Obtaining a faculty position at a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI)

摘要

Because teaching is central to the mission of PUIs, faculty candidates should familiarize themselves with current evidence on undergraduate STEM education. “Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action” and a follow-up report, “Vision and Change: Unpacking a Movement and Sharing Lessons Learned [1, 2] encapsulate current thought on transforming undergraduate education, through practices such as evidence-based, student-centered, active learning that integrates core ideas across biology courses, emphasizes depth over breadth, and is inclusive of all students. Many scientific professional societies have subcommittees focused on science education, and have education sessions at their annual meetings where prospective PUI faculty can learn about current science pedagogy ideas and language, such as “experiential learning”, “flipped classroom”, clicker questions, just-in-time teaching, etc. Science pedagogy journals such as CBE- Life Sciences Education, published by the ASCB, are also useful resources. In addition to understanding how these active learning techniques can benefit students, applicants should also think critically about how to build inclusive teaching practices into their classrooms and teaching (see, for example, [3, 4].