This Handbook is based on the Science Education Initiative (SEI), a transformative initiative aimed at changing STEM teaching practices in university settings. The SEI was successfully implemented in two institutions (University of Colorado Boulder and The University of British Columbia) over a period of 10 years. This Handbook shares the SEI’s accumulated wisdom of practice in how to implement a department-based initiative, focusing on faculty learning and course transformation facilitated by Discipline-Based Educational Specialists (DBESs). DBESs may be postdoctoral fellows, instructors, or other faculty. The Handbook is aimed at institutional leaders, faculty, and education specialists wishing to create or implement a department-level change initiative for broadening faculty use of effective teaching practices.

A print-on-demand version of the SEI Handbook is available for purchase via Amazon. This online version is available free for reading and download and the content (except for the images) is openly licensed (CC-BY-NC-SA).

Contents

Front matter

License | Foreword | About the Authors

Introduction

• Chapter 1 – Introduction: What Is This Handbook and Who Is It For?

Part I: The Initiative Leader’s Handbook

• Chapter 2 – What Is a Discipline-Based Education Specialist?
• Chapter 3 – What Makes a DBES Successful?
• Chapter 4 – The Central Organization: Overseeing the Initiative

Part II: The Department Leader’s Handbook

• Chapter 5 – Leading the Work from within the Department
• Chapter 6 – Setting the Stage for Effective Course Transformations

Part III: The Discipline-Based Education Specialists’ Handbook

• Chapter 7 – Course Transformation
• Chapter 8 – Partnering with Faculty
• Chapter 9 – Developing Your Roles and Skills

Appendix 1: Case Studies of SEI-like Initiatives

1. Brown University’s AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative Project: Changing the Culture of Introductory Science
2. Cornell University’s Active Learning Initiative
3. Imperial College London’s Learning and Teaching Strategy
4. The University of British Columbia (UBC)’s Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (UBC CWSEI)
5. The University of Colorado Boulder’s Science Education Initiative (CU SEI)
6. The University of Hawai‘i’s Geoscience Course Transformation Project
7. The University of Kansas’s Course Transformation Initiative
8. Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science (seven universities in the UK)
9. The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology’s Disciplinary Learning Designers initiative

Appendix 2: Resources and References

• Supplemental Documents
• Annotated References

Back Matter

• Acknowledgements
• Glossary