Research Coordination Network-Undergraduate Biology Education: Promoting Active Learning & Mentoring (PALM) Incubator Program

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The American Society for Cell Biology, in collaboration with the American Society for Plant Biology and the Genetics Society of America, has received a Research Coordination Network - Undergraduate Biology Education award for their project entitled Promoting Active Learning & Mentoring (PALM). This project is forming a network to promote Vision and Change-guided reforms in undergraduate teaching and learning through effective, long-term professional development. Long-term mentorships are being organized between faculty and postdoctoral fellows (PALM Fellows) seeking to learn pedagogical best practices and faculty mentors who have already transformed their classrooms with effective active learning strategies.PALM Fellows visit the classrooms of their mentors and participate in redesigned classes on the mentor's campus. Based on this experience, and guided by their mentors, PALM Fellows restructure all, or a portion, of one of their own classes using effective, active learning pedagogies. Fellows are required to report their findings to the scientific community and will be invited to become mentors when they have acquired several years of experience in their own classrooms. The Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS), which involves direct observation of classroom pedagogies, is being used in project evaluation to measure the progress of the PALM Fellows, as well as the effectiveness of the program. The results of the project evaluation are advancing our knowledge of best practice in faculty professional development through mentoring. This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.