Like most of my colleagues, I began teaching using the same instructional techniques that my professors used on me: lecture, homework, exams. The occasional project. Around the time I started developing the Flow Vis course, I started hearing about the idea that faculty could apply the techniques of their discipline, of research, to improving education. An iterative process is at the heart of both science and engineering; see where you are, where you want to go, go there, then check to see if you made it.

This iterative process goes under many names in the context of education, with varying levels of specificity and rigor: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL), Disciplinary Based Education Research (DBER), Physics Education Research (PER), Engineering Education Research (EER), Legacy Cycle, Teaching-As-Research, Design-Based Teaching, Professionalizing the Professoriate and probably many more that I haven’t come across yet. Some folks are firmly dedicated to a particular flavor, but to me it’s all good, and I participate in a range of activities.  I think it is important, and I try to promote it where possible. Here’s a list of activities I’m involved in:

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