One of the successes of the SEI model is that it has inspired many other similar initiatives aiming to improve teaching and learning through department-based change.
Parallel initiative at the University of Colorado Boulder
The University of Colorado Science Education Initiative (CU-SEI) www.colorado.edu/sei
The CU-SEI was also directed by Carl Wieman and involved efforts to improve undergraduate science education in the departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Geological Sciences, Integrative Physiology, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, and Physics. UBC and CU actively collaborated on their efforts to improve science education on university campuses.
PhET phet.colorado.edu
Fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena from the Physics Education Technology project at the University of Colorado (and beyond).
Other efforts at UBC
Skylight: Science Centre for Learning and Teaching skylight.science.ubc.ca
Skylight, UBC's Science Centre for Learning and Teaching, is a research- and support-focused unit engaged in advancing the science behind education. Administration of the CWSEI shifted to Skylight in 2014.
SEI Course Materials System sei.ubc.ca
The Science Education Initiative Course Materials System is a repository for University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Colorado (CU) course materials, as well as notes on the purpose and design of the courses and the use and effectiveness of the materials. The system contains materials developed by departments participating in the Science Education Initiatives at UBC and CU, and is intended to be an open resource for educators.
CTLT: The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology ctlt.ubc.ca
ISoTL: The Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning isotl.ctlt.ubc.ca
Initiatives at other institutions inspired by the SEI
The SEI Handbook includes summaries of similar initiatives that have the goal of improving teaching and learning by hiring discipline-based education specialists. Included are:
- Brown University’s AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative Project: Changing the Culture of Introductory Science
- Cornell University’s Active Learning Initiative
- Imperial College London’s Learning and Teaching Strategy
- The University of Hawai‘i’s Geoscience Course Transformation Project
- The University of Kansas’ Course Transformation Initiative
Other groups or initiatives of interest
- Colorado Physics Education Technology (PhET) Interactive Simulations
- TRansforming Education, Stimulating Teaching and Learning Excellence (TRESTLE): A multi-institution, NSF-funded project adapting the embedded expertise model at other research universities to explore use of the model in several contexts. Several of the case studies above are campuses participating in the TRESTLE network.
- Accelerating Systemic Change Network (ASCN): An "open, interdisciplinary, professional network and intellectual home for individuals and groups in a broad range of disciplines who are engaged in creating and/or studying change in higher education" involving many key people from the many other initiatives listed here.
- Helping students engage productively in active learning classrooms: A set of research-based recommendations, organized into a collection of web pages, for helping students to engage productively in active learning, along with concrete examples of how to incorporate these ideas in your classroom. By Stephanie Chasteen, University of Colorado Boulder.
- PhysPort: A web resource for physics educators (and others) to learn how to teach more effectively by applying the results of physics education research and teaching methods based on these results (evolved in part out of the Physics Education Research User's Guide).
- Learning About Teaching Physics podcasts: A series of podcasts by Stephanie Chasteen and Michael Fuchs with participation by Eric Mazur, Catherine Crouch, Jenny Knight, Ed Prather, and others.
- SERC: The Science Education Resource Center: Teaching methods and activities repository for a variety of disciplines, and additional resources for geoscience educators.
- University of Washington Physics Education Group
