Apply for active learning mentoring by April 30
Could you use help in incorporating active learning into your lecture course? Engaging students in the learning process, rather than relying on lecture-based, instructor-led teaching, can be hard to do well. Working with a knowledgeable mentor can increase your success. The PALM (Promoting Active Learning and Mentoring) Network, supported by multiple professional societies and organizations, provides funding for training in active learning through mentor/mentee relationships. Apply by April 30 to join this supportive network.
How does it work?
You can choose a mentor, or organizers can help you find one. You’ll visit that mentor and work with them on a specific module or project to implement in your own class. You’ll also become part of a virtual journal club and a network of other PALM pairs to share resources and learn from each other.
PALM Fellows receive up to $2,000 for expenses associated with mentoring. Mentors receive a $500 stipend, and the Fellow and mentor each receive up to $1,000 in travel costs to present the results of their research at a meeting of their choice.
Currently, “PALMers” are working on a wide range of projects, from having students design animation models in a cell biology course, incorporating more evidence-based active learning strategies into an intro biology course, and mentoring lecture hall learning assistants, to redesigning a genetics and molecular biology course and teaching skeletal muscle contraction through reverse engineering.
More information about the PALM Network is available here, including helpful hints on the application process, a sample application and feedback, and testimonials from participants who have found the process invaluable. Deadlines for 2019 are April 30, July 30, and October 30. PALM is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
For further reading
PALM Network: Developing Science Educators One Best Practice at a Time
About the Author:
Thea Clarke is the Director of Communications and Education at the American Society for Cell Biology.
