Transformation Of The Introductory Biology Experience For All Students: Progress Of The Northwest Biosciences Consortium

Abstract

The Northwest Biosciences Consortium is a group of two‐year and four‐year college faculty at public and private institutions in Oregon. Funded by an NSF RCN‐UBE grant, this group is working towards creating modern, student‐centered, integrated, and investigative introductory biology experiences for all students aligned with Vision and Change: A Call to Action. In our second year of the grant we report on the activities of this group including 1) data about the diversity of enrollments and delivery methods in courses at our institutions; 2) insights arising from observations of each others' courses and discussions with faculty; 3) observations of how our courses align with Vision and Change and how they facilitate student transition towards upper division biology courses; 4) obstacles we have encountered especially in the area of smoothing the transition for transfer students taking an introductory sequence at a two year college followed by advanced coursework in biology at a four year college; and 5) plans for professional development activities for faculty to encourage the adoption of student‐centered pedagogies. As a long‐term goal, we plan to help faculty develop scaleable student‐centered pedagogies and assessment documents that will encourage consistency in introductory biology outcomes across our diverse two‐year and four‐year institutions. Supported by the NSF RCN‐UBE grant (DBI‐1248121).