Undergraduate Science Educators’ (USE) Network
Enhancing undergraduate science education through community and collaboration
Details
The Undergraduate Science Educators’ (USE) Network is a community led by Azim Premji University that connects educators, researchers, and practitioners across India to reimagine how undergraduate science and mathematics are taught and learned.
Today’s higher education landscape is shifting rapidly. As technology advances and modern science evolves, instructors face the challenge of preparing students for a complex world while keeping learning active and engaging. Teaching science at the college level comes with unique rewards and distinct challenges: bridging diverse student backgrounds, designing meaningful laboratory experiences on modest budgets, and making complex conceptual frameworks come alive. Yet, much of the available pedagogical literature and instructional material remains heavily borrowed from Western contexts, leaving a clear gap for resources tailored to local classrooms. The USE Network exists so that no instructor has to solve these challenges in isolation.
We are building a vibrant, collaborative community of practice dedicated to grounded, classroom-tested pedagogy. By bringing together educators across regions and institutions, we facilitate the exchange of practical strategies, peer mentorship, and open-access teaching resources tailored specifically to the Indian educational landscape.
What we do
Our work is built around the following core programmes designed to support educators at every stage of their teaching practice:
- Regular meetings and regional gatherings
- Professional fellowship programme
- Thematic clusters and paired collaborations
- USE open digital repository
Teaching improves when educators have a dedicated space to talk openly about what happens in their classrooms and laboratories.
- Monthly online gatherings: Every month, network members meet virtually to share classroom innovations, discuss common pedagogical hurdles, and hear from guest practitioners exploring new approaches to science education.
- Bi-annual regional conferences: Twice a year, we move from screen to classroom with in-person regional meetings. These gatherings focus on hands-on pedagogical workshops, regional networking, and localised teaching contexts.
The upcoming regional conference will be hosted by Azim Premji University at the Indian Heritage Academy in Bengaluru, and we actively invite partner institutions interested in hosting future editions. Please write to usenetwork@apu.edu.in.
Designed specifically for early-career faculty and aspiring educators, this immersive fellowship bridges pedagogical theory with real classroom application.
Fellows undergo a structured two-part mentorship:
- Virtual mentorship (1 – 2 months): Working alongside experienced university faculty to explore contemporary assessment design, active learning strategies, and contextual curriculum development.
- On-campus residency (2 weeks): A fully funded residency involving direct classroom observations, collaborative teaching exercises, and real-time implementation of new instructional tools.
All materials developed during the fellowship are published directly to USE Network’s open repository.
Fellows receive a stipend alongside full lodging and meals during their campus residency.
To ensure peer learning stays focused and actionable, the network operates two specialised collaboration modes:
- Thematic sub-groups: Working groups focused on targeted pedagogical challenges. Members join clusters based on interest, delving into topics such as:
- Design of low-cost and improvised laboratory experiments
- Grounding scientific concepts in real-world, context-dependent scenarios
- Empowering student ownership through active learning and peer collaboration
- Inclusive, formative assessment design that goes beyond rote recall
- Supporting differentiated instruction for diverse student backgrounds
- Meaningful integration of educational technology and AI tools into the classroom
- Peer-paired collaboration: A one-on-one partner model pairing instructors across institutions. Pairs engage in mutual syllabus reviews, exchange feedback on teaching observations, and offer steady peer support. This is especially focused on helping early-career educators construct durable professional networks.
Good teaching ideas shouldn’t stay locked inside a single lecture hall or laboratory. The USE Open Digital Repository is an open-access library of teaching and learning resources explicitly designed for Indian higher education contexts. Every resource in the repository emphasises adaptability, low overhead costs, and relevance to local student realities.
Explore and contribute materials across key categories:
- Contextualised laboratory experiments and low-cost experiment and equipment design
- Active-learning, interactive classroom guides, and inquiry prompts
- Student workbooks and problem sets
- Complete course syllabi and modular unit plans
The repository is under development. Please contact usenetwork@apu.edu.in if you would like to contribute resources.
Join the Network
Whether you are looking to refine a single lab module, connect with peers facing similar classroom dynamics, or contribute your own field-tested teaching materials, there is a place for you in the USE Network.
- Attend an upcoming meeting: Check our events page to sign up for the next monthly virtual session.
- Apply for the Fellowship: Read the professional fellowship application guidelines for our upcoming cohort.
- Submit resources for the digital repository: Share your own work with the community.
For any questions, contact us at usenetwork@apu.edu.in