Opportunities to Engage with

the SEISMIC Collaboration

Nita Tarchinski, SEISMIC Project Manager

A Little About Me

• Organizational support for research projects and collaboration-wide programs, like the Speaker Events Bureau
• SEISMIC-wide communications and information, including the monthly newsletter and website
• Collaboration events, like the Annual Summer Meeting and upcoming Weeks of SEISMIC
• Changing your involvement in SEISMIC
• Bringing new members into SEISMIC, including student researchers

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Apr. 2018

B.S. Physics Education

May 2018

Physics Education Research Assistant

Nov. 2018

SEISMIC Project Manager

Apr. 2021

M.A. Educational Leadership and Policy

Contact Me About…

Why SEISMIC?

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• Large intro STEM courses are important for students and institutions, but often disappoint
• Students struggle to achieve goals & obtain support
• Faculty find them hard to teach & are disappointed with learning outcomes
• Problems with equity & inclusion are widespread, well-known, and long-standing
• There is plenty of knowledge about education research siloed by discipline
• Individuals with different institutional roles have different perspectives and expertise
• Working at single institutions has limited impact
• Hard to know how context-specific the results are
• Potentially few colleagues working on the same problems
• Individual voices for change are not as strong as a collaborative voice and institutional pressure

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Sloan Equity and Inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses

SEISMIC: Background

• Multidisciplinary collaboration of 10 institutions
• We believe a course cannot be successful unless it is equitable and inclusive
• Collaborative activities include 4 Working Groups, our Speaker Exchange Program, and our Annual Meetings

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Sloan Equity and Inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses

Nov. 2018

Founded, funding from Sloan Foundation

Feb. 2019

10 member institutions, launch visits begin

Summer 2019

Summer Meeting - Launch of Working Groups and projects

Sept. 2019

Speaker Exchange

Program begins

Feb. 2020

Launch of Constructs Working Group

Mar. 2020

COVID-19

Summer 2020

Summer Meeting #2

Fall 2020

Launch of Themes, Speaker Events Bureau

Summer 2021

SEISMIC Scholars, Measurement Fellows, Summer of SEISMIC,

Summer Meeting #3

Fall 2021

Launch of Task Force, SEISMIC Conversations

Spring 2022

Launch Weeks of SEISMIC

There are 223 active members in SEISMIC (involved in Working Groups and/or attend our Annual Meetings). What percentage of SEISMIC members are affiliated with Purdue?

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SEISMIC Swag!

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7%

There are 15 Purdue members listed in our Participants Database.

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Some Quotes from SEISMIC Members at Purdue

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“We hope that Purdue’s week of SEISMIC could be a chance to leverage these collaborations to enact greater change at Purdue. We plan to use this time to raise awareness of current and potential SEISMIC projects and expand the SEISMIC community at Purdue.” Emily Bonem, Assistant Director of SoTL at CIE

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“…to implement brief, in-class, small group interventions discussing adversity in spring engineering courses… These kinds of simple, but effective interventions seem particularly valuable for scaling across institutions and large classes to maximize students’ potential, reduce barriers for success, and provide more inclusive introductory STEM courses.” Allison Godwin, Associate Professor

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Some Quotes from SEISMIC Members at Purdue

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“What I really value is how reading groups provide an opportunity (i.e., excuse) to gather and talk about teaching. I am especially excited for the SEISMIC reading groups because they will offer the opportunity to share these ideas and practices across campuses, and I hope they will inspire new collaborations, viewpoints, and experiments.” Daniel Guberman, Provost Fellow and Instructional Developer

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“The most important lesson I am bringing to my work this fall is the importance of flexibility in working with faculty…  As students face ongoing challenges as they return to campus, flexibility is very important for the success of all students.” Chantal Levesque-Bristol, Executive Director of CIE

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SEISMIC members include postdoctoral researchers, undergraduate students, graduate students, administrators, staff, and faculty. ��Which group makes up about 16% of our membership?

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SEISMIC Swag!

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Figure taken from 2020-2021 SEISMIC Annual Report

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Our Four Working Groups

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Measurement Working Group

Experiments Working Group

Implementing Change Working Group

Constructs Working Group

Establish metrics for measuring equity and inclusion in foundational STEM courses, conduct the measurements, and identify actionable data to promote change.

Use experiments to understand disparities and foster equity in the classroom and across multiple disciplines and universities, with an emphasis on replication and context.

Present analyses on student outcomes to campus stakeholders and leverage institutional knowledge and tools to promote policy changes toward creating equitable and inclusive introductory STEM courses.

Integrate critical frameworks and histories into STEM education research and bring in perspectives, expertise, and experiences from marginalized communities in STEM.

Which Working Group has the most members from Purdue?

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SEISMIC Swag!

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Measurement

Measurement: 9; Experiments: 3; Implementing Change: 6; Constructs: 1

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Key Projects and Activities

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Measurement Working Group

Experiments Working Group

Implementing Change Working Group

Constructs Working Group

1. Exploring Demographic Effects In Introductory Stem Courses
2. Mapping Paths Of Students Who Fail Foundational Stem Classes
3. Impact Of Classroom Composition On Student Outcomes
4. Examining The Impact Of Advanced Placement Course Credit Policies On Student Performance In Science Gateway Courses
5. Identifying Components Of Active Learning That Increase Equity And Inclusion In Introductory Stem Courses
6. Persistent Equity Gaps In Upper Division Science Courses

1. Office Hours – explore wide range of practices associated with office hours and inform recommendations to campuses on best practices.
2. Backchannel – explore to what degree the establishment of a backchannel in foundational STEM courses increases student participation in class inquiry.
3. Access to Practice – faculty design peer-reviewed, low-stakes writing assignments for students to improve their learning
4. CLUE: Contextual Linkaging – design, build, and test a new technology that promotes elaboration and reflection for learners while providing feedback to instructors.

1. Bright Spots Grant Proposal
2. Building awareness and empathy for introductory STEM students to improve STEM instruction at faculty and administrator levels
3. Tools Inventory – identify and inventory software used by faculty when teaching introductory STEM courses
4. Maybe a new one from Purdue Week of SEISMIC – Teaching and Learning Community

1. Content Analysis of Constructs in STEM Education Literature
2. Framework Analysis for Advancing Higher Education Toward Social Justice
3. Mapping Institutional Resources / Characterizing Institutional Practice for Diversity & Equity in STEM

More Info

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Papers

Hammarlund, S. P., Scott, C., Binning, K. R., & Cotner, S. (2022). Context Matters: How an Ecological-Belonging Intervention Can Reduce Inequities in STEM. BioScience. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab146

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Hammond, J. W., Brownell, S. E., Kedharnath, N. A., Cheng, S. J., & Byrd, W. C. (2021, September 23). Why the term “JEDI” is problematic for describing programs that promote justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-the-term-jedi-is-problematic-for-describing-programs-that-promote-justice-equity-diversity-and-inclusion/

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Pearson, M. I., Castle, S. D., Matz, R. L., Koester, B. P., & Byrd, W. C. (2022). Integrating Critical Approaches into Quantitative STEM Equity Work. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 21(1), es1. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.21-06-0158

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Woods, V. E., Safronova, M., & Adler-Kassner, L. (2021). Guiding Students Towards Disciplinary Knowledge With Structured Peer Review Assignments. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 21(4), 160–175.

Upcoming Bright Spots Grant Proposal

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• We are trying to identify “bright spots” across SEISMIC institutions
• Bright Spots are courses where students from different backgrounds (race/ethnicity, gender, income, and background opportunity, eg., first-gen) have similar grade, completion, and A/B proportion.
• Ultimately, we want to understand what in the bright spots is replicable or broadly applicable, and what is very institution-dependent or situation-dependent (e.g., department culture, course norms, who teaches, power structures, etc.)

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Implementing Change Working Group

What courses at Purdue are “bright spots” in terms of advancing equity?

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SEISMIC Swag!

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Working Group Projects Seeking Collaborators from Purdue

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Experiments (see QR code on your bookmark for details)

• Office Hours project looking for STEM instructors to collect data on the office hours they run in their courses
• Access to Practice project looking for STEM instructors to implement low-stakes peer-reviewed writing assignments in their courses, to improve student metacognition
• Backchannel project looking for STEM instructors who teach the same course two terms in a row to assess students’ sense of belonging with and without the option of a live anonymous backchannel in class

Implementing Change

• Bright Spots grant-writing team looking for collaborators with experience characterizing learning environments
• Bright Spots grant-writing team looking for information – are there courses at Purdue you would consider “bright spots” in terms of advancing equity?

Other Collaborative Activities

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Speaker Exchange Program

Annual Meetings

SEISMIC Scholars Program

SEISMIC Conversations

Other Summer Activities

Measurement Fellows Program

Weeks of SEISMIC

Theme Activity

Each SEISMIC institution hosts 6 or more speakers each year on SEISMIC-related topics. These are open to the whole local community and sometimes the whole collaboration.

Opportunities for members to gather together to share progress, establish new collaborative projects, and improve the collaboration.

Last year we had a Summer of SEISMIC, which included book groups, panel discussions, and more.

In-person activity at each SEISMIC campus to engage the local community, advance SEISMIC projects and generate new energy.

Intentional activity to facilitate connections across Working Groups.

Fellowship for graduate students and postdocs to accelerate Measurement Working Group projects.

Paid undergraduate research program for students to work on SEISMIC projects.

Discussion series for Working Group members to share updates and get feedback from members across SEISMIC.

How many of these collaborative activities have you participated in / attended?

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Please Help Us Advertise!

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• For 2^nd and 3^rd year undergraduate students
• Paid summer research opportunity ($1500 stipend over the 10-week internship)
• Develop research skills and networking opportunities
• Develop confidence as practitioners of science through hands-on research experience 
• Foster connections with faculty mentors
• Build academic social networks
• Increase capacity for professional development
• QR Code or link below for more details and application (due 4/24)

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https://mailchi.mp/b73d3421fb11/paid-summer-research-internship-opportunity-in-stem-education

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SEISMIC Scholars Program

Summary

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• Attend local Purdue SEISMIC events, get in touch with CIE for updates
• Join Working Group research teams to advance research progress
• Implement SEISMIC classroom innovations in your STEM courses
• Attend our Summer Meeting (June 13-17, 2022, virtual, free to participate)
• Encourage students you know to apply for the SEISMIC Scholars Program
• Sign up for our monthly newsletters (through our website) to stay informed of upcoming opportunities (including how to register for our Summer Meeting)
• Join our Slack community to easily connect with SEISMIC members at different universities and to share and find resources (email nitaked@umich.edu for Slack invite)

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Opportunities to engage with SEISMIC

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Upcoming Presentations at Purdue!