Products / Reflections / … UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES? NW-PULSE @ NW Bio 2018 PATHWAYS ON THE PENINSULA: A MAP TO STUDENT SUCCESS IN BIOLOGY Peninsula College Department of Biology Barbara Blackie, Brian Edmonds, Bruce Hattendorf, and J. Brian Hauge VISION –Our unique surroundings, which lend themselves to strong experiential learning, and our commitment to student-centered learning will attract and retain students who are curious about the natural world. . Photos should be at least 300dpi, but not more than 5-12 mgs each. Your poster is set to be enlarged 200% so do not change the page size to fit another poster size. Posters (3’ x 4’) will be printed at WWU using the same purchase order at the same time. Please email your poster as a PPT file to by Joann Otto at WWU by Friday, April 13, 2018, by 5 pm. Please contact Joann Otto (Joann.Otto@wwu.edu) with questions about poster printing. Also please put your institution “logo” on your poster. Please note that this template is provided to simplify your effort to prepare a poster for the NW Biology meeting. You can change the font size, colors, column widths, add photos, institutional logos, graphics, etc. This template can also be used as a starting point and you can be as creative as you want in your poster. However, we would like to have all of the posters the same size and we will be printed at the same time, at the same print shop in order to easily pay for printing with one purchase order. MAIN GOAL– Evaluate and improve how we teach biological science. Guide our students from recruitment to graduation in a way that is efficient, stimulating, rigorous and meaningful. ACTIONS BARRIERS & CHALLENGES Products / Reflections / … We identified our college’s participation in the Guided Pathways process as a possible leverage point that would allow us to take a step back and rethink our pedagogy. Systems thinking has allowed us to reevaluate our practice on a broader scale. Guided pathways has given us a framework in which to institute change. Shifting our perspective on how students will navigate through PC allows us to see how we might better respond to student needs in biology. Faculty time is limited and may require temporary course release time to make reform possible. PARE microbiology project initiated Directed studies/capstone projects now integrated into science Pathway ORCA (Ocean Research College Academy)– exploration of this program with administration has been scheduled Second College Spark grant for contextualized learning in math and science has been awarded RESOURCES & ALLIES Many community partners like – Olympic National Park, Coastal Watershed Institute, Olympic Coast NMS Strong Service Learning program that supports community connections. NW-PULSE collaborations, online resources SUSTAINABILITY STRENGTHS & LEVERAGE Peninsula College has made a long-term commitment to Program Mapping and Guided Pathways, which includes our work through PULSE. We will be seeking ideas and support for assessing the impact of changes on recruitment and retention. Peninsula College was awarded a College Spark grant to fund Guided Pathways reform. We have developed strong community partnerships PC Science receives strong administrative support. Reform in teaching of science fits with the College’s strategic priority of being a destination college. An additional College Spark grant for contextualizing Math and Science instruction will further serve as leverage for improving teaching. PC students participate in ONP Elwha lakebed restoration projects UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES? FUTURE GOALS The space and time for faculty collaboration in pathways has resulted in our integrating directed studies/service learning/capstone into our science transfer degree. Rather than an add-on, it will be integral to the degree. Next Steps – once the pathways have been mapped out, second phase will focus on improving pedagogy. (PULSE resources will help there too). This work was supported NSF RCN UBE award # 1345033.