HR: 1340h
AN: ED23B-0095    [Abstracts]
TI: On the Cutting Edge Professional Development Program: Workshop and Web Resources for Current and Future Geoscience Faculty
AU: * Macdonald, R
EM: rhmacd@wm.edu
AF: College of William and Mary, Department of Geology, PO Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187 United States
AU: Manduca, C A
EM: cmanduca@carleton.edu
AF: Carleton College, Science Education Resource Center, Northfield, MN 55057 United States
AU: Mogk, D W
EM: mogk@montana.edu
AF: Montana State University, Department of Earth Sciences, Bozeman, MT 59717 United States
AU: Tewksbury, B J
EM: btewksbu@hamilton.edu
AF: Hamilton College, Department of Geology, Clinton, NY 13323 United States
AB: Recognizing that many college and university faculty receive little formal training in teaching, are largely unaware of advances in research on teaching and learning, and face a variety of challenges in advancing in academic careers, the National Science Foundation-funded program On the Cutting Edge provides professional development for current and future faculty in the geosciences at various stages in their careers. The program includes a series of six multi-day workshops, sessions and one-day workshops at professional meetings, and a website with information about workshop opportunities and a variety of resources that bring workshop content to faculty (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops). The program helps faculty improve their teaching and their job satisfaction by providing resources on instructional methods, geoscience content, and strategies for career planning. Workshop and website resources address innovative and effective practices in teaching, course design, delivery of instructional materials, and career planning, as well as approaches for teaching particular topics and strategies for starting and maintaining a research program in various institutional settings. Each year, special workshops for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows interested in academic careers and for early career faculty complement offerings on course design and emerging topics that are open to the full geoscience community. These special workshops include sessions on topics such as dual careers, gender issues, family-work balance, interviewing and negotiating strategies. The workshops serve as opportunities for networking and community building, with participants building connections with other participants as well as workshop leaders. Workshop participants reflect the full range of institutional diversity as well as ethnic and racial diversity beyond that of the geoscience faculty workforce. More than 40 percent of the faculty participants are female. Of the faculty participants in workshops offered July 2002 through June 2004, workshop participants have come from more than 250 colleges and universities in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Workshop evaluations indicate that the workshops are well received with faculty particularly appreciating the content of the workshops and the opportunities for networking. An important aspect of the program is involvement of the geoscience community in workshop leadership. Leadership roles include serving as co-conveners, invited speakers, demonstration leaders, working group leaders, co-conveners of post-workshop sessions at professional meetings, and contributors to the website.
UR: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops
DE: 6630 Workforce
DE: 0800 EDUCATION
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting