These recommendations represent changes to the way the Department operates as a unit. Some represent a shift in “culture” and hence would require broad-based buy-in and support in terms of time and resources. Culture shift takes time and commitment.

R9. Enhance and streamline faculty / TA support and development

For quantitative geoscience degree programs to become more agile and flexible, faculty need regular support to develop, maintain and assess relevance of courses and learning experiences. The diversity of skills and perspectives among EOAS faculty can be leveraged by addressing regular curricular review, not as individuals, but as a team, including research faculty, educational leadership faculty, lecturers, science education specialists, technical and organizational expertise, and the energy, enthusiasm and creativity of students at all levels. EOAS and UBC are already good at building effective educational development teams, and there is also educational research that supports and encourages such collaborations (Rozhenkova et.al., 2023, Weiman, 2017, and many others ).

1. Enhance QES researcher interactions with undergrads:
   • Cross-pollination among EOAS disciplines: establish a “new tradition” or expectation of bringing guests to courses who can offer new contexts for existing content. Could be EOAS or other research or education faculty, lecturers, postdocs or grad students. Some courses already do this – especially ENVR which includes community and industry guests as integral part of core courses.
   • Ask QES and other faculty the following two questions, either as 10-min interviews, as an email feedback request or as a one or two question MC survey (including “other” option plus space to explain):
     • How could we enhance the interactions your research group has with undergraduates? (Eg. present or showcase at courses, clubs, individuals, research opportunities such as directed studies,  etc.)
     • How could you &/or the Department most efficiently showcase the importance and impact of  research and other work done, to support recruiting, outreach and undergraduate learning? Such showcasing should be part of a marketing strategy.
       
   • Maybe ask these questions twice – once as “what strategies are most likely to be effective” and then again as “which strategies would you be willing to contribute an hour or so of your time each year?”
   • See also suggested actions under student support.
2. More regular and informative communication about teaching. See recommendations in Fissel et al., 2022, which explored faculty preferences (frequency and medium) regarding communication with administration. See the “Brief summaries of selected citations” dropdown box at the end of this page.
   • Regular opportunity to gather – perhaps a 1-2 hr lunch once each year or each term? Something an SES could/should do, or a Teaching Initiatives Committee effort.
   • If not a meeting, then 15 min updates twice each term, even it that means faculty meetings that are 1.5hrs instead of 1 hr.
   • An annual “teaching in our Dep’t” resource or presentation (ideally both) to keep everyone up to date with development projects, spotlight individuals or initiatives, offer advice on one specific topic (eg “best practices for syllabi”) and enhance the sense of teaching as an evolving community activity. Include pointers to support (peers, Dep’t (SES etc.), Faculty level (SkyLight), Institution (CTLT and student Careers support), each with names and contacts.
3. Address the strain or challenges facing faculty – especially the feeling of being over-extended (although tenured academic faculty are by nature exceptionally hard-working). This was recognized in the 2021 EOAS strategic plan, item U4 “High Teaching Workloads“, in the “Undergraduate Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership” section. Pautz and Diede, 2022, addressed faculty motivation and recommended steps for enhancing relationship between faculty and development people in the department, Dean’s office and CTLT & Career Centre. See the “Brief summaries of selected citations” dropdown box at the end of this page.
4. Professional development for EOAS faculty; possible workshops. ProD opportunities (eg workshops) should be part of normal departmental culture, but keep them short/succinct. Offer as part of existing events. Using one faculty meeting each term (or year) would be a straight-forward “no-cost” solution. Who to deliver? Educational leadership faculty, lecturers and science education specialists, or bring in expertise from SkyLight, CTLT, Library or Career Services. Some suggested topics or tactics:
   • Increase everyone’s understanding of how people learn and become professionals within a discipline – for both instructors and students. If both instructors and learners could keep such awareness front-of-mind, then choices of learning tasks would be more precisely targeted towards learning objectives, and a greater commitment could be anticipated cor carrying out those tasks with enthusiasm, diligence and honesty.
   • Syllabi and CLOs; recommendations are on the Courses-level recommendations page.
   • Open education resources (also here) and “publication” at CiRCle. These are opportunities to deliver legitimate “products” other than journal or conference publications into the public domain. Perhaps attractive to teaching professors and lecturers.
   • Fundamentals vs Career preparation in existing courses, facilitated by Kimberly Rawes of Student Career Services.
   • Generative AI: To use, or not, and how? Dep’t should establish perspectives by engaging in discussion about this in teaching, learning and research. Consider the literature and insights from UBC colleagues who are committing time to thinking about generative AI and learning – eg SkyLight Lucus Wright at CTLT. A separate page contains a few further thoughts on generative AI, based largely on three 1-hr workshops about generative AI in teaching and learning facilitated by CTLT. Well worth exploring. See also the IEEE opinion piece on ChatGPT in education, Sinha, Burd & du Preez, 2023.
   • More generally, it might be worth regularly identifying (or promoting) CTLT workshops as they arise (a quick job for SES personnel?) It is likely that many faculty members do not keep abreast of ongoing professional development opportunities. Perhaps an expectation could be established to participate (or present) in at least one or two each year?
   • More paired teaching – to help with course transfer, communication among dep’t teaching faculty and to inspire adoption of resources or tactics that work. Maybe the “official” paired teaching commitment is not needed but pairing up with the deliberate intention of sharing and transferring teaching and learning tactics is advised.
5. Graduate student training in geoscience teaching and learning as important for preparing future researchers and instructors in the basic expertise regarding “how people learn” and how to teach them. The precedent is well established in EOAS and at UBC more generally, and there is plenty of literature supporting the importance for adding expertise in learning as a graduate student outcome, such as Ruder and Stanford, 2020.
   • The EOAS course EOSC 516, “Teaching and Learning in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences” is well established but it’s teaching model can only support a limited number of students. This needs to be adjusted to accommodate more students.
   • Many graduate students who work as teaching assistants are exposed to teaching for the first time with little or no training at all. Especially in larger courses, a teaching assistant is the main (or only) personal connection that undergraduates can make, and asking TAs to serve that mentoring role with no training is like asking a faculty member to teach a course far outside their area of expertise without time to prepare. It is possible – but not optimal.
   • Graduate supervisors are advised to recommend taking EOSC 516 or something equivalent because future science experts need to understand how people learn about their discipline and how an expert can help novices learn about their discipline.
6. Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) are currently front-of mind in many organizations. Actions taken towards enhancing curriculum, attracting students, and supporting faculty are all incorporating these considerations into planning and implementing.
   • While there is no intention here to diminish the critical importance JEDI issues, UBC and EOAS are visibly engaged in embedding JEDI considerations into all decision making. Therefore, the QuEST project did not focus  on JEDI-related issues. However, incorporating career preparation into learning is as much a JEDI issue any. As explained by Ng, 2023, disparities in experience, family support, financial stability and other factors all contribute to disparities in outcomes, including success (or not) at gaining experiences beyond academics that will be meaningful on resumes.
   • Examples of sources: Cramer, et.al., 2021; current GSA diversity policy and activities on their diversity webpage; many articles in the JGE (Journal of Geoscience Education); UBC Faculty of Science EDI perspectives; EOAS EDI perspectives; UBC’s equity stance and activities.