PKAL Reports

Project Kaleidoscope Volume IV: What works, what matters, what lasts

This new PKAL publication, published weekly on the PKAL website at http://www.pkal.org/volume-iv, is designed as a resource for academic leaders responsible for the strength of the nation's unddergraduate programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It provides easy access to insights, ideas, and materials shaping the future of undergraduate STEM, from within and beyond the PKAL Community.

Postings to date include:

January - Recognizing, setting, and assessing goals for learning

• Considering how students learn
• Setting and assessing goals for a research-rich learning environment
• Translating a vision of strong learning into an institution-wide initiative for change
• Building a community of well-informed about the means and potential of the assessment of learning

February - Exploring promising practices at the departmental level to strengthen student learning

• Incorporating an internal persepective in strengthening disciplinary departments
• Recommendations on how to put dysfunctional or under-performing departments on the road to becoming a vital department
• Putting development of faculty at the heart of activities to build a department of distinction
• Understanding the roles of different leaders -- deans, chairs, faculty -- in ensuring vital departments