T & L Tools & Resources

Community Vision & Goals:

Vision & Change – AAAS & NSF sponsored effort to Transform Undergraduate Biology Education

Resource Sharing & Publication:

CourseSource – Journal of evidence-based teaching resources for UG biology education

Teaching Frameworks & Rubrics:

TEval – Transforming Higher Education – Multidimensional Evaluation of Teaching (descriptions modified from TEval website)
- University of Kansas Benchmark Framework: framework for Teaching Effectiveness to support better methods of reviewing, documenting, and evaluating teaching; organized around a multidimensional rubric for reviewing faculty teaching.
- University of Colorado Teaching Quality Framework Initiative: adapted from KU materials and its predecessors to create a local 7-dimensional rubric; part of the broader framework that includes both the tools for evaluation and the practices that surround them.
  - Teaching Quality Framework Initiative (1-page summary & example rubric)
  - Teaching Quality Framework Assessment Rubric (draft, August 2018)

Courses:

An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on evidence-based teaching

Classroom Resources:

Published by the American Society of Plant Biologists, combines up-to-date peer-reviewed research-based content with flexible presentation components that can be used alone or integrated into your lesson plans so that you can confidently present these exciting topics in your classroom. We’ve addressed the stress and pressure busy educators face when devising course material by providing a short essay introducing each topic, PowerPoint slides, and suggested readings. An editorial innovation of The Plant Cell, one of the most trusted names in plant biology. (Click on logo to visit site.)

Three trouble spots facing women in science—and how we can tackle them

16 October 2020

A sense of belonging is critical, our Letters to Young Scientists columnists write [...]

Alcoholism disrupted my scientific career. This is how I got sober

15 October 2020

With the pandemic likely driving people to drink more, a professor offers his cautionary tale [...]

I benefited from being an international scientist in the U.S.—until the pandemic

8 October 2020

This postdoc was abroad when the U.S. imposed travel restrictions. He got back—but got COVID-19 along the way [...]

Amid pandemic, U.S. faculty job openings plummet

6 October 2020

STEM postings are down by about 70%, according to an analysis of job boards [...]

To get a nonacademic job, you need to learn the jargon

5 October 2020

As a scientist, you already know some jargon—but leaving academia requires adding a new vocabulary, our columnist writes [...]

The Trifecta: STEM, 3D Learning, and ART

22 December 2017 - Tricia Shelton

Equal opportunity, preparation for college and career, innovations to improve people’s lives, and a competitive US position in a global economy—- these are the needs that are driving a rethink of the approach to education. Leading the transformation of education are initiatives like STEM and a vision for a new approach to teaching and learning […] [...]

A Changing Focus in Education

11 December 2017 - Tricia Shelton

We are changemakers. We are learners. We are educators. A changing focus in education American education is in the midst of a major transformation, driven in large part, by a technology-focused global economy. Societal shifts like the Industrial Revolution had great impacts on education in the past. We can now ask ourselves, how is the […] [...]

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News Chooses BenchFly

9 December 2014 - Alan Marnett

We’re very excited to announce our new partnership with Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN) to help bring two new video-based services to scientists. For more information, see the original release below. To learn more about how you can participate in Product Pioneers or Rising Stars of Science, please contact us at: info@benchfly.com. [...]

New Trend Alert: Using Video to Introduce Data

3 September 2014 - Emily Poulin

Here at BenchFly, we’re always looking for new ways to use video to improve scientific research. During a recent conference in Europe, the value of using video to simply introduce a research topic hit home with me. An exciting part of being a researcher of any level is the opportunity to travel to research conferences […] [...]

The ART of Video Funded by the Gates Foundation

22 August 2014 - Alan Marnett

When we started BenchFly five years ago, in 2009, our mission was to make research a better career for current and future generations of scientists. Today we continue to work toward this goal using video as the primary means to educate scientists in companies, in universities and now in high schools! In the fall of 2013, we were incredibly […] [...]