Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2020
Volume 65, Number 2
Saturday–Tuesday, April 18–21, 2020; Washington D.C.
Session R08: Status of the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) ProjectEducation Invited Live Undergrad Friendly
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Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Gerald Feldman, George Washington University Room: Roosevelt 3 |
Monday, April 20, 2020 1:30PM - 2:06PM Live |
R08.00001: Improving your undergraduate major: Introduction to the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) Invited Speaker: Theodore Hodapp To assist physics departments and faculty as they improve undergraduate education, the American Physical Society, in collaboration with the American Association of Physics Teachers, is developing a comprehensive guide for program improvement and evaluation, drawn from research findings and community knowledge. Scheduled for release in late 2020, the guide will provide concise advice on nearly all aspects of undergraduate education including suggestions on how to effectively evaluate impact. ~The EP3 guide will also offer departments guidance on how to produce detailed evidence of how they plan, evaluate, and improve undergraduate learning to help meet university accreditation requirements or prepare for or conduct external site reviews. A team from the task force including the author, co-chair David Craig, and task force member Gay Stewart, will give a broad introduction to the guide and solicit feedback from the audience on how best to make these materials available to the community.~ [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 20, 2020 2:06PM - 2:42PM Live |
R08.00002: Comprehensive review and strategic planning of a physics department: how to make it work for your program Invited Speaker: Neal Abraham Often when a department undertakes a “comprehensive self-study and external review” the response is to bemoan the work and it distracts everyone from regular duties that seem more pressing. By contrast I will describe how such a review can be a positive and constructive part of sustaining excellence and achieving departmental goals, particularly in making the program more accessible and inclusive. Successful completion of a comprehensive review and associated planning is an effective part of on-going planning and assessment activities, can contribute to meeting institutional accreditation requirements and will facilitate departmental resource allocation discussions with institutional leaders (dean and provost). The first step is to reimagine the process as a department-centered period of critical reflection. Steps toward making this more effective include building a positive departmental consensus about the process; critically examining and revising the department’s goals and objectives; gathering and evaluating data about its students, graduates, programs, and outcomes; considering the department’s successes and challenges; assessing and revising the department’s initiatives for improvement; engaging with senior academic leaders of the institution in the review and planning processes; thinking hard about advice from external consultants and developing a strategic plan for the future that includes short-term, mid-range and long-term initiatives that require different levels of new resources (from none to substantial). The final outcomes of a comprehensive review should include plans for subsequent and on-going reviews of outcomes and the effectiveness of initiatives. Resources for this talk come from extensive personal experience and materials developed by APS and AAPT over several decades and guidance developed under the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) Project led by APS in collaboration with AAPT. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 20, 2020 2:42PM - 3:18PM Live |
R08.00003: A toolkit for physics department advocacy (and survival) and its connection to EP3 Invited Speaker: Eric Brewe During the previous decade, a number of physics departments have faced closure either of their department altogether or programs within their departments. With a decrease in the number of college students impending or underway, further closures are inevitable. Many departments reached out to the American Physical Society during times of stress, and APS wrote letters and provided other support. In 2018, the APS Education Policy Committee established a working group dedicated to compiling resources around closure, with the idea of developing and sharing a Departmental Toolkit. In this talk we discuss the ongoing process of envisioning the Departmental Toolkit and describe the current state of the toolkit. Among the elements included in the toolkit will be examples of letters sent, materials developed by departments, as well as suggestions about strategies that departments may undertake (collecting departmental statistics, testimonials from students, and messaging strategies for example).~ [Preview Abstract] |
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