilitate a workshop (on one of these topics or on a different, topic), reach out to us through our Contact Page
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Facilitator
Dr. Mary Emenike, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University
Description
This workshop will begin by situating cooperative learning within the foundations of social interdependence theory. Participants will discuss the value of collaborative learning environments, observe examples of collaborative learning implemented in STEM classrooms at Rutgers, and be directed towards campus resources available for those interested in incorporating collaborative learning into their courses. Participants will explore options for including collaborative learning activities within the context of the courses they teach.
Resources
Relevant Articles
- Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T. & Smith, K. (2007). The State of Cooperative Learning in Postsecondary and Professional Settings, Educ. Psychol. Rev., 19(1): 15-29, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9038-8
- Towns, M. H. (1998). How Do I Get My Students To Work Together? Getting Cooperative Learning Started, J. Chem. Educ., 75 (1) , 67-69, DOI: 10.1021/ed075p67
- Hansen, D. M., (2006) POGIL Instructor’s Guide, Lisle, IL: Pacific Crest. (ISBN: 1–878437–73–9)
- Matthews, R. S., Cooper, J. L., Hawkes, P. (1995) Building Bridges Between Cooperative and Collaborative Learning, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 27 (4), 35-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.1995.9936435
Offered
February 7, 2018 10:20 am – 11:40 am, ARC 306
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Facilitator
Dr. Geraldine Cochran, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University
Description
In this workshop we will collaboratively develop a description for an inclusive classroom based on definitions of equality and inclusion. We will also generate ideas for setting the stage for an inclusive classroom on the first day of class. Finally, we will walk through scenarios and responses to situations that could potentially impact the climate and culture in our classroom spaces.
Offered
October 18, 2018 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm, SRN 330
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Facilitator
Christine Altinis-Kiraz, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Martha Haviland, Professor of Teaching, Director of the Office of Undergraduate Instruction, Division of Life Sciences
Charles Ruggieri, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University
Natalya Voloshchuk, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
Description
A common belief among higher education instructors is that students should already know how to learn and how to succeed in their university courses. However, students have rarely had explicit instruction on effective methods for self-directed learning, and the definition of and pathways to success vary greatly across courses. In this workshop, we share easily implemented teaching tools from our experiences within the 2018-19 cohort of the ACUE course in Effective Teaching Practices which we found helpful in guiding our students toward becoming self-directed learners and to persist in their studies. Attendees from any field and any teaching role will learn to: (1) clearly communicate course and assignment expectations using checklists and (2) improve students’ abilities to assess their own learning strategies using exam wrappers, homework wrappers, and the Critical Incidence Questionnaire (CIQ). We will address common challenges and misconceptions associated with these techniques, and provide tips for successful implementation within a variety of course contexts.
Offered
Friday, March 6, 2020 10:20 am – 11:40 am, SRN 330W
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Facilitator
Dr. Geraldine Cochran, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University
Description
The first part of this workshop will include a brief overview on research related to diversity, inclusion, and equity in collegiate-level STEM education. The second part of this workshop will specifically focus on strategies to mediate implicit bias. Faculty will be introduced to these strategies and then given an opportunity to practice utilizing these strategies and sharing them with colleagues using case study scenarios adapted from actual student experiences.
Resources
Offered
April 18, 2018 10:20 am – 11:40 am, ARC 306
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Facilitator
Dr. Marc Muñiz, Assistant Research Professor, Center for Innovation and Research in Cyberlearning (CIRC); Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University
Description
Summative assessment remains a complex, and at times contentious, necessity in learning environments at all levels. Fortunately, decades of research in cognitive science, psychology, and education research (discipline based and general) affords us the opportunity to take evidence-based approaches to writing effective multiple choice (also known as “selected-response”) assessments.
Selected response items are, especially in large enrollment courses, often the most practical summative assessment solution. Despite their limitations, one can still obtain valid and reliable measures of student understanding using such items. One must approach the writing of selected response questions from an equitable, valid, and reliable perspective.
As such, this workshop aims to 1). inform participants about some of the key research-informed principles of writing valid, reliable, and equitable multiple choice items, 2). have participants critique existing multiple-choice assessments, and 3). have participants construct and/or revise their own multiple choice assessment items.
Offered
November 15, 2019; 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
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Facilitator
Dr. Charles Ruggieri, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University
Description
The topic will be “what do you want students to know and how do you know if they know it”. In the education jargon, this is known as “learning goals and assessment”. This will be about how to think about what you think is important and how to design exams that will really test what you think is important. It’s trickier than you might think.
In this workshop, faculty will get to know learning objectives, how to construct them and use them in their teaching roles. Faculty will construct learning objectives for their courses at the unit level (weekly cycles), the course level (what do we want students to learn by the end of this course), and sequence level (how do the skills/knowledge learned in this course build on prior courses and support future courses). Faculty will learn to use learning objectives as a foundation and catalyst for changes to course curriculum and assessment, focusing on writing learning objectives such that they are able to be assessed in-class or using validated instruments from discipline-based education research literature. Finally, faculty will be shown examples of learning objectives as a means for course component cohesion and faculty perspective change in an introductory physics course for engineering students.
Resources
Examples from Physics – Sequence Level Objectives, Course and Unit Level Objectives
- Science Education Initiative webpage on learning goals: https://www.colorado.edu/sei/fac-resources/learning-goals.html
- Link to the 2 pager learning-objectives handout: http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/files/LearningGoals_CU-SEI_CWSEI_2-pg.pdf
Offered
Friday, November 10, 2017 10:20 am – 11:40 am, BCS 174
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Facilitator
Dr. Charles Ruggieri, Postdoctoral Research Associate,Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University
Description
The topic will be “how can I get them to learn what I want them to learn”. In the education jargon, this is known as “learning styles”. Faculty are good at learning; and likely good at learning in a variety of settings and in a variety of ways, but often students have not developed these same skills. This will talk about different ways students learn and how to effectively incorporate a variety of methods in your teaching that are likely to reach more learners without burning yourself out.
Resources
Relevant Articles
- Felder, R. M.; Brent, R. (2005). Understanding Student Differences, J. Engr. Educ., 94(1), 57-72. DOI: 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2005.tb00829.x
- Learning Styles inventory and supporting literature
Offered
Friday, December 1, 2017 10:20 am – 11:40 am, BCS 174
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Facilitator
Eugenia Etkina, Distinguished Professor, Graduate School of Education and Department of Physics and Astronomy
Description
In this workshop the participants will learn how to set learning goals for their courses that can be assessed directly and how to help their students understand those goals and work towards achieving them. We will work through a 3-step process: identifying a goal, selecting activities that help students achieve it, and designing feedback mechanism that will allow the students to self-assess their progress and the instructors to provide quick and meaningful feedback to the students. The feedback mechanism involves the use of rubrics that describe different levels of the achievement of a desired goal. The students use those rubrics when they work on the activities to improve their performance as they go and the instructors use the rubrics for evaluation and feedback.
Resources
Examples of rubrics that we have been using in the last 15 years are at https://sites.google.com/site/scientificabilities/.
Offered
Friday, February 14, 2020; 10:20 am – 11:40 am, SRN 330W
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Facilitators
Geraldine Cochran , Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Physics and Astronomy
John Kerrigan, Instructor, Department of Mathematics
Description
In this workshop, we will describe our efforts to promote equity in introductory mathematics and physics courses for STEM majors. We will also discuss some challenges we faced and the ways in which we assessed our success.
Offered
Tuesday April 7, 2020 1:40 – 3:00pm (Busch Campus)