Appendix 1. Case Studies of SEI-Like Initiatives

One of the successes of the SEI is that it has inspired many other similar initiatives aiming to improve teaching and learning through hiring of a variety of Discipline-Based Educational Specialists (DBESs).

By providing these case studies, we wish to demonstrate a wide range of contextually-sensitive ways to create and run such an initiative. Additionally, the case study authors may be good resources as you envision your own approach. In the past, many people working to create SEI-like initiatives have contacted leaders of similar initiatives and visited other institutions to help guide their own initiatives project. The case study authors may be good resources as you envision your own approach.

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’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