UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 24, Page 6
March 14, 1996
Innovative approaches; Center awards instructional improvement grants
Improvement-of-Instruction grants totaling $18,070 from the
Center for Teaching Effectiveness will assist 33 faculty members. The
center's Faculty Advisory Board recommended funding for proposals in
the general category, including:
* Members of the Wakonse-East Teaching Retreat Committee,
including Evelyn Hayes, nursing; Mary Lou Liprie, individual
and family studies; Kathleen Schell, nursing; Francis Kwansa,
committee chairperson, hotel, restaurant and institutional
management; Ram Desiraju, business administration; Jo Kallal,
textiles, design and consumer economics; and James R. Soles,
Distinguished Alumni Professor of Political Science and
International Relations, received partial funding to support
the 1996 "Wakonse-East-Fourth Annual Teaching Retreat." The
annual retreat provides a forum for faculty to explore and
learn about teaching philosophies, approaches and styles.
Faculty from varied disciplines have an opportunity to learn
through a collaborative exchange of talent, ideas and
resources. The 1996 session will be May 29-31.
* Ann Ardis, Mark Amsler, John Brockmann, Jim Dean and Bonnie
Kime Scott, English; and David Teague, University Parallel
Program, Wilmington, will bring on-line six sections of four
core courses for the English major with their proposal
"Implementing Computer-based Instructional Technologies in Core
Courses for the English Major." The goal of this project is to
develop thoughtful, problem-based learning experiences with new
modes of literacy for students in core courses.
* Margaret Brabender, medical technology, and Elizabeth Jenkins
and Janice Selekman, nursing, received funding to support a
joint effort between nursing and medical technology entitled
"Phlebotomy and Other Special Procedures." This
interdisciplinary course will cross-train nursing students to
perform skills in both the hospital and community settings. The
course will be jointly taught by the two departments and
eventually may be used as a continuing education program for
health-care.
* Michael Peterson, physical education, will develop a course,
"Dynamics of Team Problem Solving," that will focus on building
team and problem-solving skills simultaneously. The course will
be designed to develop skills in problem solving, critical
thinking, decision making, communication, leadership, planning
and organizing interpersonal relationships, conflict
resolution, research, progress and task evaluation and
teamwork.
* Georgia Pyrros, mathematical sciences, received funding to
conduct workshops for international teaching assistants,
entitled "Training Project for Foreign Teaching Assistants."
These workshops will be held in late summer and early fall and
will focus on improving the teaching of calculus (M221).
Emphasis will be on assisting international TAs in
understanding the fact that American secondary education is
more difficult than the educational setting they experienced.
* In "Cooperating Teacher Supervision," Janet Smith, Karen
Edwards, Barbara Viera, Barbara Kelly and Ann McNeil, physical
education, will develop a course and a Cooperating Teachers
Handbook specific to the needs of health and physical education
cooperating teachers. This project will be a collaborative
effort between the College of Physical Education, Athletics and
Recreation and the health and physical education teachers in
New Castle County schools and surrounding states. In addition,
an electronic network will be developed for the teachers.
The center's Faculty Technology Advisory Committee awarded
$15,000 for proposals to create or use technologies in support of
instruction, including:
* Joseph Daniel, business and economics, will develop a graphical
tutorial for intermediate microeconomics students (ECON300 and
301) with his project "Intermediate Microeconomic Theory." The
tutorial, which is similar to a textbook with "live" graphs,
will be accessible to students over the World Wide Web.
* Sherry Kitto and Lesa Griffiths, plant and soil sciences, along
with Robin Morgan, Calvin Keeler, Dallas Hoover, John Dohms,
Paul Meckley, animal and food science, and Gerald Cole, food
and resource economics, received funding for their project
"Biotechnology: Science and Socio-Economic Issues." Through
this project, the standard lecture notes of 12 instructors will
be converted into a uniform, camera-ready format in which all
the lectures will have a common, video-course-associated
template. The long-term objective is to develop a framework for
interacting with distance students via satellite/video by
transmitting quality lectures.
* Ali Poorani, hotel, restaurant and institutional management,
will develop a "Paperless Classroom." Distance learning classes
predominantly use lecture formats delivered via cable or
videos. Students in this system are generally isolated from one
another and forego the advantages of interactions that take
place in traditional classroom settings, particularly in those
classes that use problem-based learning. E-mail technology is
able to provide a desirable medium for students and distant
learners to communicate instantly from the convenience of their
residences.
* Lillian Russell and John Schuenemeyer, mathematical sciences,
in "Introduction to Statistics," will totally revise an
introductory statistics course to reflect problem-based
learning, the latest advances in statistical software for the
PC and professionally prepared videos on statistical
applications. Students will work in teams throughout the
semester, and the course will be videotaped for distance
learning.
* Michael Smith, educational development, will expand the use of
instructional technology in the Elementary Teacher Education
program by revising EDDV 341 in his project "Elementary
Curriculum: Science Course." These course revisions will
benefit up to 240 majors per year and build upon recent efforts
to expand the role of instructional technology in teaching and
learning within the College of Education.
* Through "Electronic Circuit Design II and High-Speed/Microwave
Integrated Circuits," Daniel van der Weide, electrical
engineering, will help students bridge the gap between theory
and experiment through computer-based demonstrations that will
increase student understanding of circuit concepts and assist
them in problem solving. Through the use of computer software,
which will simulate circuits and laboratory instruments, the
students' "feel" for circuit behavior will be enhanced. These
tools for illustrating circuit concepts are industry-standard
applications with which students need to be familiar.
Proposals for instructional improvement grants are accepted by the Center
for Teaching Effectiveness through Oct. 11. Application packets are
available by calling 831-2027.