JOURNALS

Edit your own work: learn a 5-layer writing strategy from the big picture to the final proof, with structure, continuity, and clarity in between. A site with examples from law but very relevant to other disciplines, too. As supervisors or colleagues providing feedback, we can point to specific layers or sub-sections of the work that can be improved.

Referencing

ACS style (Chemistry)

APA style (Education, psychology)

Mendeley (Citation management software)

The limitations of student evaluations of teaching

Key issues: (1) significant bias in student evaluations of teaching against female and minority instructors in particular, (2) SETs report student satisfaction with the course and not learning—there is little correlation with learning outcomes. Yet, these evaluations are often used for core decisions about a person’s career, including tenure and promotion.

Anna Boring “Student evaluations of teaching are not only unreliable, they are significantly biased against female instructors”
- Present study LINK
- Original study LINK
Colleen Flaherty “Even ‘Valid’ Student Evaluations Are ‘Unfair’”, Inside Higher Ed., 2020. LINK
- Original study LINK
Colleen Flaherty “Teaching Eval Shake-Up”, Inside Higher Ed., 2018. LINK
- Related study LINK

DIfferent types of CHemistry Education Research

Chemistry education research (CER) necessarily overlaps with broader issues in education. For example, our group has worked on a diverse range of projects, including how students use the electron-pushing formalism in organic chemistry, systems thinking in chemistry education, and the research experiences of chemistry trainees who are learning English-as-an-additional language. How do these different types of projects fit within CER?

Taber (2013) and Seery et al. (2019) provide a useful framework for thinking about different types of CER:

Inherent CER: Concerns explored arise from the specific nature of teaching and learning chemistry as a curriculum subject.
Embedded in CER: Concerns explored arise from general issues in teaching and learning, but have been conceptualised within the specific context of teaching and learning chemistry.
Collateral to CER: Concerns explored arise from, and are conceptualised as, general issues in teaching and learning, and chemistry teaching/learning simply provides a convenient context for data collection.

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