PEER IMPLEMENTATION CLUSTER
As part of the Inclusive Excellence innovation project, HHMI encourages grantees within a geographic region to share ideas, resources, and collaborations.
Oberlin College's Peer Implementation Cluster (PIC) includes Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, Lawrence Technological University near Detroit, MI, and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY.
Through this collaboration process, the Great Lakes PIC meets digitally periodically and convenes in-person once per year at a self-organized regional meeting.
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In May 2020, Kenyon hosted a virtual PIC meeting for participating institutions to discuss upcoming projects, as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and the switch to remote learning have shaped insights into student equity that may help inform future inclusive excellence initiatives.
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In April 2019, RIT hosted the Great Lakes PIC. Members of the HHMI teams from all four institutions participated in a one-day workshop hosted by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University and a one-day Project Kaleidoscope network meeting featuring workshops and presentations on Inclusive Excellence initiatives.
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In February 2018, Oberlin hosted the first PIC meeting for the Great Lakes region. Each institution shared a ten-minute presentation summarizing its Inclusive Excellence mission and activities to date, as well as information about their grant project assessment strategies. The visit concluded with a group brainstorm on mechanisms to continue building a community of practice in the Great Lakes PIC.
In addition, members of the PIC from Oberlin and Kenyon have convened twice in August (2018 and 2019) to participate in a Mobile Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching. MoSIs are an institution-based workshop based on Charles Henderson's four categories of change strategies to address challenges in STEM education reform at the collegiate level and support faculty in the development and adoption of evidence-based teaching. These summer workshops were launched by the National Academies and are now supported by a range of organizations, including the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The workshops were open to all faculty and staff at Oberlin and Kenyon interested in equitable education; following completion, participants were named Scientific Teaching Fellows by the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.