Organic Education Resources (OrganicERs,
www.organicers.org) invites Organic Chemistry instructors to apply to our Summer ’25 remote workshop. Enrollment in this no-cost online workshop will be limited to 30 participants to promote collaborative activities and community building for a diverse group of faculty. Experienced OrganicERs
leaders will introduce and facilitate implementation of evidence-based instructional methods. This workshop is designed for organic chemistry instructors who want to effectively implement or improve their use of active learning methods in their classrooms.
Participants will:-Become part of a community of over 1,000 instructors committed to evidence-based instructional methods in organic chemistry,
-Improve their understanding of these methods by experiencing them as students and by working collaboratively to develop learning activities that conform to best-practice,
-Discuss common hurdles and solutions to effective implementation,
-Engage in a thematic one-year online faculty learning community with a half-dozen like-minded organic chemistry instructors from across the country.
Workshop Topics include:-Learning objective development and use,
-Active learning, including in large classrooms,
-Preparing students for the active learning classroom,
-Classroom assessment and collaborative learning techniques,
-Open educational resources,
-Application of cognitive psychology in teaching organic chemistry,
-Alternative grading methods,
-Green chemistry,
-Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) in the lab,
-Diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect as related to teaching organic chemistry,
-Introduction of new teaching methods to students and colleagues
The workshop consists of 6 sessions over the course of 3 weeks. Participants are expected to commit to attending and participating in all six sessions (barring an emergency) to help build community while developing a comprehensive picture of the different aspects of active learning. Expected attendance will be considered when selecting candidates, and Certificates of Workshop Completion will reflect actual attendance.
Sessions will be held from 1:00 to 4:30 pm EDT, including a 30 min break, on Tuesdays/Thursdays (June 3 - 17), and Wednesday (June 18). There will be ~90 minutes of preparatory work for each session.
We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds at various stages of their career, including non-tenure track, tenure-track, and tenured faculty/instructors/lecturers. We hope to include participants from community colleges, predominantly undergraduate institutions, and R1/R2 institutions.
Review of applications will begin May 1, 2025.
We anticipate it will take ~15 minutes to complete the application.
