Vision and Change in the Biology Community: Snapshots of Change

When we were first invited to write these columns, the editors felt it would be an interesting way to give the readers of CBE— Life Sciences Education an agency’s–eye view of its concerns, workings, and accomplishments. This column is written with that charge in mind. It is intended to inform the community about our outreach efforts, some of the mechanisms used, and the effectiveness of these efforts. In 2007, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched an initiative called Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education (V&C), designed to enable the biology community to address the challenges of preparing undergraduates for 21st-century biology using 21st-century findings about effective teaching strategies. Over the next 2 yr, with support from the partners listed above, the community engaged in “conversations” among faculty, administrators, students, and professional societies through a series of workshops (http://visionandchange.org/files/2010/03/VC-Prelimary -Reports-from-Conversations1.pdf). Those conversations culminated in a working conference in 2009, in which more than 500 faculty, administrators, and students pooled their collective wisdom (visionandchange .org/about). The tangible result from all this effort, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action