Teaching a Foundation-level Inorganic Course in 2020-2021?
Consider becoming a VIPEr Fellow!
What is a VIPEr Fellow?
VIPEr Fellows are faculty who are interested in refining their institution's foundation-level inorganic chemistry course with community support. The refined course is intended to incorporate active learning strategies including literature discussions, in-class activities, and small-group work.
What would you do as a VIPEr Fellow?
Teach two iterations of your foundation inorganic chemistry course between Fall 2020 and Spring 2022 (once each academic year).
Prior to the first year, meet virtually with the project team to discuss the goals and expectations for the project.
In the first year, teach your course as usual.
During the summer between their first and second year teaching, participate in a multi-day course development workshop (in-person or online) to explore VIPEr learning objects and evidence-based teaching practices.
Choose several VIPEr learning objects, including literature discussions, to incorporate into your course.
In the second year, teach your newly redesigned course, participate in monthly group meetings to support your teaching, and be involved with the VIPEr community chat on Discord.
At the end of the second and final year, participate in an assessment meeting (in-person or online) to discuss your teaching experiences.
What data will VIPEr Fellows help collect to evaluate the success of the project?
VIPEr Fellows will work with the Project Team to obtain Institutional Review Board approval for data to be collected in their courses from their students. VIPEr Fellows will usa a small set of open-ended student assessment questions durin gthe semester, give pre/post surveys on student experiences in their course, and give the ACS Foundations of Inorganic Chemistry Examination. In addition, VIPEr Fellows will video record select lectures using equipment provided by the Project Team. Assessment and video data will be collected for the original and "VIPEr-ized" versions of VIPEr Fellows' courses. Finally, VIPEr Fellows will be asked to participate in a series of interviews before and after they teache their coureses. These data will collectively be used to evaluate the success of the newly revised courses.
What costs do VIPEr Fellows incur?
VIPEr Fellows will receive a $500 honorarium each year ($1,000 total) to compenssate for participation (US participants only). In-Person Cohort VIPEr Fellows are responsible for travel to and from the course development workshop (end of Year One) and the assessment meeting (end of Year Two). We encourage international participants to apply for the Online Cohort.
How do I apply to be a VIPEr Fellow?
Fill out this Google Form to apply.
If you have any questions about becoming a VIPEr Fellow, please contact Joanne Stewart (Hope College, Lead Principal Investigator) at stewart@hope.edu.
NSF IUSE 1726162 / 1728522 / 1726133
