Leading departmentally-based change initiatives: The Science Education Initiative Handbook

Abstract

Educational change efforts focused at the department level can be powerful. Positive outcomes, however, are not automatic. In this poster, we share some of the big lessons learned from the Science Education Initiatives founded by Carl Wieman at the University of British Columbia and University of Colorado Boulder, which centered on department-based Discipline-Based Education Specialists (DBESs), disciplinary experts with training in the science of teaching and learning who served as catalysts in transforming undergraduate science and math education by supporting a shift to research-informed teaching practices. The design, stories, and outcomes of the SEIs are described in detail in Wieman’s 2017 book, Improving How Universities Teach Science, while we have compiled recommendations and resources into the complementary SEI Handbook, an open resource that is available for reading and download at https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/seihandbook/. This poster offers a high-level summary of the Handbook and its recommendations for its three main audiences: initiative leaders who pull together and oversee project activities in the department; departmental leaders who plan the work, engage with colleagues, and supervise the DBESs; and the DBESs themselves, who are agents of change as department-based educational developers. As such, this work will be of value to anyone interested in collective efforts to transform teaching at their institution. Chasteen, S. V., and Code, W. J. (2018). The Science Education Initiative Handbook. Accessed at https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/seihandbook/. Wieman, C. E. (2017). Improving how universities teach science: lessons from the Science Education Initiative. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press