STEM Educational Innovation and CAT’s CEA

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Three members of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching recently published research relevant to the science of teaching and learning that advances our understanding of effective teaching in STEM fields. These outstanding researchers are Roshini Ramachandran, formerly in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA and now at CAT’s Center for Educational Assessment, Erin M. Sparck, a Postdoc in CEA, and Marc Levis-Fitzgerald, Director of CEA. Their work focused on increasing student engagement and learning in a large general chemistry course. They found that the use of application-based science videos as homework assignments enhanced students’ understanding of key concepts. Their research on effective STEM teaching innovations was published in The Journal of Chemical Education, February 22, 2019, and can be accessed here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00777

The abstract:

“Numerous online resources provide a variety of content for a wide range of STEM topics; however, they tend to function as isolated tidbits that provide content-specific knowledge. Application-based science education videos address the overlooked issue of concept to application by implementing experimental components in their videos and fostering connections with everyday applications. We utilized the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) peer-reviewed science education videos as homework assignments to supplement lectures on the topics of enthalpy, entropy, rate laws, and Le Châtelier’s principle in a second-term general chemistry course. Student learning was assessed through the analysis of pre- and post-video conceptual quizzes, and value surveys were also conducted to gather student feedback about the videos. Our investigation shows that using these videos in the course significantly improved student learning and reinforced conceptual understanding for important foundational concepts, and these results hold even for students who did not feel positively toward the videos.”

Teaching at UCLA: A Symposium to Showcase Innovation & Inspire Excellence

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The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT, formerly OID) and CEILS (Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences) collaborated to host an all-day, campus-wide event, Teaching at UCLA: A Symposium to Showcase Innovation and Inspire Excellence, held on March 6, 2019 at the UCLA Faculty Center. Erin Sanders O’Leary, Director of CEILS, and Adrienne Lavine, Faculty Director of CAT, welcomed the packed room. Our goal was to showcase and celebrate the breadth of teaching innovations across the UCLA campus and to illuminate how, while there are disciplinary differences in learning outcomes and teaching practices, there is much to share and learn from each other. We also highlighted progress across higher education by exposing UCLA attendees to a national leader in the field. The event was a resounding success, with 147 attendees from across the breadth of our campus.

The symposium featured an inspiring keynote talk by Dr. Andrea Greenhoot, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas. She addressed “How Redefining Teaching Can Supercharge Learning.” The event also included 14 lightning talks by UCLA faculty, all of whom have actively engaged in innovative instruction, as well as six 45-minute, hands-on workshops led by UCLA educational leaders. A panel of articulate UCLA students presented their perspectives as learners exposed to current teaching methods in a discussion of teaching practices that best enable them to learn.

Executive Vice Chancellor Scott Waugh spoke briefly at the lunch hour about our new urgency to enhance teaching that improves learning, closes learning outcome gaps, and makes good on the promise of an outstanding education for students now paying an even higher share of the cost of their education. Scott also proudly announced the new name of OID as the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, an organization whose mission he has long championed.

The schedule of events, list of speakers, and links to their talks can be found at https://teaching.uit.ucla.edu/events/teaching-symposium-innovation.

OID Awards AY2018-2019 Instructional Improvement Grants

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OID provides grant funding to instructors and departments to support curricular experimentation and development that improves undergraduate instruction across campus. There are two types of grants available:

  • Instructional Improvement Grants (also known as Major Grants): These support large-scale faculty, department, and College or School initiated projects.
  • Mini-Grants: These support small-scale projects that enhance instruction, such as buying media, honoraria, and field trips.

Instructional Improvement Major Grants support innovation, experimentation, and development of undergraduate curricula and pedagogy. The program goal is to improve the quality of undergraduate education through pedagogical experimentation in areas such as student-centered learning, course design, diversity and inclusion in the classroom, and instructional technologies. The program especially values innovations that will have a lasting impact on undergraduate education.

There are two grant cycles per academic year, in Fall and Spring quarters, announced via campuswide calls for proposals. The AY2018-19 IIP Major Grant recipients and their respective proposal titles are these:

DEPARTMENT PROPOSAL TITLE PI(S)
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences Increasing Undergraduate Comprehension of Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluids via Rotating Tank Experiments Andrew Stewart & Gang Chen
Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences Data Analysis for Climate Science Neil Berg
Chemistry & Biochemistry Artificially Intelligent Assessment and Learning System for Chem 17 “Preparation for General Chemistry” Zhao Li & Yung-Ya Lin
Chemistry & Biochemistry Evaluating the impact of learning assistants in an introductory organic chemistry sequence for life science majors Rachel Prado & Roshini Ramachandran
Chemistry & Biochemistry Assessment of Teaching Practices in Chemistry 153L: A laboratory course on Introduction to Protein Science – What are reasons for the performance gap in the course? Which interventions will help to reduce this gap? Anne Hong-Hermesdorf
Chemistry & Biochemistry Machine Learning for every chemistry professional Anastassia Alexandrova
Chemistry & Biochemistry Creating valid, reliable pre- and post-assessment tools to assess students’ abilities to retain, transfer, and apply acid-base chemistry concepts in general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry Jennifer Casey, Heather Tienson-Tseng, Al Courey
Chemistry & Biochemistry Utilizing application-based science education videos in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory course for life science majors Roshini Ramachandran & Jennifer Casey
Communication Studies TV News Archive User Interface Improvement Francis Steen & Tim Groeling
Comparative Literature Classroom Coding for the Humanities David MacFadyen
Design p5.js: Developing a Tool for Making Art and Design with Code Lauren McCarthy
Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences Geophysics Hawaii Volcano Field Trip Paul Davis
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Transforming Introduction to Ecology and Behavior into a more active classroom Daniel Blumstein
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Using Modern Classroom Technology in a Large, Upper-Division Class “Evolutionary Medicine” Pamela Yeh, Benison Pang, Jessica Gregg
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Sustainable Native Gardens Alison Lipman & Leryn Gorlitsky
French & Francophone Studies Implementing Integrated Performance Assessments (IPAs) in the French Language Program at UCLA Kimberly Jansma & Laurence Denie
Integrative Biology & Physiology Achieving intimate research experience at scale Roy Wollman
Life Sciences Core Education A Pilot: Mobile All-in-one Virtual Reality computer station used in Laboratory Course Life Sciences LS23L Gaston Pfluegl
Life Sciences Core Education Enhancing Motivational Predictors of Student Success Across the Introductory Life Sciences Curriculum Jeffrey Maloy & Erin Sanders O’Leary
Musicology Creating Musical Community (Ethnomusicology/Music/Musicology M103) Nina Eidsheim & Mark Kligman
Musicology Videotape course: “The Reel Beatles” David Leaf
Physics & Astronomy Data-driven, Systematic, and Sustainable Transformation of Physics for Life Scientists Ian McLean, Katsushi Arisaka, Joshua Samani, George Trammell, Elizabeth Mills, Shanna Shaked
Physics & Astronomy Proposal to enhance infrastructure of 180E physics undergraduate lab Walter Gekelman
Psychology Developing a Tool to Assess the Learning Gains of the Neuroscience Curriculum William Grisham
World Arts & Cultures/Dance Legislative Theater for Racial Justice Robert Gordon, Bryonn Bain, David Gere

 

UCLA Luskin Conference Center

OID’s Inaugural New Faculty Teaching Engagement

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OID held its inaugural New Faculty Teaching Engagement (NFTE, pronounced “nifty”) on November 7th, 2018 at the Luskin Conference Center.

All newly appointed faculty and lecturers from the College and professional schools were invited and 41 attended. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh, Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel Michael Levine, and Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Pat Turner welcomed the group during lunch and spoke about teaching based on their personal experiences in the classroom and from the perspectives of their current roles.

The program for the half-day event consisted of an interactive workshop on basic pedagogy and teaching at UCLA and a panel of faculty discussing the role of teaching in tenure and promotion, working with TAs, and the inherent rewards of teaching.

The goal of the event was to better prepare new faculty and lecturers to teach at UCLA. Participants had the opportunity to reflect on how they will develop and/or modify courses they are appointed to teach at UCLA and were introduced to a “toolkit” of best teaching practices to help them create inclusive classrooms that will engage students and optimize learning. Participants were also introduced to the demographics of UCLA students and aspects of teaching at UCLA, as they may differ from those at other institutions.

The day ended with a happy hour, where attendees were joined by several deans and Chancellor Gene Block.

Distinguished Teaching Awards 2018

Outstanding Teachers Recognized at UCLA Chancellor’s Residence Ceremony at the Andrea Rich Night to Honor Teaching

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Distinguished Teaching Awards 2018

The 35th Andrea Rich Night to Honor Teaching was recently organized and produced by the Office of Instructional Development and graciously hosted at the Chancellor’s Residence on the evening of October 25, 2018. Chancellor Block convened the evening by lauding Andrea Rich, the founder of both the Office of Instructional Development and the Distinguished Teaching Awards. He also recognized this year’s winners who represented a broad range of disciplines.

OID’s Faculty Director, Adrienne Lavine, acknowledged the winners and noted the changing conversation at UCLA about the importance of teaching, the emphasis on teaching excellence by campus leaders, and a growing number of pedagogical endeavors among campus units. Support from OID itself for teaching excellence is in higher demand than ever.

The Academic Senate’s Committee on Teaching chose winners of distinguished teaching awards in three categories – six senate faculty members, three non-senate faculty members, and five teaching assistants. OID’s Instructional Media Production filmed and edited interviews conducted by OID’s Kumiko Haas and Marc Levis-Fitzgerald into two-minute clips that were shown at the event as each winner was announced and came forward to accept the award and address the assembled audience.

The UCLA Newsroom featured a story about the evening and these amazing teachers whose disciplines cover the entire campus. The winners’ video interviews and others from prior years are also available on the OID website. The awardees’ devotion to teaching and reaching students is deeply touching and serves as a poignant reminder of the purpose of our institution and the many who contribute to its success.

Powell Library

45th Annual Teaching Assistant Conference

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This year, UCLA’s Office of Instructional Development TA Training Program organized the 45th annual conference to provide pedagogical training and resource information to future, new, and continuing TAs. All graduate students were welcome to attend the conference in preparation for future teaching assignments.

Our conference met for two days, September 24th & 25th, 2018 (Monday and Tuesday of Fall Week 0), again this year, offering specialized workshops and panels on topics ranging from lesson planning, grading, and creating inclusive classrooms to preparing teaching portfolios, managing time, and reducing teaching stress. Over 640 people attended, and the average attendee went to about four workshops and special events. This means we checked in people for more than 2,450 seats in workshops, panels, and special events designed to make them more prepared and effective in their roles as TAs. Our conference grew nearly 50% since 2017, and is playing an increasingly vital role in supporting excellence in teaching at UCLA.

The day started with a complimentary breakfast and informative resource fair that connected TAs to campus resources for undergraduate teaching. Then, conference attendees gathered for a keynote to introduce them to UCLA’s undergraduates and their needs. They reconvened to hear from a panel of Distinguished Teaching Award-winning faculty and TAs on Tuesday. Here, they asked questions of the expert instructors who answered questions about how to not only survive the first quarter of teaching, but to excel in their classrooms. The second day finished with complimentary coffee, sweets, and a raffle as participants shared the lessons they learned and networked with fellow TAs from all over campus. Both days offered three 90-minute workshop sessions, with 20 concurrent workshops each session through Monday and 13 concurrent workshops each session through Tuesday.

Sessions focused on important topics such as:

  • Strategies for classroom management, the first day of class, and lesson planning
  • Opportunities to ask experienced TAs and professors questions about teaching students in crisis
  • Discussions of how to lay the foundations for successful student writing and learning
  • Strategies for assessing and grading students and for leading active learning-based sections and labs in each discipline
  • Developing cross-cultural communication and conflict resolution skills
  • Professionalizing and preparing materials for academic job markets
Group Photo of Attendees from the 4th Annual International Faculty Development Program

OID Hosts 4th Annual International Faculty Development Program

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Group Photo of Attendees from the 4th Annual International Faculty Development Program

From July 29 to August 11, 2018, OID hosted 33 faculty from Ocean University of China and Huazhong University of Science and Technology for a two-week training workshop at UCLA.

This was the fourth iteration of OID’s International Faculty Development Program and comprised the largest group to date. The program provided faculty participants with a comprehensive overview of approaches to student-centered learning at leading American universities and in-depth training in pedagogical frameworks, common practices in teaching and assessment, and cutting-edge instructional technologies. Participants were also introduced to how OID fosters interdisciplinary cooperation among administrators, department and program leaders, and faculty to promote broader campus goals. Participants not only gained greater knowledge of learning theories, but also how to deploy these theories to meet specific needs at classroom, department, and institutional levels.

The program was designed and spearheaded by Dr. Kumiko Haas, Director of Instructional Improvement Programs at OID. Special acknowledgement goes to the following OID subject matter experts and guest speakers who led workshops for the program:

  • Adrienne Lavine, Ph.D. – Faculty Director of OID and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  • Marc Levis-Fitzgerald, Ph.D. – Director of Center for Educational Assessment (OID)
  • Michelle Lew, M.B.A. – Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies (OID)
  • Michelle Gaston, Ph.D. – Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning Initiatives (OID)
  • Hannah Whang Sayson, Ph.D. – Assistant Director of Data Analytics (OID)
  • Shannon Toma, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Scholar (OID)
  • Jessica Hoover – Coordinator of Evaluation of Instruction Program (OID)
  • Candice Christiansen – Program Assistant of Evaluation of Instruction Program (OID)
  • Sean Cruser – Principle Producer-Director, Instructional Media Production (OID)
  • Kimberly Cohen – Assistant Producer-Director, Instructional Media Production (OID)
  • Deborah Kearney – Instructional Designer/Support Manager, CCLE (OID)
  • Ronny Choe, Ph.D. – Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology
  • Ira Clark, Ph.D. – Associate Director for the Minor in Biomedical Research
  • William Grisham, Ph.D. – Lecturer/Academic Coordinator, Department of Psychology and Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience
  • Shanna Shaked, Ph.D. – Senior Associate Director for Physical Sciences Initiatives, Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences
  • Andrey Nikolayev – Senior Instructional Technologist, University Extension
  • Naat Jairam – Online Course Manager, University Extension
  • Noor Jabaieh – Digital Initiatives and Information Technology, Library
  • Garrett Romero – Digital Initiatives and Information Technology, Library

Additional thanks goes to the OID staff who assisted with behind-the-scenes execution to make the program possible:

  • Michelle Chen
  • Gary Krolak
  • Anita Han
  • Lucia Tabarez
  • Harvey Bui
  • Daniel Bustos
  • Long Le
  • Greg Vincent
Instructional Media Production

OID’s Instructional Media Production Brings State-of-the-Art Video Creation to Online and Blended Learning

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Instructional Media Production (IMP) is the video production unit under OID with a focus on supporting online video instruction for faculty, staff, students, and the UCLA administration.

IMP’s bread and butter is usually fully online course production – from beginning to end – usually allotting tens of hours for completed videos. It can vary anywhere from 30-50 separate 15-25 minute video segments per course or 10-12 separate 3-hour video segments per course. At times they may be in production on multiple online courses concurrently.

With a large, fully equipped studio space in CHS with historic and up-to-date equipment, IMP can accommodate different styles of filming. In addition to green screen and a learning glass as the main modes of filming, IMP is one of the only video units on campus with mobile capabilities and often films across campus. IMP provides support for campus events such as the Faculty Research Lectures and OID’s own Night to Honor Teaching hosted annually at the Chancellor’s Residence. Videos of awardees’ short interviews about teaching broadcast at that event each autumn are also on OID’s website. Below you will find a video that showcases some of what IMP does.

Learn more about the Instructional Media Production Unit

 

CCLE Login Page

CCLE Moodle 3.4 Upgrade Launched on June 19, 2018

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The CCLE Home Team has been working the past six months to meet our June 19th deadline to upgrade to Moodle 3.4. Since we use the open source course management system Moodle platform to deliver online courses for UCLA’s undergraduate courses and collaboration sites, we must have a model of continuous improvement to meet the needs and expectations of our students, faculty, staff and researchers.

What’s New in Moodle 3.4?

You may be interested in knowing some stats about CCLE and our recent upgrade:

  • Before CCLE there were 22 various CMS solutions on campus, now there are only a few: CCLE Home and Social Sciences Computing share a common code base on their respective servers. Think of these two systems as identical twins with slightly different hairstyles. Check out links below to see for yourself.
  • Some interesting data points about the Moodle 3.4 upgrade:
    • 17 developers from SSC, CDH, Chemistry and CCLE Home
    • 93,176 line changes in the code from previous version of Moodle 3.1
    • 319 tickets created related to the upgrade and 252 tickets closed (complete)
    • 210 hours of meetings discussing the upgrade (Support, Scrum, Backlog grooming and Product Owners meetings)

CCLE has come a long way since 2007 (pilot year). CCLE Home Team grew from an FTE of 3 (2009) to 6 (2015). The changes become really apparent when you compare today’s Moodle 3.4 version with the earlier Moodle 2.0 user interface in 2012.

More about CCLE:

As you might expect with a popular and extensively used system, upgrades are always on the horizon. In fact, we are already planning for the next Moodle 3.5 upgrade (scheduled in 2019).

CCLE encourages all campus system users to tell us what you think! Email us with your feedback: Amber Stokes, CCLE Support Coordinator, astokes@oid.ccle.edu

OID Welcomes 2018-19 CUTF Cohort

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On June 12, OID hosted the 2018 Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) Spring Reception to welcome the 2018-19 CUTF cohort to the program.

The CUTF is a highly sought-after program with limited slots that provides graduate students with a valuable opportunity to develop and teach a lower division seminar in their field of specialization. This experience serves as a “capstone” to the teaching apprenticeship, preparing them for the academic job market and their role as future faculty.

Each year, 19 students are selected to participate in the program. The 2018-19 CUTF fellows and their respective seminars are:

  • Sohaib Baig, History – “Full Moons Rising in Splendor”: Muslim Scholars, Poets, and Mystics in 18th Century South Asia
  • Lianne Barnes, Pyschology – The Science of Empathy: How Empathy Leads Us to Help – and Hurt – Others
  • Laura Beebe, Gender Studies – The Violence of Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Feminist Self-Representation
  • Kathryn Cai, English – The Entangled Body: Narratives of Bodies and Environments Across Scales
  • Elizabeth Collins, French & Francophone Studies – Decolonizing French Food through Literature and Film
  • Adriana Guarro, Italian – Transgressive Voices: Women in the Italian Renaissance
  • Matthew Hayes, Asian Languages & Cultures – Pilgrims, Patrons, and the Sacred: Ritual Participation in Japanese Religions
  • Stefan Love, Law – Questions of Interpretation: Reading Law, Reading Music
  • Abigail Mack, Anthropology – Cultures of Mental Health in the United States
  • Carolyn Merritt, Anthropology – Worlds of Well-Being: Anthropological Perspectives on Health and Wellness in the Age of the Happiness Industry
  • Oscar Moralde, Film, Television, and Digital Media – Video Games, Aesthetics, and Politics
  • Farrah O’Shea, Theater – Listening to Intimate Musical Performance: From Beethoven to Beyoncé
  • Mehrenegar Rostami, Ethnomusicology – Musical Activism as Political Contestation
  • Veronika Rozhenkova, Education – Diversifying the University through Internationalization: New Directions, Challenges, and Opportunities
  • Elaine Sullivan, World Arts & Cultures/Dance – Curating and Contemporary African Arts
  • Gwyneth Talley, Anthropology – Animals in Anthropology
  • Jenna Tamimi, Theater – Embodying the Past: A Desire for Queer Temporality
  • Schuyler Whelden, Musicology – Prince and U.S. Culture in the 1980s
  • Katharine Winchell, Chemistry & Biochemistry – Clean Energy from the Ground Up

Special thanks to the CUTF Faculty Advisory Committee for their hard work in reviewing the 50+ applications this year.

Learn more about the CUTF Program