Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Fellows Annual Project Coordination meeting

圣路易斯华盛顿大学于2017年2月13日至16日举办研讨会，以促进本科生生命科学教育伙伴关系（PULSE）的使命。PULSE是一个由来自各种机构类型的现任和前任系主任和管理人员组成的全国性网络。脉冲研究员寻求催化本科生命科学教育的改善，通过促进通过的建议，在愿景和变化报告（2011年）。这份重要的报告强调，生物学学生在以下情况下会更成功：他们学习基本的组织概念，而不是积累事实和信息;他们发展重要技能，如有效的思想交流、设计实验和解释数据;他们在课堂上学习，积极参与构建自己的理解;当他们有机会参与高影响力的做法，如本科研究或实习。尽管有如此丰富的数据，大多数生物系还没有接受这种方法，但正在取得进展。自2013年以来，PULSE已经与180多家机构合作，并寻求在未来几年内大幅扩大这一数字。下一次PULSE研讨会将在马里兰州雪佛兰蔡斯的HHMI总部举行，将包括约50名PULSE研究员，机构变革和有效教学方面的特邀专家，以及几位主持人。本次会议的目标是确保PULSE的多个项目得到很好的协调，以达到最大的效果，并对它们进行适当的评估，以确定最有效的干预措施，促进本科教育的改善。脉冲项目旨在促进教育实践部门范围内的变化。PULSE与部门教师，包括部门领导合作，帮助他们就自己的愿景达成共识。PULSE还通过评估其活动对部门课程，课程和课外活动变化的长期影响来测试变革理论。通过确定哪些类型的干预措施在激励持续变革方面最有效，该项目将提高对变革战略的理解，以推进生命科学和STEM领域更好的教学和学习目标。PULSE的议程将通过一个面对面的研究员会议来协调他们的活动，计划过渡到一个财政自立的组织，并进一步将新的研究员纳入该组织的方案。PULSE的项目旨在通过采用最佳教育实践来平衡生物系的平衡，有可能加速全国本科生物教育的改革。该项目由生物科学理事会共同资助。生物基础设施司和教育和人力资源局，本科教育司，作为他们努力解决本科生物学教育的愿景和变化所带来的挑战的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange/finalreport/）。

An award has been made to Washington University in St. Louis to conduct a workshop from February 13-16, 2017 to promote the mission of the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE). PULSE is a national network of current and former department chairs and administrators from a variety of institutional types. The PULSE Fellows seek to catalyze improvement in undergraduate life science education through promoting adoption of the recommendations in the Vision and Change Report (2011). This important report highlights that biology students are more successful when they learn underlying organizing concepts, rather than an accumulation of facts and information; when they develop important skills such as effective communication of ideas, designing experiments and interpreting data; when they learn in classrooms that engage them actively in the process of constructing their own understanding; and when they have the opportunity to participate in high impact practices such as undergraduate research or internships. Despite this wealth of data, most biology departments have not embraced this approach, but progress is being made. PULSE has already worked with over 180 institutions since 2013 and seeks to expand this number significantly over the next few years.The next PULSE workshop will be held at HHMI Headquarters in Chevy Chase, MD and will include approximately 50 PULSE Fellows, invited experts in institutional change and effective teaching and learning, and several facilitators. The goal of this meeting is to ensure that PULSE's multiple programs are well coordinated for maximum effect and that they will be assessed appropriately to identify interventions most effective in catalyzing improvement in undergraduate education. The PULSE project seeks to promote department-wide change in educational practices. PULSE works with departmental faculty, including departmental leaders, to help them reach consensus about their vision. PULSE is also testing theories of change by assessing the long-term impact of its activities on changes in departmental pedagogies, curriculum, and co-curricular programs. By establishing which types of interventions are most effective at motivating sustained change, the project will enhance understanding of change strategies that advance the goal of better teaching and learning in life sciences and across STEM. PULSE's agenda will be measurably promoted by an in-person meeting of Fellows to coordinate their activities, to plan for transition to a financially self-sustaining organization, and to further integrate newer Fellows into the organization's programs. With the goal of tipping the balance in biology departments toward adoption of best educational practices, PULSE's programs have the potential to accelerate the reform of undergraduate biology education nationwide.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences. Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).