The CIRTL Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching designed specifically for grad students and postdocs new to teaching. In this five-day institute, you will develop a deep understanding of scientific teaching by examining relevant literature, working online in small peer groups facilitated by topical experts, and performing structured work independently. Throughout the week, you will design an evidence-based, inclusive teaching activity with a disciplinary-focused peer group. Each day will be split between independent work, large group activities and lessons, and small group work to learn content and apply those lessons to your teaching activity. On the final day of the institute, each small group will present their teaching activities to the entire group. By the end of the institute, you will:

• Observe, evaluate, and collect a portfolio of innovative teaching approaches, instructional materials and practical strategies for enhancing student learning that can be adapted to your own teaching environment
• Get a thorough introduction to the core ideas that ground CIRTL’s approach to STEM education: learning-through-diversity, learning communities, evidence-based teaching, and teaching-as-research. Depending on your home institution’s local CIRTL certification process, you may be able to achieve associate-level certification by participating in this institute
• Be named Scientific Teaching Fellows by the Summer Institutes on Teaching

Registration Closed

Institute Schedule

This intensive 5-day institute meets online every day the week of July 12 at 1-6PM AT / 12-5PM ET / 11AM-4PM CT / 10AM-3PM MT / 9AM-2PM PT. Each day is split between synchronous whole group work, asynchronous individual work, and synchronous small group work. Instructors will share a more detailed daily schedule closer to the start of the institute, including exact start and end times each day, breaks, and more.

Workload

Instructors anticipate students will need to spend 2-2.5 hours per day on work outside of sessions.

Registration & Enrollment

This institute is limited to 35 participants. Registration is open Monday, May 10 until capacity is reached or until Friday, June 25, whichever comes first. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions, or who are alumni of CIRTL member institutions, will receive enrollment priority.

Accessibility

We strive to be inclusive of anyone interested in participating in our activities. If you have specific accessibility needs, please contact us at info@cirtl.net in advance so that we may make the necessary accommodations.

Learning Outcomes

Associate: Evidence-Based Teaching

• Describe and recognize the value of realistic well-defined, achievable, measurable and student-centered learning goals.
• Describe several known high-impact, evidence-based effective instructional practices and materials and recognize their alignment with particular types of learning goals.
• Describe several assessment techniques and recognize their alignment with particular types of learning goals.

Associate: Learning Community

• Describe and recognize the value of learning communities, and how they impact student learning.
• Describe several techniques for creating a LC within a learning environment, including strategies that promote positive interdependence between learners so as to accomplish learning goals.
• Describe several techniques and issues of establishing LCs comprising a diverse group of learners.
• Recognize the value of and participate in local professionally-focused learning communities associated with teaching and learning.

Associate: Learning-through-Diversity

• Describe the scope of diversity in learning environments, of both students and instructor. (*Including but not limited to backgrounds, race, gender, ability, socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender preference, and cognitive skills)
• Describe the impact of diversity on student learning, in particular how diversity can enhance learning, and how inequities can negatively impact learning if not addressed.
• Describe how an instructor’s beliefs and biases can influence student learning.
• Describe and recognize the value of drawing on diversity in the development of teaching plans (including content, teaching practices and assessments) to foster learning.
• Describe several learning-through-diversity (LtD) techniques and strategies.