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| Vol. 17, No. 32 | May 21, 1998 |
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| Vol. 17, No. 32 | May 21, 1998 |
The Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education (ITUE) is off and running for its second year and has announced 43 faculty fellows and four graduate fellows from a wide range of disciplines and departments across campus, according to coordinators George Watson, physics and astronomy, and Barbara Duch, Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center.
Orientation day is today, and the institute's 1998 summer session will run from June 22- 26.
Funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $200,000, the UD program was one of only 20 selected from 80 applications nationwide to promote changes in undergraduate education through faculty development and course design.
ITUE offers a unique opportunity for professional development where faculty can share teaching experiences and strategies and learn to incorporate technology and active learning into the classroom. The fellows, in turn, become a resource for other faculty on campus, Watson said.
During some of the sessions, faculty members become "students." Divided into teams. One activity is to explore a sample problem, such as how a polluted stream affects the economy of a small town, Duch said. Using the Internet and other sources, participants research such factors as the origins of the pollution, the role of the power company, the impact of an upstream dam and how tourism affects the area. As students, faculty members experience firsthand problem-based learning, involving real life problems.
"This kind of problem is multidisciplinary, involving the whole spectrum from environmental sciences and economics to mathematics, political science, sociology and history," Duch pointed out.
"ITUE also offers opportunities for faculty to learn about technology- creating web pages and using technology, such as PowerPoint, as a teaching tool in the classroom," Watson said.
Strategies for managing classrooms and for promoting active learning by the students also are discussed, such as minimizing conflict by establishing ground rules for group work and ways to overcome student passivity and encourage active participation. Other topics include the elements of a good syllabus and writing course materials.
"One message we stress is that there are several approaches to teaching with many different models that are flexible and versatile," Duch said.
There has been interest in the program from other schools, and presentations on ITUE have been made at several conferences. This year, faculty from other institutions, such as Montclair State University and Samford University, are coming to observe the sessions, and some ITUE alumni will attend the next session. Teaching assistants who are part of a fellow's teaching team also are welcome.
Several of last year's fellows continue to get together for informal, monthly, lunch meetings, organized by ITUE leader Harold White, chemistry and biochemistry. During these times, they compare notes and talk about teaching.
Comments from last year's fellows have been positive and enthusiastic.
Araya Debessay, accounting, said he had been using group-based, interactive teaching methods for the past four years. His participation at ITUE helped him gain better insights into the benefits of group-based, active learning and how to apply this approach in the classroom. "But more importantly," he said, "I learned a great deal on how to incorporate technology in my teaching." The organizers did an "excellent job" and "being around people who are concerned about improving teaching effectiveness was an added bonus," he added.
Christine Cannon, nursing, said ITUE was an exciting experience. What she learned made a big difference in her teaching a course in pathophysiology, studying various disorders of the body. She integrated technology into the course and divided the class of 110 students into small groups to work on problems.
Ann McNeil and Barbara Kelly, both health and exercise sciences, team teach a course, "Wellness A Way of Life." McNeil said she found the technology part of ITUE especially useful, learning how to use PowerPoint for classroom presentations and how to create and publish web pages. The lunch meetings each month with other faculty fellows from across campus have complemented the summer session, she said.
Jane Lamb, consumer studies, said. "The experience was fantastic and transformed me and my approach to teaching. There was synergy among the leaders and fellows. The program was an opportunity to reflect on teaching and to view the classroom with student eyes and to become aware of active learning strategies that involve students in the course."
The ITUE Fellows for 1998 are
College of Arts and Science
Vera Kaminski, art; Florence Schmieg, biological sciences; Valerie Hans, criminal justice; Mark Amsler and Ann Ardis, with graduate fellows Johanna Gusner and Patrick Collier, English; Allan Thompson, geology; Robert Stark, mathematical sciences; Henry Nyce, parallel program; James Magee, Joseph Pika and James Soles with graduate fellows Candace Archer and Eric Leonard, political science and international relations; and Ken Campbell, psychology.
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Dallas Hoover, Mir Islam and Martin Lo, all animal and food sciences.
College of Engineering
Chin Pao Huang, Shinya Kikuchi and Hoe Ling, civil and environmental engineering; Frank Doyle and Andrew Zydney, chemical engineering; Paul Berger, Phillip Christie, John Elias, Ashfaq Khokhar, Femi Olowolafe and Jim Kolodzey, all electrical and computer engineering.
College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy
Jo Kallal, Rosetta LaFleur and Karen Schaeffer, all consumer studies; Ann Morris, William Moody, Rodney McNair and Betty Wier, all educational development; Ali Poorani, hotel restaurant and institutional management; and Daniel Shade, individual and family studies.
College of Health and Nursing Sciences:
Richard Fang, Carolyn Manning and Marie Kuczmarski, all nutrition and dietetics; Raelene Maser, medical technology; Barbara Kelly, Ann McNeil and Janet Smith, all health and exercise sciences.
English Language Institute
Mary McCloskey.
Institute leaders, in addition to Watson, Duch and White, are Deborah Allen, biological sciences; Sue Groh, chemistry and biochemistry, Harry Shipman, physics and astronomy; and Dick Wilkins, mechanical engineering. Advisers are Karen Bauer, institutional research and planning; John Cavanaugh, academic programs and planning; and Kathy Werrell, engineering.
For more information about the Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education, contact George Watson, physics and astronomy, at ghw@udel.edu or Barbara Duch, Math and Science Education Center, at bduch@udel.edu or visit the ITUE web site at http://www.udel.edu/ inst
-Sue Swyers Moncure
