University of California, Merced
PAE-9: Support Programs for Future Faculty

The Center for Research on Teaching Excellence maintains a Department of Education grant (FIPSE 2009-2012) that provides funding for faculty and graduate students to participate in a learning community, focused on the supporting at-risk student populations. Graduate fellows conduct classroom research and publish their findings in our guidebook project paper series, focused on the needs of first-generation college students. A majority of graduate student participants have been first-generation college students and/or underrepresented minorities. Projects have involved classroom or program assessment in biology, history, chemistry, physics, world cultures, anthropology, and writing. Additional grant opportunities include our mini-grant program, which has funded new faculty projects in economics, biology, general education, and anthropology. Priority has been given to proposals that evaluate evidence-based learning through performance outcomes (pre- and posttest, portfolio evaluation, and longitudinal tracking of student achievement). Projects aim to improve instruction in a course or curriculum, with clear evidence of instructional practices that encourage active learning. Since 2009, the Center has sponsored Students Assessing Teaching and Learning (SATAL) is a new service offered by the Center for Research on Teaching Excellence (CRTE). The idea behind SATAL is to value the voice and views of students and their educational development. To that end, SATAL will provide instructors and programs with valuable student insights into student learning through various measures such as observations, surveys, and interviews. These forms of indirect evidence coupled with more direct evidence, such as course portfolios and examinations, can provide a more holistic understanding of what's happening in a particular classroom. This service helps faculty, TAs, and academic programs gain a better sense of the learning experience of their students in their classes and in other academic contexts. http://escholarship.org/uc/crte_gsiguidebook