The Future Academic Scholars in Teaching (FAST) Fellowship Program is a cohort based professional development program designed to immerse graduate students in a rich experience in the scholarship, best-practices, and research of teaching and learning at the undergraduate level.
During the 2 semester duration of the fellowship, fellows interact with faculty who are focused on various facets of the undergraduate learning experience and academic culture. Fellows are also required to complete a teaching-as-research (TAR) project with a mentor of their choosing.
Fellows meet every week and have either large group meetings or journal club meetings. Large group meetings are designed to engage them in a particular aspect of teaching and learning or to work collaboratively and get feedback on the TAR project. Journal club meetings were designed to discuss literature about teaching and learning, or workshop materials (e.g. teaching statements) that are required to seek a job in undergraduate education.
During the 2 semester duration of the fellowship, fellows interact with faculty who are focused on various facets of the undergraduate learning experience and academic culture. Fellows are also required to complete a teaching-as-research (TAR) project with a mentor of their choosing.
Fellows meet every week and have either large group meetings or journal club meetings. Large group meetings are designed to engage them in a particular aspect of teaching and learning or to work collaboratively and get feedback on the TAR project. Journal club meetings were designed to discuss literature about teaching and learning, or workshop materials (e.g. teaching statements) that are required to seek a job in undergraduate education.
I was a FAST fellow during 2017-2018, and enjoyed my experience so much that I reapplied and was accepted to be a fellow in 2018-19 as well.
During this program, these are some the topics we discussed during our large group meetings:
In the journal club meetings, these are some of the products we worked and gave/received feedback on :
Additionally, I completed a research project titled "Influence of context on the architecture of student-generated models in an intro-bio course". I have described it on the Research Project page
- Assessing Teaching and Learning
- Teaching Statements and Philosophies
- The IRB Process
- Data Management
- Cooperative Learning
- Inclusive Classrooms
In the journal club meetings, these are some of the products we worked and gave/received feedback on :
- Storytelling - how to communicate your research in the form of a 'and-but-therefore' story.
- Teaching statements - writing and revising
- Writing Abstracts
Additionally, I completed a research project titled "Influence of context on the architecture of student-generated models in an intro-bio course". I have described it on the Research Project page
