2012 Celebrate Learning Week Program

Student Engagement & Assessment in Large Classes Thursday, November 1, 2012 Pharmaceutical Sciences Building, Room 3340 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Student Engagement & Assessment in Large Classes Program 9 a.m.

Greetings from the Associate Dean, Academic

9:10 a.m.

“Flipping your classroom - Why, how and what can happen” Dr. Simon Bates Academic Director, UBC Centre for Teaching Learning & Technology; Director, Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

10:20 a.m.

“Increasing student engagement in large classrooms: the why, the how, and some examples” Dr. Jared Taylor Vice President, Research & Development, Diacarbon Energy Inc; Science Teaching & Learning Fellow, UBC Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative

11:30 a.m.

Lunch Reception

Speakers Dr. Simon Bates’ seminar will focus on a practice-based case study of curriculum redesign implemented in a large-enrolment introductory Physics course taught at Edinburgh. The course was inverted, or “flipped”, so that content was delivered to students for self-study in advance of lectures, via a variety of methods, while lecture time was transformed into guided discussion sessions focusing on problems students still had after self-study. Dr. Bates will present details of student engagement, comment on student perceptions of the different instructional format, and present data that provides evidence for high quality learning on the course.

Simon Bates, PhD, joined UBC in the summer of 2012 as Academic Director, Centre for Teaching, Learning & Technology (CTLT); Director, Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (ISoTL); and Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy. Dr. Bates was previously Dean of Learning and Teaching and Professor of Physics Education at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has published extensively in the areas of physics education research and the role of technology in enhancing learning. While at Edinburgh, he established and led the Physics Education Research Group (EdPER), which quickly became an internationally visible group of researchers, securing research grant funding from various external sources, including the UK Higher Education Academy, the Institute of Physics (IoP) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

Almost every instructor wishes to increase student engagement in their classrooms, but often believe it is difficult to do. Dr. Jared Taylor’s presentation will explore (with audience participation!) strategies for increasing student engagement and learning in large classroom settings, and provide some relevant data collected by the CWSEI at UBC. Jared Taylor, PhD, has a research background in both industry and academia. In addition, to completing his PhD in Biological Chemistry, he worked as a researcher at Ballard Power Systems and as a Chemistry Instructor at the University of the Fraser Valley. More recently, Dr. Taylor has completed his post-doctoral studies as part of UBC’s Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative where he researched novel ways of successfully increasing student learning and problem solving skills in large lecture settings. Dr. Taylor is currently serving as the Vice President of R&D at Diacarbon Energy Inc.

University of British Columbia Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2405 Wesbrook Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3 www.pharmacy.ubc.ca