T104 On the Cutting Edge: Fifteen Years of Impacts on Geoscience Education

Monday, 23 October 2017
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 2A

PREPARING FOR AN ACADEMIC CAREER IN THE GEOSCIENCES WORKSHOP: A SUCCESS OF THE ON THE CUTTING EDGE PROGRAM

Paper number: T104-3
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:35 AM – 8:50 AM

Authors

Abstract

The annual Preparing for an Academic Career in the Geosciencesworkshop has been offered through the NAGT/On the Cutting Edge program since 2003. The main goals are for participants to become more effective teachers, stronger candidates for academic jobs, and better prepared future faculty who will be able to make a quick and effective start in teaching and research. Over 900 graduate students and post-docs have participated in these workshops. Participants engage with workshop leaders and peers from different educational settings and backgrounds, allowing participants to learn about various academic career settings (two-year colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, research-focused universities, and a range of minority-serving institutions) and varied career pathways. All participants work to improve application and interview skills for academic jobs, plan for their first academic job through goal-setting, and broaden their network of colleagues and resources.

Participant reviews of the workshop have been consistently positive, with many referring peers to future workshops, and many noting that the workshop had a positive influence on their career path. Participants appreciate the opportunity to learn more about faculty positions at different types of institutions and the academic job search, to get feedback on their teaching and/or research statements, and to meet others in a similar career stage.

Since 2016, the once stand-alone workshop has been integrated into the week-long Earth Educators’ Rendezvous (EER) as a 3-day morning workshop. With a format change from 2.5 days to 9 hours, the focus of the workshop has shifted towards goal-setting and the job search, enabling customized participation in other parts of the EER that focus on aspects of teaching practices and pedagogy as well as geoscience education research. Optional lunch discussion sessions provide insights on other topics. Embedding the Preparing for an Academic Career workshop within the week-long EER both supports long-term sustainability of this workshop and introduces future faculty members into a community of practice in geoscience education. The workshop and associated website (https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/careerprep/index.html) continue to help to prepare future faculty and ultimately improve student learning.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 49, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2017AM-303080

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