Meet Our Working Groups

 

 

We use a Working Group structure to take advantage of the expertise across SEISMIC and to promote collaborative work in “themes,” rather than by discipline, institution, or title. In this way, our Working Groups are multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, have participants working in a range of roles at their institutions, and are motivated to study a specific area that will contribute to making our intro STEM courses more equitable and inclusive. We currently have four Working Groups: Measurement, Experiments, Implementing Change (formerly Structures), and Constructs. Each Working Group is led by a set of co-chairs. These co-chairs lead Working Group meetings, look for grant opportunities for their group, and work closely with SEISMIC Central to coordinate efforts across the collaboration.

VISIT OUR LEADERSHIP PAGE TO MEET OUR CO-CHAIRS

Institutional Teams can join or create a Working Group, each of which has its own set of projects

 

 

 

Each Working Group has committed to a set of “Key Projects” – projects they have decided are important for the Working Group to make progress on in the next year. Our Working Group structure also leaves space for “Additional Projects” – projects that people in the Working Group want to work on, but are not explicitly pushed forward by the overall Working Group. This distinction of projects is so we have a handful of projects we commit to making progress on in a shorter time frame, with explicit organizational support from SEISMIC Central, while we have many other projects SEISMIC participants engage in and push forward at their own pace. Below we share the focus of each Working Group, with more details on the groups and specific projects in their individual Working Group pages. SEISMIC participants can use the link at the bottom of this page to sign up to join any of our Working Groups or projects.

 

Working Group Focus

  • Measurement: Establish metrics for measuring equity and inclusion in foundational STEM courses, conduct the measurements, and identify actionable data to promote change.

 

  • Experiments: Use experiments to understand disparities and foster equity in the classroom and across multiple disciplines and universities, with an emphasis on replication and context.

 

  • Implementing Change: Present analyses on student outcomes to campus stakeholders and leverage institutional knowledge and tools to promote policy changes toward creating equitable and inclusive introductory STEM courses.

 

  • Constructs: Integrate critical frameworks and histories into STEM education research and bring in perspectives, expertise, and experiences from marginalized communities in STEM.

Info for SEISMIC Working Group Participants 

 

 

Definition of Working Group: A community of SEISMIC participants who come together around a theme of work, led by two or more co-chairs. Working Groups foster multi-institutional, multi-role, multi-discipline collaboration with people of various backgrounds.

Purpose of this document: Clear expectations and guidelines for Working Groups is one of SEISMIC Central’s key deliverables from the 2021-2022 Statement of Work. This document outlines information regarding what it means to be an active participant in each respective Working Group in hopes of encouraging involvement from people with various backgrounds in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive manner. 

Guidelines and Expectations for Participants, by Working Group:

Measurement Working Group 

  • Full Working Group meets at least once a year during the Summer Meeting; WG meetings can be called by any of the group members to discuss topics relevant to the community or the collaboration, to present relevant progress or get feedback on ongoing project-specific work
  • Regular project-specific meetings 
  • Participation means
    • Regularly attending project-specific meetings
    • Completing project-specific tasks in a timely manner
  • Bonus involvement: Providing feedback on projects to fellow Working Group members

Experiments Working Group 

  • Monthly full Working Group meetings 
  • Participation means
    • Regularly attending monthly Working Group meetings
    • Being a resource for fellow members (e.g., connect SEISMIC member to faculty member on your campus if requested)
    • Advertising Experiments projects to faculty members and teaching center consultant on your campus
  • Bonus involvement: To be involved in research projects in this Working Group, contact project leads directly

Implementing Change Working Group 

  • No regular Working Group meetings; regular project-specific meetings
    • Participation means
      • Contributing in small, specific ways to projects, as requested by project leads and/or participating directly in projects
      • Being a resource for fellow members (e.g., connect SEISMIC member to relevant presentation opportunity)
  • Bonus involvement: Presenting at national events and to campus leadership on the work of SEISMICConstructs Working Group 

Constructs Working Group

  • Full Working Group meetings once per quarter. These are open to all members. Project leads in particular are recommended to attend.
  • Regular project-specific meetings
  • Participation means
    • Completing project-specific tasks in a timely manner
  • Bonus involvement: Serving on the Constructs Funding Committee to decide how funds are spent.

Types of Projects  

Key Projects 
  • Align with Working Group goals
  • Receive organizational support from SEISMIC Central
  • Expected to make yearly progress
  • Expected to check in with Working Group leadership and SEISMIC Central on progress
  • Adhere to project lead expectations

 

Additional Projects 

 

  • Project details (description, members) may be listed on SEISMIC website Working Group page if details are provided

 How to Propose a Project 

Step #1

Fill out the project proposal google form. If the project does not align with an existing Working Group, then the proposer must propose a new Working Group, which will be reviewed by the CoCo. The following steps are assuming the project fits with an existing Working Group.

Step #2

Working Group co-chairs will review the project proposal for fit with the Working Group and alignment with the Working Group goals.

Step #3

If project proposal fits with the Working Group, the project can be accepted as an Additional Project. If the proposer wants to make this a Key Project, Working Group members will vote. If it does not fit with the Working Group, the co-chairs will provide this feedback and the proposer can revise and resubmit.