Assignment 1 – Attendee Introductions Ana Maria Barral

I teach mainly microbiology and general biology (majors and non-majors), although have also taught molecular biology, anatomy, and physiology.

Coming from a research science background I am still learning how to evaluate student learning and how to analyze the results of teaching interventions. Over the past years I have incorporated many novel teaching modalities and approaches, but have not published yet. I am specially looking forward meeting a group of like-minded people with whom share ideas and experiences.

I like outdoor activities, especially trail running and paddleboarding; love to travel and experience new places and cultures, photography, and all kinds of music. Oh, and I am a huge Game of Thrones fan...

I teach a general education requirement non-majors course called Environmental Science every semester.  The focus is on sustainability and human interactions with the environment.  The class ranges across all backgrounds and preparation levels, and includes a number of self-proclaimed "science-phobic" and "math-phobic" students.

I hope to bring home the skills needed to create a research project that will allow me to assess the relevance to and effectiveness of ecology-based research projects on retention of first-generation Appalachian college students.  Ideally I would like to collaborate with colleagues at other Appalachian PUIs to conduct a meta-analysis of their data and draft a manuscript.

I am a spatial ecologist by training, and I enjoy hiking, fishing, and camping.  I am also active with equestrian activities. I am currently reading Teaching Naked by Jose Bowen, although it's the time of year where it is hard to find time to read for fun.

I teach at a small, private, liberal arts college, so my teaching duties are quite varied.  I teach BIO221 Genetics (required for all biology and biochemistry majors) every fall, SCI150 Principles of Scientific Investigation: Microbiology (for non-science majors and nursing students) every spring, BIO355 Microbiology (for biology/biochemistry majors) every other spring, and BIO357 Immunology (for biology/biochemistry majors) every other spring.  The other courses in my schedule are variable, and may include First Year Seminar: Medicine and Making Babies (for first semester freshman – includes academic advising), SCI350 Human Genetic and Reproductive Technology (for non-science majors), and Senior Seminar: Obesity (open to any senior).  In addition, Maryville College requires all students to complete a two semester Senior Study (thesis), so I advise several of these projects each semester.   

I became interested in biology education research as a result of attending ASMCUE several times.  I am trained as a microbial geneticist, but through a learn-as-we-go approach a colleague and I managed to do some research that was accepted for publication in JMBE.  Through the whole process, I felt like I had no clue what I was doing, so I mainly want to gain some background knowledge and basic skills in biology education research so I will feel a bit more confident.  I am also seeking to gain skills in qualitative research, because numerous knowledgeable people have told me that is what I should be doing at a small institution like mine, but I don’t really know anything about it.  I am not relying solely on the research institute to provide me with these skills; I actually have a sabbatical for 2015-2016 and I will be doing some post-doctoral work with Dr. Elisabeth Schussler, Director of Biology Teaching and Learning at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.  I am hoping that the combination of the BSP Research Residency and the postdoctoral training will help me to complete meaningful research at my home institution as we begin to make changes to our program to better meet the goals provided by Vision and Change.    

I am an avid runner, and have run 25 marathons and countless shorter races.  Since my sabbatical will allow me a bit more travel flexibility, I am planning to run 12 marathons between June ’15 and May ’16.  I am also president of my local running club, the Foothill Striders (www.foothillstriders.org).  I am a Mom to two boys, age 4 and 6, and when the weather cooperates we love to paddleboard, canoe, kayak, or just swim in the local lakes and rivers. 

I am the lead and sole instructor in a variety of lecture and lab courses. In particular, for this project I am focusing on a lecture course: Cell Biology. The students in this course are very diverse, with a large proportion of them being transfer students and having Cell Bio as one of their first courses at SFSU. Many of our students are first generation students and we also have a very high proportion of Hispanic students.

What I hope to take home is a more clear understanding of the steps to take to convert a research idea into an actionable research project. Furthermore, I look forward to meeting other faculty who are interested in undergraduate science education and to form a network of colleagues with whom I could continue discussions and potentially collaborate in the future.

Interests outside of the classroom... I love movies, hanging out and chatting over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine (red!) and just going for a walk. I tend to work a lot, so in my free time I enjoy to do things that allow me to relax and let go. With respect to books that I have read recently, it spreads among my passions: (1) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon and (2) The Strain by Guillermo del Toro.

I am relatively early into my teaching career. I was initially charged with multiple biology gen ed courses for non-science majors, including Intro to Environmental Biology, History of Life, and Global Change Biology & Sustainability.

As part of the current teaching team I have become increasingly exposed to student-centered teaching approaches and the use of in-class group activities and case studies. Over the last couple of years we have begun to implement an assessment plan to help us gauge the effectiveness of the reforms we have implemented. My ultimate goal is to start up an educational research program in our unit and to contribute to the educational literature. Being a novice at educational research, I have found asking manageable questions and designing rigorous assessment plans a challenge. I am looking forward to gain skills from attending the Research Institute to become a more self-observant and reflective teacher, and to gain the skills and confidence needed to begin some exploratory forays into educational research with our course.

I love hiking and generally emerging myself in the outdoors. One of my great love affairs is with northern Alaska, where I have done much of my field work in the past, and whose vast landscapes keep pulling me back to.

Earlier in my teaching days, I taught mainly microbiology and that too, with a medical emphasis. Over the years though I’ve become passionate about emphasizing the importance of microbes as benefactors rather than agents of disease and have gotten in to teaching mostly general biology and of late, mostly non-majors. I’ve become solidly committed to general biology part II (ecology emphasis) as a result of undergoing internationalization training (internationalization is our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) target at Georgia Gwinnett College) specifically for implementation in that class.

My students are mainly youth with even some dual enrollment students every semester though I have about 10% non-traditional students as well. Our student body consists mainly of underprivileged students from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. A large proportion of the students are first-generation and/or are children of recent immigrants. Our students tend to work a lot too so there is a high level of juggling work and going to school full time.

I’m relatively new to active learning but the internationalization training I underwent in 2013-2014 launched me in to teaching mainly a supportive version of flipped classes as I’ve been teaching non-majors primarily. As a rare individual teaching a science class that is internationalized I question the success of my endeavors to implement this particular angle of citizen science. I’d like to learn how to measure the effectiveness of my efforts by doing well-designed and controlled studies on my internationalized class. Of course, I’d like to also carry this over to other classes I teach.

I look forward to learning from a community of individuals who are trying new things and would like to have and share measurable outcomes. I’m excited to be a part of this scholarly community and hope to form lasting connections that will enable all of us to develop as effective educators who embrace the challenges of our increasingly uncertain world.

I love enjoying nature in quiet and non-obstructive ways including strolls, hikes and lazing in the sun while observing the doings of all the natural kingdoms around me. I also love learning about how the world of man functions through exploring other cultures. Literature has been a great doorway to these worlds so I love to read both fiction and non-fiction. Time to read is scarce so the last non-academic book I read was during the Xmas break, a novel titled, “Women of the Silk” by Gail Tsukiyama.

o   Freshman Biology (120 students) - ~25% diverse population, 60% women

o   Freshman Biology Lab sections (40students)

o   Undergraduate research (5-8 students) – ranging from 200-400 level with an independent required research project for all Biology students at the 300 level.

o   Microbiology or Immunology in alternating years (16-20students) – 10% diverse population, 80% women – Mostly Seniors and Juniors

o   Microbiology Lab section

o   Undergraduate research (5-8students) – same as above

In the large freshman Biology course we are having an issue with attrition from the major, particularly amongst students which classify themselves as a minority. We have been working with different techniques to increase levels of engagement in the large class setting. We foster discussions amongst groups, utilize clickers for formative feedback, self-analysis with exam wrappers, and group based problem solving with “real world” problems. From this Institute, I hope to learn additional strategies for engagement in the large class format. In addition, I would like to discuss the which data to track in order to determine if our course changes are yielding significant gains in academic performance as well as student personal development.

Outside the classroom I enjoy spending time with my kids. Camping in the mountains (Adirondacks) and getting outside for hikes, fishing, etc. During the winter we like to do alpine skiing around the area. Recently I have been reading “Creating Significant Learning Experiences” by L. Dee Fink, “Teaching Naked” by Jose’ Antonio Bowen, and “Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin.

I teach introductory biology, genetics, and cellular and molecular biology laboratory classes. I am also the coordinator for the capstone class in our department, Introduction to Research in the Biological Sciences. This is a writing-enhanced class in which the students write an NSF-style research grant and present/defend their proposal to the class at the end of the semester. I also teach elective classes, including cancer cell biology, virology (my area of expertise), and I will likely take over the immunology lecture/lab course next year as well.

I am relatively new to teaching (this is my 2^nd year at Pace, 3^rd year teaching) and although I am aware of and regularly practice high-impact teaching practices I have no real proof that these methods are effective. I’d like to learn more about how to set up a proper educational study so that it is publishable. Also, I’d like to become more aware of what types of studies have already been done so I that can be sure I’m planning a novel study.

I have an almost 3 year old so my interests outside the classroom mostly revolve around her. We also bought a house less than a year ago so much of my free time is spent on home-improvement projects. However, I do enjoy hiking (except for the ticks!) the beautiful Hudson Valley (I live only a few minutes from the Appalachian Trail), gardening, cooking, and reading. I think the last book I read (other than a children’s book) was probably Gone Girl and I am currently trying to finish Station Eleven.

I teach a wide variety of students (bio and non-bio majors; pre-professional, research-oriented, undergraduate, graduate, post-baccalaureate and transient) at Georgia State University.  GSU is a large, urban campus in the heart of downtown Atlanta.  My primary teaching responsibilities include Introductory Biology (Majors and Non-Majors), Introductory Cell and Molecular Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology (undergraduate and graduate), Cell and Molecular Biology Lab (undergraduate and graduate), Microbiology and the Research Seminar.  I have also developed coursework for Microbial Ecology and a Human Microbiome Seminar.

I am most interested in evaluating the impact of non-traditional (didactic lecture) in both small and large (145+ student) courses.  Specifically, I am interested in the value and impact of case studies in teaching.  Following some of the presentations at ASMCUE 2014, I began implementing case studies for interest value in my courses. Now, I am eager to explore the efficacy of such cases and determine the effect on longer-term retention and academic success in the students that are using the cases in our coursework.  In my current courses, I use cases as part of class activities, lecture and discussion.  I then incorporate the cases into further activities, exams and written proposals.  I am interested in developing a research study that will tease out the educational benefits of case studies in the courses that I teach, such that I can incorporate best practices into my teaching and improve appropriate (and creative) assessment in my courses via the case studies. 

Outside of the classroom, I enjoy a good cup of tea, yoga, reading, spending time with my family and keeping up with my twin six year old boys!  I am the advisor for the Intown Atlanta Parents of Multiples Group and am working with the boys' elementary school to help them earn STEM certification.  I am a soccer fan, and already have season tickets for when Atlanta gets their MLS team.  In the English Premier League, I am a Chelsea fan (and they are having a fantastic season!).  One of my guilty pleasures is that I am a Parrothead and have spent many nights at Jimmy Buffett concerts. 

As a lecturer, I'm committed to teach 7 units per year.  Each unit represents a lecture course.  Laboratory sections are 0.6 units so I end up teaching 1 lecture and 2 lab sections a quarter.  Most years, I am responsible for teaching upper division Medical Microbiology (35 students) and Upper division Immunology (35 students) as well as a lower division laboratory intensive course called Investigations in Cell and Molecular Biology (200 students).  I have also taught lower division Cell Biology, Upper division Molecular Biology and Upper Division General Microbiology.  

Students are very resistant to changing the traditional lecture model.  And they complain when that model is disrupted.  In every course I teach, I am shaking up that model by asking students to take on more responsibility for their own learning.  I think the only way to convince myself (and the students and department and administration) that the students are making significant learning gains is to provide solid data.  But I am not (yet) equipped to design the kinds of classroom experiments that will give me interpretable data.  

I like to bike and run and swim and ski.  I also have an unhealthy addiction to true crime shows (e.g., I just finished watching The Jinx on HBO).  The last few books I've read are, The Power of Two a book about how creative teams operate.  I started reading this book primarily because I work with an extraordinary teaching partner with whom I share a deep passion for teaching and learning and without whom I would not have been thinking about pedagogy.  I've also read "Creativity Inc" about the guys who started Pixar and what it takes to drive creativity forward.   But not to sound too non-fiction snobby, I've also read Gone Girl and Invisible (James Patterson).

I currently teach mostly in our introductory biology courses for the majors. I see students in the very first course (Animal Form and Function) and in one of the last courses (Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior) in the intro series. Many are biology majors but I also have a lot of Health Sciences, Pre-Physician Assistant, Nursing, and Psychology majors. I also occasionally teach a Human Biology course for non-majors – for some the only bio course they will take in college.

I am most interested in taking home a network of colleagues I can reach out to and collaborate with. I want to hone my skills and knowledge with respect to assessing the effectiveness of teaching strategies. I would love to be challenged to raise the bar, not only in assessment of the impacts of my own teaching, but in supporting colleagues at Hofstra in gathering data in their classes. Very practically, I am teaching a section of our first intro course in the fall that includes an extra hour of time with the students each week with which I can do whatever I want. I've decided to focus on metacognitive skills development and want to use the course as the focus of my Research Residency project. I want to ensure that I'm taking the best, most rigorous and appropriate approach to assessing the outcomes of this "intervention".

Outside the classroom I have my own small business teaching childbirth education classes and prenatal yoga. I was also a doula for a few births, but that is incredibly hard to juggle as babies don't always comply with my full-time job schedule. I enjoy running, yoga, and playing with my almost 4 year old daughter. I am currently reading two books: Mindset by Carol Dweck and Make it Stick by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel. Both are great (if very easy, somewhat internally redundant) and applicable to the course I'm teaching in the fall.

I am a 100% online teacher or facilitator; and have been working in distance education for the last 15 years; with some hybrid courses and on-ground classes in the mix. I have taught for various institutions, both private, public, for-profit and non-profit and with different online learning platforms, but my courses are always life-science, undergraduate courses with and without labs.

My students come from all walks of life, but the majority fall into two groups - pre-nursing students completing prerequisites for a nursing, medical or allied health program; and students completing the science requirement for an associate or bachelor degree of some kind. I also teach science majors for a for-profit university, upper division genetics, environmental biology and immunology. I have many military students and military dependents, and older adults who switch careers in my classes, and a fair number of at-risk students. 
I have been involved in the design and evaluation of online courses (Biology, Nutrition. A&P, Environmental Science), working by myself and in teams with instructional designers and other faculty.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Research Institute.

I need to learn the nuts and bolts of educational research, as well as state of the art techniques to critically asses teaching methods, and teaching outcomes. I want to examine online science education, and especially online labs to see if they compare favorably to on-ground learning experiences of students. I would like to evaluate and find out if online classes meet program goals, and if not, how we could improve online education. 

I love the outdoors and the fine arts, and am an avid hiker, bird watcher, field botanist, and participant in any, non-motorized outdoor activity.  I also like to read, and have to admit, I read various fiction books for relaxation; but I am a member of a local book club, and we recently read Wally Lamb: Couldn't keep it for myself. Nonfiction, stories of the women of York prison. 

I teach at Framingham State University, in Massachusetts. I teach Cell Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, a seminar in Recombinant DNA Technology, and assorted other courses to fill in as needed. Although I have taught non-majors in the past, I usually teach mid-to-upper level courses for majors, with a class size of ~12-45. I'd estimate that about 10-15% of my students are nontraditional students -- post-bacs, veterans, or older students. A little more than 50% of our students live on campus and the rest are commuters.

I've been very interested in pedagogy since college. I've been teaching at Framingham State for 7 years, but I still feel like I'm new at this! I've tried a lot of things to make my teaching more effective, and I'd like to learn how to share them through publication. I've tried several different student-centered practices in my courses, including a flipped-classroom model and problem-based learning. While I know how to design a lab-based study, I don't really know what makes a good research question in the classroom or what makes such a study publishable. For the institute, I'd like to look at whether having multiple attempts at formative assessments ultimately helps students to master learning objectives, but I'd like to be able to apply the same set of skills to other research questions as well.

My husband and I have two small kids, so most of what I do outside of work involves them! The snow has finally melted, and I'm excited to get back outside with them. I love to cook and to garden. I do not love snow. The last book I read (and the second to last book, and the third to last book...) was Dragons Love Tacos, which my kids love, but I'm normally a voracious reader. I read a lot of free, public domain classics on my beloved Kindle, and the last real, hard copy book that I read was Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. (That is true, and convenient, because most of what I read is fiction that I'd be embarrassed to talk about among new people.)

I have been teaching at Saint Xavier University (SXU) for 10 years in Fall 2015.  In a formal setting I also taught for a year prior to getting my PhD at Jacksonville State University.  At SXU I teach introductory biology for majors, non-majors biology classes (Women in Science and Zombie Biology), and genetics.   

One of the many challenges we are facing in these courses is the great diversity of students that are taking this course.  We have students that had AP courses their freshman year to students that did not score higher than a 16 on the ACT.  We also have a wide range of effort that the students are willing to put in.  

For my 300-level genetics class I plan to incorporate a problem-based inquiry approach to increase genetics literacy among our students.  This literacy is vital in the formation of citizens who are well informed decision makers and partners in their physician-patient relationships and in their political decision making.  By doing this it will reinforce that we should not rely on teaching genetics, or any material, solely in a linear, transmission model if we expect students to integrate and truly learn the material.  Students process messages about genetics complexly and critically, suggesting that the pedagogy for a course that covers this topic should include a greater variety of texts about genetics in research and attend more fully to audience processing in of the content analyses of these texts.  By having students read a primary source, evaluate the source, reconstruct the experiments and construct their own papers they will be able to understand the terminology and concepts, understand the process, and on their own discover and discuss the impacts of this on society.  

  

3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.

I love spending time with my husband and 2 year old daughter, trying to be outside as much as we can in Chi-beria.   I also love teaching belly dancing. My most recent book was World War Z.

I am very early in my career and have not yet had very many opportunities to teach. I have taught immunology to small groups of first year medical students, an upper-year seminar on inflammation, and a large (~180 student) lecture amphitheater endocrinology class.

My primary responsibility in my department is to oversee the redesign of our undergraduate curriculum to become more student-centered. I work with individual professors to assist them in the work of changing courses.

Our students tend to be very motivated and competitive. Roughly half of our students come from the province of Quebec, one quarter from the rest of Canada, and one quarter are international (including the US).

My primary goal is to learn how to construct an appropriate research study in science education. I would like to gain the capacity to contribute to this area of scholarship going forward in my career. I am also very interested to meet others who share this interest and spark potential collaborations.

Most of my free time is spent with my two boys (ages 4 and 1), my husband and our dog. I have a deep love of reading and started a book club that has been going strong for just over 10 years. My favorite book from the last year was “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt. Our most recent selection was “Half-Blood Blues” by Esi Edugyan.