Author(s):
The main goal of the IGELS (Interactions in General Education Life Science courses) Project is to determine the extent to which any principles and recommendations from “Vision and Change” (AAAS, 2009) have been implemented in undergraduate non-majors’ biology courses across the country. The project team conducted a survey of hundreds of non-majors’ instructors and determined that a large percentage of these faculty (42%+) had never heard about or read anything from the V&C document. This may be due to the fact that 50% of the respondents were hired into their current positions since V&C was published, however, there is some evidence that many of them still taught using V&C principles regardless of their knowledge about the publication. The IGELS team has created new tools to help undergraduate general education faculty, including a BioLifeSkills Guide that identifies appropriate outcomes for general education life science students; the Guide includes exemplar activities with examples of associated assessments. IGELS members have also developed a Consideration Tree that is designed to help faculty make decisions about inclusive activities for their students and an instructional model to help faculty create their own active-learning activities. We will briefly introduce these tools and provide contact information for follow-up for interested audience members. In addition, we will introduce the model of regional professional development workshops that are long-term, iterative, and that provide just-in-time assistance and mentorship. This lightning talk with highlight some of the products, research findings, and possible future activities related to undergraduate general education life science courses from the IGELS team.
Coauthors
Tammy Goulet, tlgoulet@olemiss.edu; Jacki Reeves-Pepin, jreevespepin@nabt.org; Gaby Hamerlinck, ghamerlinck@ufl.edu; Davida Smyth, Davida.Smyth@tamusa.edu; Heather Rissler, Heather.Rissler@niacc.edu
