Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS) Learning Communities
The Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center (FTLC) has a long tradition of offering themed learning communities for faculty and staff.
FTLC described learning communities as spaces to “bring faculty and staff together to foster a 1-2 semester-long conversation on a topic of mutual interest and encourage an application of the knowledge gained. Each LC consists of a facilitator and a group of at least four faculty or staff.”
Through FTLC, the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS) will host several learning communities focused on topics related to undergraduate research and mentorship.
Descriptions for these communities are listed below. These learning communities and their online application forms can also be found on the FTLC website.
Learning Communities Descriptions
Title: Designing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (Advanced)
Facilitator(s): Feryal Alayont, Mathematics
Description: This learning community is aimed at faculty who are ready to start redesigning their courses to incorporate course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Undergraduate research experiences have an immense impact on the students involved, yet few apprenticeship-style opportunities are available. CUREs allow more students to engage in this impactful practice.
However, designing CUREs from scratch can be a daunting task, especially for faculty members who have not experienced CUREs themselves. In this Learning Community (LC), we will support each other in redesigning our courses to incorporate CUREs using backward design principles. We will serve as a sounding board for each other and share ideas to create effective CUREs.
This LC is intended for advanced faculty who have some prior knowledge of CUREs and are committed to integrating them into their courses. The LC will provide a supportive network and the opportunity to exchange best practices.
Title: Undergraduate Research Mentoring 101
Facilitator(s): Erin Carrier, Computing, and Steve Glass, Movement Science, Members of URC
Description: Undergraduate research is a high-impact practice, however, ineffective mentoring can do more harm than good. This learning community (LC) aims to help faculty take an intentional approach to holistic mentoring of undergraduate researchers. In this LC, faculty will learn about and discuss necessary skills for effective mentoring. Additionally, this LC will examine how mentoring approaches can be customized to be effective for students with different learning styles and personal circumstances. As part of this learning community, through readings, activities, and discussion, faculty will assess their current mentoring approach, recognize new techniques, and identify approaches they use successfully and those in which they could improve. By the end of this LC, faculty will be able to clearly articulate their mentoring goals, develop a mentorship plan (such as those required for OURS grant applications), and customize both of these to individual students.
Title: Understanding and Demonstrating Student Learning in Undergraduate Research (tentative title)
Facilitators: Cailin Callahan, Geology, and Bradford Dykes, CLAS Voyage
Description: TBA
Title: Creating a Community of Critical Practice in Mentoring
Facilitator(s): Jakia Marie, SIS, and Student Mendoza, OURS
Description: Higher education is a complicated ecosystem that can be difficult for students to navigate. As faculty, advising and mentoring students requires an understanding of higher education and the larger society to be equipped with the information and tools to offer the best and most appropriate guidance and advice. This LC interrogates the discriminatory systems by which higher education in the U.S. was founded, explores how institutions continue to perpetuate those systems, and educates colleagues about these frameworks, so they are equipped to address said systems and continue the work of providing students with exceptional experiences, especially as it relates to undergraduate research.
Title: Introduction to Course-based Undergraduate Research
Facilitator(s): Anthony Spencer, School of Communications
Description: TBA