Improving STEM Education Together


Effective STEM course design is critically important for maximizing student engagement and improving student outcomes. Whether it be at the level of the syllabus, a single lesson, or an entire course, using evidence-based course design and instructional practices improve student learning and outcomes and are therefore a potent strategy to recruit new students, improve student performance, increase student retention, and fix the “leaky pipeline” in STEM. When tailored to your own specific institution and situation, you will be able to use evidence-based strategies to help your STEM students successfully navigate your program and achieve exceptional career goals.

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Justin Shaffer offers workshops, keynotes, and consulting on STEM teaching and course design.

Ian Kelley

CEO

Alberta Clarke

Support Staff

Making Impacts Happen

Dr. Justin Shaffer applies his extensive 12+ year experience in the classroom as a STEM teaching professor, his skills in discipline-based education research studying effective STEM course design and active learning, and his enthusiasm for working with faculty, future faculty, and academic leaders to partner with you to learn about how evidence-based strategies can transform your courses, teaching, programs, and student outcomes. Contact Justin to partner with him on workshops, keynotes, seminars, consulting projects, and more related to STEM course design and teaching.

CONTACT

Partnering for Change

Justin is proud to partner with Almy Education to support redesigns for STEM curricula. Work with Justin and Almy Education to re-envision your STEM course design in terms of curriculum, advising, and registration, all with the goal of improving student outcomes and faculty and staff satisfaction. We’ll help you achieve gateway success at scale for introductory biology, general chemistry, engineering, math, physics, and more.

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Ian Kelley

CEO

Alberta Clarke

Support Staff

Let’s Work Together


Reach out to Justin to schedule a time to chat about ways to partner to improve STEM course design and student outcomes in your program. Whether you are starting from scratch or have established methods in place, Justin will be able to help you positively transform your program which will result in increased student recruitment, retention, and overall success.

“I appreciate Justin’s facilitating our move forward and improving our curriculum. Many of our faculty have never gone through this type of process, so Justin not only helped us design courses that will provide a better educational experience but educated our faculty as well. Justin helped us improve both faculty and student success. We are excited about these courses.”

  Robert Dearth, Founding Director and Professor, School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

 

“Dr. Shaffer conducted a professional development workshop for BYU. He is a dynamic and engaging speaker. The workshop highlighted practical, straightforward methods to engage students more effectively. He coupled his expertise in pedagogy with compelling data on the effectiveness of these techniques. Justin was able to engage a large group of faculty from a variety of disparate disciplines and provide them all with relevant skills. Our faculty walked away inspired as well as prepared to transform their courses into high structure learning environments. I would definitely recommend him!”

Jamie Jensen, Professor, Department of Biology, BYU

“Justin is a fantastic workshop presenter, instructor, and collaborator. His enthusiasm and knowledge of subjects such as course design and active learning clearly show through in his presentations, in which he makes everyone feel engaged, welcome, and inspired. I highly recommend your department or teaching and learning center to invite Justin so that he can work with and inspire your colleagues too.”

Sami Raut, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Upcoming Events

May 2025

University of Guelph COESP Day

Keynote: High-Structure Teaching in Large Courses: What Works, What Matters

Virtual

May 2025

Ohio Strong Start in Science (partnering with Almy Education)

Workshop: Adding “how-to-student” skills to gateway STEM courses

Virtual

May 2025

California Outcomes Assessment Coordinators Hub (COACHes) SLO Talks

Talk: Impacts of high structure course design on student success

Virtual

July 2025

Minneapolis, MN

July 2025

ChemEd 2025 Conference

Workshop: High structure course design for chemistry

Golden, CO

August 2025

National Institute on Scientific Teaching National Meeting

Workshop: High Structure Course Design for STEM Disciplines

Denver, CO

Aug 2025

South Dakota School of Mines

Workshop: High Structure Course Design for STEM Disciplines

Rapid City, SD

Sept 2025

University of South Carolina College of Engineering

Seminar and Workshop: High Structure Course Design for Engineering

Columbia, SC

Engaging faculty and improving STEM course design worldwide

Previous partners for workshops, keynotes, and seminars

BYU logo

UTRGV logo

UBT logo

 

UCI logo

SFC logo

 

 

 

POD logo

SABER logo

NSTA logo

COM logo

ASEE logo

 

SPF logo

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Company Info

Recombinant Education LLC

Founded by Justin Shaffer, PhD

Golden, CO

Contact

Let’s work together! Please contact me to discuss your unique circumstances, scheduling, rates, and questions.

justin@recombinanteducation.com