GE Faculty Fellows Program Goals

The goals of the GE Faculty Fellows program are first, to provide funding and other resources for faculty and instructors to develop and assess curricula. Second to support faculty/instructor/TA development workshops to improve our students' integrative understanding of calculus and physical sciences and their ability to apply to research and engineering projects. The program targets core lower division courses in calculus, chemistry, physics and engineering.

UC Berkeley won a three-year grant from the GE Fund under its Learning Excellence Initiative. We proposed to restructure our lower division calculus, chemistry, physics and engineering courses and develop and implement Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) models using animation/visualization/ simulation/ design cases as multidisciplinary integrating mechanisms. We proposed to accomplish this by enabling multidisciplinary teams of key faculty, lecturers, and graduate student instructors, to be known as GE Faculty Fellows, who will work together to accomplish five significant goals:

• Develop meaningful multidisciplinary collaborations specifically aimed at changing teaching and learning styles in math, physical sciences and engineering;

• Transform and enhance pedagogical styles in these disciplines ;

• Design integrating physics, chemistry, engineering and mathematics curricula and courseware;

• Capitalize on instructional technology to improve student learning; and

• Conduct educational studies to measure the impact of the changes, with a focus on measuring student learning outcomes as needed by the disciplines involved.

Who Can Apply?

Preference will be given to multidisciplinary teams of faculty and instructors in the College of Engineering, School of Chemistry and Departments of Physics and Mathematics.

Funding Level

The goal of the GE Faculty Fellows program is to support multidisciplinary teams of faculty and instructors. Each team must have at least two members from different colleges. It is expected that funding will be around $5,000-$10,000 per person to support summer salaries for faculty, summer and academic year partial RA support and supplies. As this funding is not sufficient to fund major new software initiatives from scratch; we encourage proposals which leverage departmental and other initiatives. The GE grant will provide additional resources for assessment and faculty/instructor training.

Target Courses for 1999/2000

Target courses for the 1999/2000 GE Faculty Fellows Program are introductory courses in math, physics, chemistry, (e.g., Math 1A, 1B, 53, 54, Physics 7A and 7B Chemistry 1A); freshman/sophomore engineering courses (e.g., E77, ME 104); and freshmen engineering "attractor" courses which articulate with Math 1A, 1B, 53, 54, Physics 7A, 7B and Chemistry 1A.

Focus Areas for Mini-Proposals:

The third year of the GE Grant (1999/00) seeks mini-proposals that focus on:

• Integrating Calculus, Chemistry, Physics and Engineering courseware modules. Representative examples from the original GE Fund proposal can be found at URL: http://hart.berkeley.edu/~aagogino/GE.fund/cover.GEfund.html .

• Freshman engineering attractor courses or course modules (including freshman and freshman/sophomore seminars) that articulate with Calculus, Chemistry or Physics classes. The goal is to motivate science, math, and engineering faculty to collaborate with one another to develop curricular modules or materials which motivate and make the math and science courses relevant to engineering freshman. Preference will be given to faculty and instructors who are scheduled to teach a freshman attractor course during the 1999/2000 academic year.

• Assessment of student learning outcomes and evaluation. This is intended to focus attention on learning more about the impact of the funded project(s) as they relate to the purpose of the GE Faculty Fellows Program and to find effective ways for encouraging integration across the disciplines, e.g., through dissemination of results or supporting faculty and GSI educational programs.

Proposal Format

The proposal should be no more than 2 pages long and describe the role, qualifications and commitment of each team members, how collaboration will be demonstrated, target courses, pedagogical and curricular goals, project description, assessment approach, timeline and a description of resources needed to accomplish the goals. Attachments that describe relevant prior work that will serve as a foundation for the proposal may be provided. Letters of support may be appropriate. (Note: for currently funded faculty fellows, assessment must be a fully developed part of the proposal.)

• Project description

• Team member composition, role, qualifications and commitment

• Target courses

• Pedagogical and curricular goals

• Assessment approach and plan

• Timeline

• Funding and resource needs

Evaluation Criteria:

• Relevance to GE Fellows Program goals.

• Quality of outcomes assessment approach (Currently funded fellows seeking funding must include a data collection plan and potential assessment tools. Assessment consultation is available to new and returning fellows; contact Flora McMartin at mcmartin@needs.org, 643-2928.)

• Demonstration of collaboration among team members (e.g., co-teaching, peer teaching consultation, visiting courses in different disciplines.)

• Potential impact on student learning and retention.

• Leverage of other resources.

• Overall viability of the proposal.

Where to Send Proposals

Attention: GE Faculty Fellows Program
3112 Etcheverry Hall
UC Berkeley
M/C 1750

Where to Go with Questions

Send questions to members of the GE Fund Executive Committee:
 

Engineering	Paul Gray (Dean) and Alice Agogino (Assoc. Dean)
Physical Sciences	Buford Price (Dean)
Math	Cal Moore (Department Chair)
Physics	Roger Falcone (Department Chair)
Chemistry	C. Brad Moore (Director of MC**2)

References:

1. A proposal to the GE Fund -- Learning Excellence Initiative:

   "Integrating Calculus, Chemistry, Physics and Engineering Education through Technology Enhanced Visualization, Simulation and Design Cases and Outcomes". URL: http://best.me.berkeley.edu/~aagogino/GE.fund/cover.GEfund.html

2. "Student Learning Outcomes Developed by the Synthesis Coalition. Phase I: What we want to assess", URL: http://www.synthesis.org/assessment/phase1.html

3. ABET Criteria 2000: Outcomes Assessment Criteria for Engineering Accreditation, ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.)