3 x ½-days

In this workshop, participants gain an overview over results of current educational research on good university teaching, and what those results mean for their own teaching. They see and experience a wide range of activating and engaging teaching methods, which they can consider for their own classes. They share experiences with other participants and discuss what they want to change in their teaching going forward.

The workshop is structured using the Schneider & Preckel (2017) meta study on “variables associated with achievement in higher education” as red thread, with main points being

• how do we know what works?
• what influence do I have in how I interact as a person?
• what teaching methods should I choose?
• what do I need to pay attention to when teaching?
• how do I plan a whole semester, and an individual lesson?

Read more about this topic on my blog:

• My summary of the Schneider & Preckel (2017) article on success factors in university teaching
• Some methods that I often use: “nerd topic” introduction, chat storm, active lunch break, …

Duration: 1 day

We’ve gotten quite proficient at teaching via videoconferencing, but how can we engage and activate students even better?

In the workshop, we use self-determination theory as framework to consider how active teaching methods contribute to the basic psychological needs of choice, achievement, connection in order to actively engage students. During the first half of the day, we collect experiences with, and discuss, a wide range of methods, like for example hyper-local excursions right outside the students` homes, hands-on experiments using everyday household items, and methods that foster exchange between the students.

After an active lunch break, we discuss and plan how these methods can be used in the participants’ classes.

! There is a partial overlap of this workshop with the workshops on "virtual field courses" and "virtual lab courses"!

Read more about these topics on my blog:

• Self-determination theory

See also the links in “virtual field courses” and “virtual lab courses”

Duration: 90-minute impulse presentation to 1-day workshop

Similar to how the perception of a stir-fry can change from “tastes yummy!” to “I can taste broccoli, carrots and sweetcorn!” to “the onions are soft but the broccoli is crunchy, I wonder how they managed that?” to “next time, I will make sure to try out this trick!”, we can help our students to learn to look at the world through their subject lens and develop fieldwork skills, even when we don’t have the opportunity of taking them on field trips. I will share my own experiences with using #WaveWatching as a hyper-local, individual excursion, as well as other examples from colleagues and the literature. We will also have the opportunity to share other experiences, come up with new ideas for your courses, and discuss how to implement them.

Read more about this topic on my blog:

• Teaching field courses in a virtual setting
• Doing an excursion week in oceanography 101 while physically distancing

Using #WaveWatching for situated learning, sensemaking and community building

Duration: 90-minute impulse presentation to ½-day workshop

Of course, there are many laboratory experiences that cannot easily be replaced by experiments that students do at home. But there are surprisingly many learning outcomes that can be reached just as well by students doing experiments in their own home (using common household items or cheap supplies that you send out or they pick up)! There are many processes that can be modelled as physical or conceptual models, and many learning outcomes related to the scientific process and lab work that can be practiced. I will share my own experiences with using #KitchenOceanography, present examples from my colleagues and the literature, and we will have the opportunity to share other experiences and come up with new ideas for your courses, and discuss how to implement them.

Read more about this topic on my blog:

Kitchen oceanography

Duration: 90-minutes to ½-day

Good mentorship can make or break careers, but it is almost impossible to find one mentor to fulfill all mentoring needs. Therefore, an alternative approach is to build and actively participate in a network of (peer-)mentors.

In this workshop, we first map out mentoring needs that typically arise in the course of a scientific career, like, for example, strategic advice, professional development, accountability, feedback, and emotional support. We then consider our existing networks under the lens of how a person or a resource can help fill specific needs. Lastly, we look at gaps in the mentoring map and discuss how they can be filled: what quality in person or resource is needed, where it could be found, and how it can be approached and integrated into our mentoring network.

While the focus is on your needs and how to get them met, in the context of this workshop, networking is always as much about giving as about receiving.

Outcomes

• a visualization of current connections and ideas for new ones that the participant wants to create (and how to create them)

This workshop is based on the ESWN-“Mentoring Map” (Glessmer et al., 2013).

Slides of a generic 90-minutes workshop are available here.

P.S.: The workshop “using social media for science communication and career advancement” (below) works well in combination with this one, especially in times of social distancing and for participants who are not able to travel. It gives a practical, hands-on introduction into how to build your network online.

Duration: Flexible, works for example well as 5 x 2 hours over 5 weeks

Social media are an important tool in both science communication and networking for scientists. But where to even start? Which network to use? How to find the balance between showing personality and staying professional? How to confidently promote work without bragging?

In this workshop, we will answer these and many other questions. We start by defining the goals for any social media activities: Why do you want to put valuable time and effort into social media in the first place? What is it exactly that you are trying to achieve? We then look at the audience that you will need to reach in order to work towards your specific goal: Is it professors, peers, journalists, or who is it? Then, we compare different social media platforms and decide which might be best suited for you to reach your audience.

Now you are ready to get started: We discuss what a good profile looks like, what information should be included and omitted, what kind of posts and interaction is appropriate and helpful in your specific case, and how to balance social media activities with all other demands on your time.

Starting out with a broad overview over social media as a networking tool for scientists (session 1), we quickly dive into a practical hands-on workshop designed to guide you through the first steps in professional online science communication (session 2 & 3) and to answer all your questions that come up as you dip your toe into the practice (session 4), so you get comfortable creating visibility and building a supportive network online. An optional session 5 (usually a couple of weeks after the weekly sessions 1-4) is great for exchanging first experiences, sharing success stories, getting support in struggles, and making sure that social media are integrated into the participants’ lives.

Most examples in this workshop are drawn from Twitter and Instagram, but are applicable to other networks, which are also discussed if desired.

P.S.: This workshop works very well as a complement to the “taking ownership of your mentoring” workshop (above), which presents a helpful tool for participants’ reflection on who they want to network with for what purpose.