Faculty Resources
The goals of Welcome & Connect are:
- provide an introduction to CESE and an introduction to teaching and learning resources across the campus.
- provide new faculty with an introduction to CESE's active communities of practice and share upcoming events.
- provide an opportunity for new faculty to engage with CESE partners.
The objective of the Evidence-Based Teaching Academy is to offer faculty training so they can implement effective evidenced-based teach and active learning in their courses. The objectives of each workshop are to:
- Explore research-proven methods for guiding student learning
- Consider their teaching from a student-centered perspective
- Use a Scientific Approach to design a unit of their course by
- Writing learning objectives
- Building learning activities to accomplish objectives
- Developing assessments that build and assess student mastery of objectives
- Leave the workshop with a redesigned course unit, ready for delivery using best practices
Remote Teaching Resources
- Contingency Planning Resource Page
- Contingency Planning for Undergraduate Education
- Guidance for Instructors, including Graduate Student Instructors/TA’s
- Remote Learning
- Network of STEM Education Centers: Resources for STEM Education Centers in Response to COVID-19
- Adjusting Your Study Habits During COVID-19
- Strategies for Creating Engaging Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning Environments
Following is a compilation of resources related to COVID-19 on teaching remotely and responses by the federal agencies to the federal funding of research during the pandemic:
Crowd-Sourced List of Resources to Support Remote Teaching
Visit bit.ly/rtresourcelist to view an expansive, crowd-sourced list of resources to support remote teaching that includes links to many institutional websites dedicated to the topic. If you notice that your institutional website is missing from the spreadsheet you may add it by using the following online form: bit.ly/rtresourceform.
Disciplinary resources on teaching remotely
Disciplinary societies have been crowd-sourcing resources on teaching remotely. These documents are not necessarily comprehensive or best practices, but they are being generated by communities of faculty developers and discipline-based education researchers and represent some of the best thinking around teaching effectively remotely:
- LeighAnn Tomaswick's compilation of online simulations, labs, and other instructional resources.
- POD (the society for Centers for Teaching and Learning) has promising practices and resources for moving courses online: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pVMh1qsjHuHIODqPsXkB7i-aXoSUsilj8H4UztM9xAo/edit#
- The Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) has a discussion board with resources and ideas for biology faculty: https://saberbio.wildapricot.org/Discussion-board/8824866
- PhysPort has expert recommendation on physics/astro-specific advice and resources: https://www.physport.org/recommendations/Entry.cfm?ID=119906
- Ecology/Environmental Science online learning resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16K6bGTf-wGjxxi6aGi_v6vlLQSpsOgl1zq3tXLHWweg/edit#gid=0
- Geoscience Materials for Teaching Online: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-R6THvCIcAjGrWRspCN915SIzItdZ95ziwiF8BmQrYc/edit#gid=0
- The American Astronomical Society (AAS) curated online teaching resource: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UPZVyq2U7GTC5I7R1TI_rsRDwu4FXt9aukGYXIeq60Q/edit?ts=5e6a9f6a
- Resources for teaching inclusively from the Aspire Alliance: https://www.aspirealliance.org/national-change/covid-19-resources
- Clinical experiences for teacher ed programs: https://www.margaretmohrschroeder.com/?page_id=1363
- How to Quickly (and Safely) Move a Lab Course Online (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Other Resources
- The Eberly College of Science Instructor Guide
- The Eberly College of Science Syllabus Check Sheet
Tombros Fellows of the CESE develop and implement innovative teaching methodologies, assessment techniques and new courses in ECOS courses.
The vision of the Schreyer Institute is for all Penn State students to be engaged in and responsible for their own learning by means of excellent teaching. The Institute aims to advance and inspire excellence in Penn State’s teaching and learning community.
Academic and Administrative Policies and Procedures manual - Answers questions on issues such as grading and course scheduling
CIRTL Diversity Resources - Resources for inclusive teaching practices in science, technology, engineering and math
Center for Excellence in Writing - Promotes a writing-intensive philosophy of student-centered teaching and collaborative learning through integrated programs; the Center for Excellence in Writing is in the process of blending its undergraduate programs with Penn State Learning.
Classroom and Lab Computing - Information about the Technology Classrooms and Student Computing Labs on the University Park Campus and related services
Copyright Clearance Office - Official University resource for obtaining copyright approvals for course packets and other publications
Counseling and Psychological Services - Worrisome Student Behaviors: Minimizing Risk
Educational Planning Survey - Background information about the Educational Planning Survey and summaries of the data collected from the FTCAP [First-Year Testing, Counseling and Advising Program] surveys
General Purpose Classrooms - Shows number of seats, type of seating, technology category, and photographs for most classrooms at University Park
Office for Disability Services - Services for Penn State students with disabilities, includes link to faculty handbook for working with students with disabilities
Penn State Learning - Peer tutoring for many different courses and assistance in multiple skill areas, such as technology, writing, learning skills, etc. for students
Penn State PULSE - Information about student attitudes and opinions on issues relevant to learning
SCOLA - Free resources for instructors of foreign languages at Penn State, including television programming from around the world in native languages
Testing Center - Scanning Operations for the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, e-Testing Facility and ITS computer lab
University Libraries' Services - Library service for faculty, instructors and staff
The Leonhard Center for Enhancement of Engineering Education was established in 1990 by an endowment from William and Wyllis Leonhard. The Center strives to enable the key changes that are required to maintain a world-class engineering education at Penn State. Leonhard Center initiatives focus on the enhancement of courses and curricula as well as assessment of the effectiveness of innovations.
Technology Tools and Resources
"7 Things You Should Know" Series - Provides concise information on emerging learning technologies
Canvas - Penn State's course management system
Educational Technology Services - Support in the appropriate use of technology for teaching, learning, and research
e-Portfolio - Developmental spaces for representing your professional self on the web
ITS Training Services - Provides access to information technology training at Penn State
iTunes U - Post lectures and podcasts on iTunes
iStudy - Modules for Freshmen and skill building support
Media and Technology Support Services - Services include media collection of more than 23,000 films, videos, and DVDs, media duplication, video editing labs, and video taping of class presentations.
Research on Teaching and Learning and Technology - From Penn State Information Technology Services
Teach Act Information - Information and FAQ on the Teach Act and U.S. copyright law
Tools for Teaching and Learning - Compiled by the Schreyer Institute
Turnitin.com - Preventing plagiarism in your classroom
Web Learning at Penn State - The official Web presence of the Penn State Online initiative
The Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTEs) are Penn State's locally developed instrument for gathering feedback from students at the end of the term. The SRTEs were approved by the University Faculty Senate in 1985 and are administered by the Office of the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs. The Schreyer Institute manages the SRTE process and helps facilitate appropriate use of SRTE data.
Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTEs)
- University of Colorado Boulder STEM Program - Integrating STEM Education at Colorado (iSTEM) brings together existing efforts and supports new efforts in STEM Education. The vision of iSTEM is to establish CU Boulder as a national hub of STEM education through an institute or center for STEM education.
- UC STEM Education Programs
- Carl Weiman Science Education Initiative at the University of British Columbia -The goal of the CWSEI is to achieve highly effective, evidence-based science education for all post-secondary students by applying the latest advances in pedagogical and organizational excellence.
- CWSEI Resources
- Yale University: The Center for Scientific Teaching -A teaching and learning Center at Yale led by Dr. Jo Handelsman, with the mission to spread the practices of evidence-based scientific teaching methods. These methods focus on active learning, diversity and assessment. There is information regarding their summer HHMI Institutes, publications, and instructional materials for faculty.
- Institute for Biology Education at University of Wisconsin, Madison -This website has good list of resources and publications from Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching.
- Faculty Focus - Faculty Focus is a free newsletter that is published in blog form for faculty in higher education.
Events and workshops organized or coordinated by the Center for Excellence in Science Education.