What is Teaching as Research?

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Teaching as Research (TAR)

The improvement of teaching and learning is a dynamic and ongoing process, just as is research in any discipline. At the core of improving teaching and learning is the need to accurately determine what students have learned as a result of teaching practices. This is a research problem, to which instructors can effectively apply their research skills and ways of knowing. In so doing, instructors themselves become the agents for change in teaching and learning.

Teaching-as-Research involves the deliberate, systematic, and reflective use of research methods to develop and implement teaching practices that advance the learning experiences and outcomes of students and teachers. The process  of completing a TAR project includes identifying a research question and designing an intervention to assess the effectiveness of your teaching. However, a TAR project is not necessarily a Discipline Based Research Project, in the sense that it is meant to be a relatively small intervention, and not a publishable research study (although some TAR students design projects with the intent to publish). The goal is to learn how to become a reflective teacher so that wherever you end up working, you will be able to apply these methods to assess your own teaching.

For examples of TAR projects, visit our TAR Scholars page.

JOB POSTING:  STEM Graduate Career Consultant

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JOB POSTING:  STEM Graduate Career Consultant

The STEM Graduate Career Consultant will collaborate with the UCLA Graduate Career Services team to develop and deliver professional development programming, services, and resources geared for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) graduate students at UCLA.

Duties may include:

  • Develop and lead professional development workshops and programming for STEM graduate students and postdoctoral scholars
  • Outreach to student groups representing a broad range of disciplines and identities
  • Create educational professional development content on and offline
  • Staff networking events and other programs
  • Develop assessment tools and analyze for program improvement
  • Train to offer 1:1 career counseling for STEM graduate students

Eligibility and Qualifications

Required:

  • Current UCLA graduate student in good academic standing through June 2020.
  • PhD student in a STEM field
  • Available to work 10 hours/week starting Winter Quarter 2020
  • Experience working with students, especially as part of a student organization
  • Comfort with public speaking
  • Post-graduation plans to move into industry and/or strong interest in professional development programming

Desired:

  • Preference given to students who will be available to work through June 2021
  • Preference given to students who have been actively involved in a student organization
  • Industry experience – demonstrated through internships or full-time jobs

Outcomes:

  • Training and skill-building in event planning, project management and assessment, public speaking, and creating educational content for highly specialized populations.
  • Opportunities to expand your professional network at UCLA and with connected employers and learn about a wide array of careers for PhDs within and outside of academia.
  • Flexible schedule with some work done remotely.
  • Salary of $20.000/hour.

Please send resume and cover letter to ebrown@career.ucla.edu. Include “STEM Graduate Career Consultant” in the subject line. APPLICATION DEADLINE:  NOVEMBER 22ND.

 

 

JOB POSTING:  Master’s Career Consultant

The Master’s Career Consultant will collaborate with the UCLA Graduate Career Services team to develop and deliver professional development programming, services, and resources geared for master’s students at UCLA.

Duties may include:

  • Develop and lead professional development workshops and programming for masters’ students across campus,
  • Perform needs assessments and engage in strategic planning to increase visibility and promote professional development on North Campus,
  • Outreach to student groups representing a broad range of disciplines and identities
  • Create educational professional development content on and offline
  • Staff networking events and other programs
  • Develop assessment tools and analyze for program improvement
  • Train to offer 1:1 career counseling for graduate students across campus

Eligibility and Qualifications

Required:

  • Current UCLA graduate student in good academic standing through June 2020.
  • Available to work 10 hours/week starting Winter Quarter 2020
  • Experience working with a diverse population
  • Comfort with public speaking and strong oral and written communication skills
  • Interest in professional development programming for non-academic career paths

Desired:

  • Preference given to students who will be available to work through June 2021
  • PhD students preferred; masters’ students with sufficient experience will be considered
  • Preference given to students who have been actively involved in a student organization
  • A background in developing assessment tools and in analyzing them

Outcomes:

  • Training and skill-building in event planning, project management and assessment, public speaking, and creating educational content for highly specialized populations.
  • Opportunities to expand your professional network at UCLA and with connected employers and learn about a wide array of careers for PhDs within and outside of academia.
  • Flexible schedule with some work done remotely.
  • Salary of $20.000/hour.

Please send resume and cover letter to ebrown@career.ucla.edu. Include “Masters’ Graduate Career Consultant” in the subject line.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FUNDED CONTENT DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONAL DATA MINING POSTDOCTORAL POSITION

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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FUNDED CONTENT DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONAL DATA MINING POSTDOCTORAL POSITION

Location: UC Davis Genome Center

Description:

We seek a skilled, creative, and motivated postdoctoral scholar with an interest in building the knowledge and computational tools that can help change how students interact with online content. The successful candidate will work with the project Principal Investigator (PI) Marc Facciotti and co-PIs to design, execute and report on experiments that will test: how the design of online content and its delivery impact student affect and engagement while interacting with content; how different strategies for interventions during student/content interaction can influence student affect and engagement; how knowledge of student interaction with content can influence instructor behavior; and how each of these variables impacts student learning and inclusion.

This project applies artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to build new understandings of how to engineer student engagement with online content to enhance learning. Tools derived from this project will improve students’ and instructors’ experiences with online content, increase the value of online content delivery, and contribute to the personalization of online resources.

Depending on the candidate’s strengths and interests, duties may also include: analysis of multidimensional data and modeling, taking part in online tool creation, grant-writing, writing reviews and/or perspectives, presenting findings at conferences, development of improved course pedagogy and content, networking with and extending the use of knowledge gained and tools constructed with collaborators beyond the home institution, and coordination of multi-university studies through the SEISMIC consortium. Interaction and collaboration with members of the broader scholarship of teaching and learning community (both at and beyond UCD) is encouraged and will be facilitated by the senior investigators.

Qualifications:

The applicant must have a Ph.D. in biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, statistics, computer science, engineering, evolution, environmental sciences, psychology, or related fields, including science education. Experience with scholarship of teaching and learning, especially in undergraduate STEM disciplines is preferred. It is also preferred that the candidate have experience with quantitative techniques and approaches, including programming and data analysis, and have experience with and knowledge of modern online educational technologies. We are looking for a highly self-motivated, eager to learn, and excited to teach individual. The candidate should have an interest in improving undergrad STEM education, particularly with online learning. The candidate should have excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, be comfortable collaborating with faculty in both the natural and computer sciences, and be able to work independently under minimal supervision.

How To Apply:

Applicants should submit Curriculum Vitae, including list of publications, a Letter of Interest, Statement of Research, Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and contact information for three references to Prof. Facciotti at mtfacciotti@ucdavis.edu.

Questions: Please direct questions to Marc Facciotti: mtfacciotti@ucdavis.edu

The University of California, Davis commits to inclusion excellence by advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in all that we do. We are an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, and particularly encourage applications from members of historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, women, individuals with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQ community members, and others who demonstrate the ability to help us achieve our vision of a diverse and inclusive community.

Under Federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally able to work in the United States as established by providing documents as specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Certain UC Davis positions funded by federal contracts or sub-contracts require the selected candidate to pass an E-Verify check. More information is available http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify.

UC Davis is a smoke & tobacco-free campus (http://breathefree.ucdavis.edu/). If you need accommodation due to a disability, please contact the recruiting department.

Graduate Student Professional Development 495CE

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Graduate Student Professional Development 495CE:
Supervised Preparation for Community-Engaged Teaching

4 Units; Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Grading

Tuesdays 2-3:50pm (TENTATIVE)

Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Goodhue, Associate Director for Faculty Engagement at CAT

 

Course Objectives:

The 495 series provides instruction in the general curriculum and classroom practices of teaching at UCLA. Grad PD 495CE: Supervised Preparation for Community-Engaged Teaching provides an overview of best practices for community-engaged pedagogy and strategies for collaborating effectively with the diverse communities of Los Angeles. This course is suitable for graduate students in any discipline and does not presuppose prior experience teaching community-engaged courses. Indeed, seminar discussions and in-class pedagogy workshops benefit from active involvement of participants with a wide range of disciplinary expertise and teaching experience.

This course represents an exciting collaboration between UCLA’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Center Community Learning, and the UCLA Graduate Division. The course has been designed with the dual goal of enhancing undergraduate teaching and diversifying graduate student professional development. Through weekly seminar discussions and workshops with experienced teachers and community partners, participants can expect to:

  • gain familiarity with core concepts and debates related to community-engaged teaching in higher education;
  • explore how community-engaged pedagogy intersects with diversity education and complements other forms of “high-impact” and applied learning;
  • develop strategies for cultivating and sustaining reciprocal community partnerships;
  • practice designing assignments and facilitating discussions that assess how and what students learn while working in diverse community settings as part of an academic course;
  • draft a syllabus for a community-engaged course in the discipline of your choice;
  • receive guidance about opportunities to pursue community-engaged teaching at UCLA and about navigating the national network of resources supporting engaged teaching and public scholarship in campus and community settings.

 

Course Requirements & Grading

This course is offered on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grading basis. In order to earn a grade of Satisfactory, graduate students must meet the following learning goals:

  1. Regular and thoughtful participation is expected of all students. Please remember that we all depend on each other, and the class will be run as a workshop. It will be impossible for you to participate effectively if you are absent or late, and more than one absence without prior approval from the instructor is grounds for an automatic Unsatisfactory grade.
  1. All students will observe at least one class meeting for a community-engaged course offered this quarter and will turn in a one-page reflection on the observation. You will be provided with a list of instructors who have agreed to open their courses for observation. Your one-page reflection is due by 5:00pm on Friday of Week 6. Any requests for extension of deadlines must be approved by the instructor in advance or may result in an automatic Unsatisfactory grade.
  1. All students will create a community-engaged syllabus and guidelines for at least one substantive assignment linking community work with traditional disciplinary learning goals. You will submit a draft of these documents during class in Week 5 for a peer-review workshop and will submit a revised version (with a short cover letter) at 5pm on Friday of Week 10 for evaluation by the instructor. More detailed instructions will be provided in class. Requests for extensions must be approved by the instructor in advance or may result in an automatic Unsatisfactory grade.

NOTE: This course counts as an elective for UCLA’s Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy and can be aligned with core competencies for CIRTL@UCLA, a program that supports the professional and career development of graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and current faculty.

Interested? Complete this Google Form by November 30: https://forms.gle/KFfHHEMLC38Yw1pQA

Questions? Contact Beth Goodhue at bgoodhue@teaching.ucla.edu or visit the following websites:

http://www.uei.ucla.edu/community-learning/faculty-engagement/#course-development

UCLA Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching Call for Applications!

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We are now accepting applications for the summer institute 2019.The Summer Institute (SI) is part of a national effort to improve college education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and to enhance the academic success of all students by helping current and future faculty develop and adopt inclusive and effective teaching practices. The SI is a nationally recognized, prestigious teaching development program that has trained more than 1,000 faculty in evidence-based instruction over the last decade, including over 100 UCLA science faculty, some of whom will serve as facilitators and mentors of this esteemed 4-day professional development opportunity this summer at UCLA.

Click here to complete and submit a short application to the program. Qualified applicants will be notified by email of their acceptance status by the first week of May.

Please visit the CEILS website for more information.

Fundamental Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) Focused on Undergraduate and Graduate STEM Education within the EHR Core Research (ECR) Program – Funding Opportunities

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The EHR Core Research (ECR) program of National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) wishes to notify the community of its intention to support, through EHR Core Research (ECR) program solicitation NSF 19-508, fundamental discipline-based education research (DBER) focused on undergraduate and graduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. The NSF intends to foster DBER to develop foundational knowledge in STEM education at the undergraduate and graduate levels in each of ECR’s three tracks: STEM Learning and Learning Environments, Broadening Participation in STEM, and STEM Workforce Development.

DBER is defined as “an empirical approach to investigating learning and teaching that is informed by an expert understanding of [STEM] disciplinary knowledge and practice”.[1] DBER addresses complex problems in STEM education by integrating expert knowledge of particular STEM disciplines’ models, theories, culture and educational challenges with relevant models, theories and research methodologies from a variety of fields such as education, the learning sciences, psychology, and many more. With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), NSF invites proposals that request support to conduct fundamental DBER (basic or use-inspired) focused on developing and testing models or theories in undergraduate or graduate STEM education, including all areas of STEM supported by NSF including interdisciplinary or convergent topics.

Please see EHR Core Research (ECR) program of National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) for more information

Applications Deadline: October 3, 2019

Solicitation of Applications for Interdisciplinary Events – Funding Opportunities

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The Office of Interdisciplinary & Cross Campus Affairs (ICCA) is pleased to announce two funding opportunities, including an opportunity to bring outstanding scholars to Campus to promote interdisciplinary and cross campus education, research, and service at UCLA. In addition to the Visiting Speaker funding, ICCA will also be accepting proposals for its Symposia, Workshop, and Planning Meeting funding opportunity.

The goal of these programs is to encourage Schools, Divisions, and other units to find areas of mutual programmatic interest and to support faculty in their exploration of these intersections.

These opportunities are open to all UCLA faculty members. Proposals must include collaborations of faculty from multiple schools or research units to be considered for funding. Please see ICCA’s Funding Opportunities web page for information specific to each opportunity. Priority for both awards will be given to collaborative events that engage a diverse range of faculty and/or students across schools.

Applications Deadline: Sunday, April 7, 2019

University of New Hampshire is Now Accepting Applications for the Postdoctoral Diversity and Innovation Scholars Program

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A description of the program and the (5 postdoc cohort of diverse scholars each year) appears on their website at www.unh.edu/diverse-postdoc. A minimum salary of $50,000 (depending on discipline) and a professional development program and professional development fund are also provided. On the website you will find a PDF electronic card that describes the range of professional development opportunities which in particular includes a research mentoring network, participation in in-depth faculty development programs and the opportunity during the second postdoctoral year to apply for a tenure track faculty openings. They have postdoctoral opening in seven department across three colleges including the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, the College of Health and Human Services and the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.

For questions please contact patricia.walsh@unh.edu who can set up an appointment with either Julie Williams, PhD senior vice provost or Leslie Couse, PhD executive director in the Office of Engagement & Faculty Development.

Application Deadline: March 29, 2019

New Resources (videos) on Education Research Methods!

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Resources on Biology Teaching Assistant Project (BioTAP) is a compilation of articles, book chapters and videos that can inform the creation and implementation of education research projects! This can help you get started with research on your GTA TPD program. Four education researchers at the University of Georgia (Jennifer Thompson, Paula Lemons, Peggy Brickman, and Tessa Andrews) are sharing information in the form of videos on the topics of Introduction to Qualitative Research, Types of Qualitative Research Interviews, Developing and Analyzing Data from Surveys, and Classroom Observation. These were green-lighted by Judy Milton (BioTAP Steering Committee Member) at UGA for the CIRTL program.

Visit website for resources.

Entering Mentoring Training Program

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Date: April 10 – June 12, 2019
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Location: Boyer Hall 130
Objective: To enrich the academic experiences of UCLA’s undergraduate researchers and to provide leadership guidance to UCLA’s graduate student and post-doctoral trainees who are about to embark on advance career aspirations. The goals of the mentoring seminar are to guide mentors to:
  1. Understand “scientific teaching” and apply it in mentoring
  2. Build relationship based on trust and respect with a mentee
  3. Build community with other mentors.
Facilitator: Diana Azurdia, PhD – dazirdia@mednet.ucla.edu
Course Materials: Course materials and resources will be shared via BOX weekly. Must bring a composition note book or journal to record reflections.
Sessions include:
  • 04/10/19 Introduction to Mentor Training
  • 04/17/19 Aligning Expectations
  • 04/24/19 Maintaining Effective Communication
  • 05/01/19 Assessing Understanding / Intro. to Mentorship Philosophy
  • 05/08/19 TBD
  • 05/15/19 Fostering Independence (need a space)
  • 05/22/19 Promoting Professional Development
  • 05/29/19 Addressing Equity and Inclusion
  • 06/05/19 Cultivating Ethical Behavior
  • 06/12/19 Articulating Your Mentoring Philosophy Plan
You will be notified if you’ve been accepted to participate in the course by mid-March.
Graduate students who are invited to participate may enroll in MOLBIO 300 to receive 1 unit of credit.