It’s also about a better balance in your work life, says Lynn Talton. One of the most enduring impressions of my graduate school and postdoctoral experience was a pervasive feeling of guilt whenever I wasn’t working on my research. I see evidence of similar feelings in the graduate students and postdocs with whom I interact…
Active learning in college classes and participation in the workforce frequently hinge on small group work. However, group dynamics vary, ranging from equitable collaboration to dysfunctional groups dominated by one individual. To explore how group dynamics impact student learning, the authors asked students in a large-enrollment university biology class to self-report their experience during in-class…
Learning student names has been promoted as an inclusive classroom practice, but it is unknown whether students value having their names known by an instructor. The authors of this paper explored this question in the context of a high-enrollment active-learning undergraduate biology course. [READ MORE]
For underrepresented students, it can be difficult to find mentors and role models in their academic fields with whom they can connect. This can be especially true at larger universities, where the prospect of identifying a mentor among hundreds, if not thousands, of faculty and staff can be overwhelming. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison)…
Welcome to SABER West 2018! The second annual SABER West conference will be held on January 13 and 14, 2018 at the campus of University of California, Irvine. Plenary talks will be given by Dr. Carl Wieman of Stanford University and Dr. Richard Arum of the University of California, Irvine. Registration is now open! For…
The line between what we think of as normal practice and special accommodations is a thin one, and it’s often based on very little of substance. No matter our students’ ability, we need to try — within reason — to eliminate barriers that keep them from fully participating in our courses. We need to work…
Online learning has reached a tipping point in higher education. It has grown from a peripheral project of early tech adopters or a practice of the for-profit industry into an accepted way of delivering education that is now deeply embedded in the majority of colleges and universities. In a March 2017 survey conducted for The Chronicle of Higher Education by Maguire Associates, 1,287 administrators involved in…
In a new working paper, Georgetown University researchers explored what drives women who entered a STEM major to switch to something else. Their findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, show that the answer is a complex combination of factors, including the environment, perception of the major and grades. It also showed that previous…
You might think the typical college student lives in a state of bliss, spending each day moving among classes, parties and extracurricular activities. But the reality is that an increasingly small population of undergraduates enjoys that kind of life. [READ MORE]
Stanford physics and education professor Carl Wieman won a Nobel Prize for his innovative, break-through work in quantum mechanics. Wieman has since levered the prestige and power of that prize to call attention to the need to transform undergraduate teaching, especially science education. In a new book, Carl Wieman continues his efforts to spark systemic changes…