Conference: Building Departmental Capacity for Best Practices in Undergraduate Life Sciences Education in the Southeastern US; June, 2019; North Carolina A&T State University

美国东南部地区在教育水平和经济表现方面一直落后于其他地区，这突显了在所有级别的教学中传播和实施最佳做法的必要性。AAAS 2011年出版的《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》为内容、技能和教学实践提供了全面的指导方针，这些内容、技能和教学实践仍然被视为本科生命科学教育的“黄金标准”。本科生生命科学教育伙伴关系(SERP)的东南部地区将于2019年夏季在北卡罗来纳农业技术大学校园内主办一个专业发展研究所，并在2020年春季东南生物学家协会年会的同时举办后续活动。研究所将根据“愿景与变革”中的建议，让16个团队参与评估和改革的良性循环。参赛队将包括来自所有机构类型的代表，从社区学院到研究密集型大学，以及少数族裔服务机构的重要代表。机构团队将由教师和行政人员组成，以确保基层和机构利益相关者的代表性。该项目有两个主要目标：(1)建立一个参与持续改进的生命科学系网络；(2)对本科生生命科学改革的系统模型进行基于证据的评估。研究所将采用共享愿景战略，这需要所有利益攸关方之间进行大量沟通、学习和合作。该议程旨在帮助团队建立一种共同语言，以便能够讨论重要问题(例如，嵌入课程的研究、元认知等)，确定教职员工、系和机构层面改进的共同优先事项，并为短期和长期改革努力起草行动计划。通过专注于部门层面的变革，该项目建设了对教育实践进行长期系统变革的能力，并改善了学生的学习。由于对这些努力的公开宣传和形成性评估对于验证团队的努力和为机构团队提供问责至关重要，因此将在2020年东南生物学家协会会议期间举行后续活动。所有团队都将张贴海报，介绍他们的行动计划、迄今的努力和初步评估结果。将在ASB会议期间举办一个单独的研讨会，以收集每个团队更详细的评估数据，并为团队间分享成功和挑战提供时间。最后，将举办一次公开研讨会，向ASB普通成员介绍“愿景与变革”的建议。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Southeastern US consistently lags other regions in educational attainment and economic performance, highlighting the need for dissemination and implementation of best practices in teaching and learning at all levels. The 2011 AAAS publication, "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action," provides comprehensive guidelines for content, skills, and teaching practices that are still considered the "gold standard" for undergraduate life sciences education. The Southeast Region of the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Science Education (SERP) will host a professional development institute on the campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University in summer 2019, with a follow-up event hosted in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists in spring 2020. The Institute will engage sixteen teams in a virtuous cycle of assessment and reforms based on the recommendations in "Vision and Change." Teams will include representatives from all institution types, from community colleges to research-intensive universities, as well as significant representation of Minority Serving Institutions. Institutional teams will be comprised of both faculty and administrators to ensure representation of both grassroots and institutional stakeholders.The project has two primary objectives: (1) to develop a network of life sciences departments engaged in a cycle of continual improvement; and (2) to conduct an evidence-based assessment of a systems model for undergraduate life sciences reform. The Institute will employ a strategy of shared-visioning, which requires substantial communication, learning, and collaboration among all stakeholders. The agenda is designed to help teams build a common language to enable discussion of important issues (e.g., course-embedded research, metacognition, etc.), identify shared priorities for improvement at the level of faculty, department, and institution, and draft an action plan for short-term and long-term reform efforts. By focusing on department-level transformation, the project builds capacity for long-term systemic changes to educational practice and improved student learning. Because public dissemination and formative assessment of these efforts are critical to validating team efforts and as providing accountability for institutional teams, a follow-up event will be held in conjunction with the 2020 meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists. All teams will make a public poster presentation of their action plan, efforts to date, and initial assessment results. A separate workshop during the ASB meeting will be used to collect more detailed assessment data from each team, as well as provide time for inter-team sharing of successes and challenges. Finally, a public workshop will be conducted to introduce the general ASB membership to the recommendations of "Vision and Change."This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.