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PRESIDENTS TEACHING SCHOLARS: PROJECTS PTSP TASK FORCES Each PresidentÕs Teaching Scholar is a member of one of the four currently operating task forces, each representing a Presidential initiative for the improvement of teaching and learning. Below are the titles of the individual task forces followed by a list of their members as well as a summary of a recent occasional paper prepared by each task force: á Examining the Core Curriculum: Rex Burns (Chair), Jack Kelso, John Taylor, Michael Grant, Leslie Burrows Paper summary: The task force prepared a list of topics concerning the concept of t a core curriculum that were worthy of debate. Below are some of the issues raised in their paper: á If there is to be a core curriculum, should it be a system-wide, a campus-wide, or a college-wide curriculum? á Should the stated aim of the core curriculum be the inculcation of learning skills or the production of a Òbroadly education personÓ? á Should core courses introduce students to the history and aims of a discipline or should they Òdemonstrate and explore the disciplineÕs method so that students can appreciate the pertinence and general importance of that kind of approach to knowledgeÓ? á Concerning the scope of core courses, should they be a broad introduction to a subject area (science, social sciences, humanities) or concentrate on specific skill areas (computational ability, writing, critical thinking)? á Should there be a mechanism for evaluation the performance of the core curriculum, such as a general examination for sophomores or conditional passing before attaining upper division status? á What effect would a core curriculum have on freshman and transfer student entrance requirements? á First-Year Seminars: Clayton Lewis (Chair), Dale Meyer, Anne Costain, Jerry Flack, Lee Chambers-Schiller, Douglas Burger Paper summary: First-year seminars will be offered on the Boulder, Colorado Springs and Denver campuses starting in the Fall 1992 semester. Teaching Scholars will teach some of the Boulder seminars using guidelines worked out last year by a group of Boulder scholars and influence by the seminar taught during Spring 1992 by Marty Bickman and Marry Ann Shea. Many issues connected with these seminars need to be explored, including: á What are the goals of the first-year seminars and how will the seminars address these goals? á Can these goals be met by other kinds of activities, such as research apprenticeships? á How should seminars for first-year students differ from seminars for other students? á Are there ways in which first-year seminars can contribute to significant changes in the pattern of education? á Could the seminars be linked to residence as a way of promoting intellectually oriented social groups? á Faculty Development Program for Assistant Professors: James Palmer and Mary Ann Shea (Co-Chairs0, Robert Averbach, William Krantz, Robert Pois, Norton Steuben, Klaus Timmerhaus, Barbara Swaby, Michael Cummings, Martin Bickman, Ronald Melicher, Richard VanDeWeghe, and Frederick Coolidge. Paper summary: The projected program for in-coming new faculty would have three long-term benefits: 1) to impress on new faculty the importance of teaching in the UniversityÕs operations; 2) to offer pedagogical knowledge and skills to foster the participantsÕ ongoing development as teachers; and 3) to create among new faculty a sense of community based on a discussion of teaching and the need for collaborative efforts to make it truly excellent. Also in the paper, the task force raised the following issues for discussion: á Should the Faculty Development Program for Assistant Professors be voluntary or mandatory? á Should a stipend/honorarium be paid to participants and presenters in the Program? á Should there be a ÒNew Faculty RetreatÓ each May to serve as a Òcapstone experienceÓ of faculty membersÕ first year as university instructors? á Should there be a series of ongoing symposia on teaching throughout the academic year as support for new faculty? á Should departmental efforts to assist new facultyÑsuch as mentoring and team teachingÑbe incorporated in this Program? á Evaluation and Compensation of Teaching: Laura Goodwin (Chair), James Burkhart, John Mays, Ed Rivers, Clyde Tucker, Donald Warrick Paper summary: The task force issued a Ògeneral messageÓ saying, ÒWe encourage innovativeness and flexibility in the evaluation and compensation of teaching, and we need to discipline ourselves (as a University community) to make the evaluation process Ôuser-friendly.ÕÓ More specifically, the task force made a number of recommendations in several areas as part of a review of the entire process of evaluation and compensating teaching. Some of their more innovative recommendations were: á New teaching faculty should be required to attend Òa one-day seminar dealing with teaching methods, philosophy, and excellence in teaching.Ó á Each candidate for tenure and/or promotion should submit a teaching portfolio. á Peer reviewers should be chosen based on Òa demonstrated commitment to teaching excellence and awareness of teaching methodologies.Ó á The university should establish endowed chairs for teaching excellence as well as a program of ÒDistinguished Teaching Professorships.Ó á Search committees for administrators should give Òstrong considerationÓ to candidates who have Òdemonstrated a commitment to teaching.Ó á Teaching and research should be equally valued and compensated. TEACHING SCHOLARS PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS á Marvin F. Anderson (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Denver) would like to improve the teaching effectiveness of his department in which many of the instructors with little previous teaching experience join the staff. The method used would be videotaping of classes using a mobile two-camera unit with consultations to follow. á Robert E. Averbach and Denise Kassebaum (School of Dentistry, Health Science Center) experimented with a formal Òproblem-basedÓ curriculum. In problem-based learning, a problem is presented, analyzed, and the knowledge needed to understand it identified. It was hypothesized that this style of learning fosters intellectual curiosity and critical thinking skills necessary in professional education. Averbach and Kassebaum taught a divided oral radiology course to 17 students. Of the 12 class sessions in the course 7 were taught using a lecture format and the remaining 5 sessions were case-based. Students completed an anonymous questionnaire following each class period, which asked them to rate the method used in that particular class according to 8 Likert scale items. The summer of their results is taken from their published report (with co-author George E. Fryer, Jr.) ÒStudent Preference for a Case-based vs. Lecture Instructional Format,Ó Journal of Dental Education 55 (1991): 781-4: (1) The students enjoyed participating in case-based discussion formats more than listening to a conventional lecture, and the case discussion held their attention better during a class session. (2) The students believed that the case-based format better enabled them to ask questions and make comments during class. (3) The case-based format helped to build student confidence about the subject matter and helped them to remember the material better than the conventional lecture format. (4) The students did not believe that a case-based format prepared them as well for written examinations as a lecture format did, although they believed it better prepared them for their future profession. á Martin Bickman (English, Boulder) is designing a book bearing the working title American Writers and Radical Education: Transcendentalism and Pragmatism. This study will explore the hypothesis that education in this country has more often than not been Òexperimental, student-centered, process-oriented, and constructivistÓ in its philosophy. This view is quite distant from the neo-conservative concepts that knowledge consists of discrete bits of information which when added up represent cultural literacy and that literature teaches a close set of indisputable Òvalues.Ó The author will support his views by referring to nineteenth century writers, people who usually perceived a close connection between writing and teaching: Emerson, Thoreau, Stowe, Whitman, Melville, William James, and Henry Adams. á William Briggs (Mathematics, Denver) has initiated the HOST: Helping Our Student Teach program to provide preparation and assistance to mathematics teaching assistants. This project recognizes the unique and critical role that teaching assistants play in teaching in higher education: as graduate students they contribute significantly to the overall teaching mission of the institution, and as future faculty members, they will determine the quality of teaching in tomorrowÕs universities. These students quite appropriately become members of the UniversityÕs research culture; they must also come to know its teaching culture. The first HOST workshop was held in November 1993. Beginning in 1994, there will be pre-semester organization meetings the week before each semester begins, and a late summer two-day workshop for new and continuing TAs. With the involvement of CU-DenverÕs Office of Teaching Effectiveness, the workshops and meetings provide assistance with mechanics of teaching, present alternate teaching methods, allow for discussion of teaching problems, feature peer-critiqued mini-classes, and create a community support system for TAs. Hopefully the program can become a model for similar initiate in other departments. This program is enabled by PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars funds. á Douglas Burger (English, Boulder), responding to an upsurge of interest in the way male values and male identity are structure, is developing a course in literature and male gender. Among the issues he hopes to explore are the historical place of fathers in the family during the 20th century, how male behaviors and character are constructed in literature, and the image of typical male behavior in films. á James Burkhart (Chair, Physics and Geology, Colorado Springs), in cooperation with the Colorado Alliance for Science of the Pikes Peak Region, wants to bring science into public school classrooms of the area through a school visitation program which will be an extension of the ÒMagic in ScienceÓ show which he has presented at area schools for a number of years. Burkhart would like to expand the program with the help of volunteers from local high tech companies. Burkhart would screen these volunteers, conduct workshops to prepare them for their performances, arrange independent funding, and liaison between the science program and science teachers at area schools. By unifying what are now several separate corporate programs, he hopes to improve the quality, the efficiency, and the public awareness of science visitations in the Colorado Springs area. á Rex Burns (English, Denver) plans to involve graduate Teaching Assistants in the cooperative teaching of a section of undergraduate English. The project will involve the Teaching Assistants in team teaching (monitored by videotaping), group discussions after the class, and combined development of examinations and tutorials. á Leslie Burrows (Dentistry, Health Sciences Center) has established a special program for students called the ÒSaturday Scholars.Ó The idea is to provide extra opportunities for students to learn, just for the love of learning. The guideposts are that: (1) in any course, the activity (whatever it might be) is made available immediately at the completion of a course, (2) it does not affect their course grade, (3) the students do not receive any credit and (4) participation is not recorded on the studentÕs transcript. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of a number of faculty, students, oral surgery residents, staff and the Colorado State Anatomical Board, Les was able to launch the first ÒSaturday ScholarsÓ for first year dental students in December of 1993. The day revolved around study of the Tempromandibular joint including patients symptoms, surgical techniques, audiovisual tapes of arthroscopic surgery of the join and performance of surgical procedures on anatomical specimens. Les notes that 25% of the class attended the session, giving up a day of Christmas vacation in order to do so, and that: I think this is a remarkable level of attendance. I am very proud of our first year students who have dramatically demonstrated a thirst for knowledge and a dedication to the work ethic. á Lee Chambers-Schiller (Chair, History, Boulder) has worked with the Director of Graduate Studies in the History Department to develop a series of workshops on teaching for their graduate student teachers. History is the first department on the Boulder campus to require their graduate student teachers to be enrolled in the Graduate Teacher Program and work toward certification. The graduate students must participate in this program as part of their eligibility for Teaching Assistant and Graduate Part-Time Instructor appointments within the department. A second part of the eligibility program is a 20-hour component to be completed within the History Department. Chambers-Schiller will assist with the development of workshops to be take to fulfill the in-department requirement. She is designing a ÒprofessionalizationÓ program for History graduate students who intend to teach at universities or colleges. The program will provide the guidance and training the graduate students need in order to be successful in their first teaching jobs and will include a series of workshops and pamphlets addressing teaching, research, and service. Also included will be a component on mentoring of graduate students by graduate faculty. She feels that HistoryÕs training program will be a useful model for other CU departments to adopt for preparing their graduate teachers for teaching careers. á Frederick L. Coolidge (Psychology, Colorado Springs) plans to institute a course entitled ÒHow to Teach More Effectively.Ó Designed for current professors and lecturers, the course will employ both texts and videotaping of the participantsÕ classes to aim for increased self-awareness and consciousness of what has to be done to improve instruction. á Michael Cummings (Political Science, Denver) suggests three methods that he would like to implement to assist in improving the teaching skills of honorarium (non-tenured) faculty. First, he would like funds to be made available for one or more of these faculty members to attend symposia or workshops on teacher development. Second, he would set up a sequence with one of these instructors of videotaping classes and subsequent progress assessment sessions in order to identify and work on problem areas. Third, he would pay volunteers from an instructorÕs class to engage in small-group discussions to identify aspects of the course which could be improved and to make suggestions as to how these improvements could be implemented. á James H. Curry (Applied Mathematics, Boulder) formed a study group/seminar of faculty and graduate students to discuss issues surrounding teaching lower division applied mathematics. In particular, the group is reading several books focused on that topic. The goal of the seminar is to raise interest levels about teaching and to guarantee that future generations of teaching assistants and faculty in applied mathematics have a greatly enhanced perception and understanding of the need to be effective instructors at all levels. á Jerry D. Flack (School of Education, Colorado Springs) intends to create a newsletter for the Colorado Springs campus on teaching methods. The newsletter is to be published quarterly and will feature articled on practical matter related to teaching. Material for the newsletter will be solicited from faculty currently teaching in all departments and on all campuses of the University of Colorado. á Jerry Flack (Education, Colorado Springs) conceived of, helped to create, and serves as the membership chair of the Colorado Academy of Educators for the Gifted, Talented, and Creative. The Academy promotes excellence and high standard among educators who teach and guide the scholarship of highly talented young people. Flack also continues to publish a service journal for teachers and parents of talented youth. Recent issues have explored techniques, strategies, and resources for teaching technical writing skills and visual literature. á Laura D. Goodwin and Elizabeth B. Kozleski (both School of Education, Denver) have designed a study exploring student perceptions of the junior scholarÕs philosophy of teaching, based on the premise that Òeffective teachers are consistent across their philosophies, their teaching methodologies, and their student evaluation procedures.Ó The Teaching Scholars are currently collecting data. á Laura D. Goodwin and Ellen Stevens (School of Education, Denver) conducted a study among faculty at all four CU campuses investigating how attitudes toward ÒgoodÓ teaching compare across genders. Specific areas studies included teaching philosophies, teaching methods, student evaluation methods, and perception of changes in teaching practices. Data were collected by random sampling methods from all four campuses of the University and a sub-sample of respondents who were interviews. Goodwin and Stevens discovered that males and females agreed or agreed strongly that ÒgoodÓ teachers are knowledgeable about the subject matter, are concerned about improving studentsÕ higher-order thinking, give feedback often, state clearly course objectives, and are friendly and approachable. Female respondents indicated that ÒgoodÓ teachers attempt to improve their studentsÕ higher order thinking, use visual aids, enhance students self-esteem, and encourage student interaction and class participation. Most respondents thought that feedback from students and faculty was helpful, as was personal experimentation. Findings were reported in an article titled ÒThe Influence of Gender on University Faculty MembersÕ Perceptions of ÔGoodÕ Teaching,Ó to be published in the Journal of Higher Education. á Michael Grant Ð 1996 (EPO Biology, Boulder) The PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars Program will be sponsoring a free public lecture series entitled ÒEvolution and How Humans Fit In.Ó These lectures will cover: (1) basics of the scientific approach to evaluating evolutionary ideas, (2) basic process of evolution, (3) the astounding scope and power of evolutionary concepts, (4) some initial connections to everyday human events, (5) natural experiments in evolution, (6) parasitism: some special cases in evolution, (7) food getting as a key to understanding human evolution, (8) stories that bones can tell, (9) current views on human evolution, (10) how modern humans are often at odds with their own biology, (11) rarity of cancer in pre-historic times, and (12) how to play cancer roulette with better than average odds. Each talk will last approximately 1 hour and there will be an additional hour of question and discussion for those who wish to participate. The talks will be designed for the general public assuming no special background; they will be held in the Fiske Planetarium and Science Center on the Boulder campus at 7:30 each Wednesday from September 11 through October 23, 1996. Please come and invite your friends! Seating will be limited to 200 per lecture. á Michael Grant (EPO Biology, Boulder) wants to work with William B. Krantz (Chemical Engineering, Boulder) to develop a system by which student interest, student class activity, and instructor activity could be electronically monitored simultaneously in the classroom. Equipment used would be a button-operated response system for to hold and a dual video camera setup for taping the class. By using these methods feedback can become as immediate as the event Ð the class Ð itself. Grant has been invited to be a speaker at an international conference sponsored by the American Association of Higher Education titled ÒFaculty Roles and Rewards.Ó The conference will focus on the rationale, implementation, and operational experience of faculty teaching academies, i.e. the programs like the PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars Program, at three major universities Ð Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Colorado. The experiences, results, problems and recommendations from each of these three universities will be shared with administrators and faculties from many other institutions who wish to consider this type of strategy themselves. á Nancy Hill (Humanities, Boulder) mentored Nancy Fredricks, a junior colleague in her department. á Thomas P. Huber (Geography and Environmental Studies, Colorado Springs) will work on creating effective ways to use computer-based instruction in a variety of courses in geography at UCCS. This project will be designed to assess computer-based education for very technical subjects such as geographic information systems to areas where computers are less ubiquitous such as human culture and geography. á Jack Kelso (Honors Program, Boulder) and Kristine Fitch (Communication, Boulder) during their work together as mentor/mentee to improve teaching discovered that they share a combination of interests and experience in bringing the practical potential of their disciplines to the attention of undergraduates. The discovery has resulted in a Career Workshop titled ÒSeams and Stretchmarks: A Career Workshop for Students in the Humanities and Social Sciences.Ó The workshop begins with the assumption that students customarily regard the task of finding employment upon graduation as a problem that requires them to obtain skills of value to business, government, and industry. Yet it is clear from the implications of their work that a multitude of human needs are simply not addressed by these agencies, needs which majors in social sciences and humanities are eminently qualified to address and which, if addressed, could be used as a basis for earning a living. The workshop offers students a strategy for identifying and addressing such needs. Mentoring. Beginning in 1990 PresidentÕs Teaching Scholar Jack Kelso engaged in a mentoring relationship with Junior Teaching Scholar Kristine Fitch. The following summaries offer an impression of the mentoring relationship from both viewpoints Ð that of the mentor and of the mentee Ð reflecting the richness and benefit of the experience for both. Jack KelsoÕs Reflections: In a communication to Mary Ann Shea, Director of the PTSP, Professor Kelso remarked that the Òopportunity to participate in the instructional experiences of a fresh, new, faculty member was invigoratingÉÓ Further, Professor Kelso noted that the experience of working with a Junior Teaching Scholar Òhelped me see how I teach from a fresh perspective.Ó Kristine FitchÕs Reflections: In and e-mail communication late in the Spring of 1992 semester, Professor Fitch shared with Professor Kelso her thoughts on teaching and mentoring: After observing me, you noted two problems: I was presenting a body of ÒfactsÓ without a story or argument to make it coherent and I was hiding behind a professional demeanor that created both distance and confusion on the part of the students. A light went on in my head that these two were related, so what I then tried to do differently was to tell a story of why the subject matter was interesting and crucially important to meÉ I think I probably came off as more confident, relaxed, and dynamic; but beyond the stylistic things, the subject matter took on clarity and coherence it hadnÕt had before and was unlikely ever to approach, if I continued on the course I was going (trying to learn more and more ÒfactsÓÉ). I saw it as seeing, and showing the students, the Òbig pictureÓ that made these isolated facts meaningful. Reflecting on the mentoring relationship she enjoys with Professor Kelso, Professor Fitch commented: The value of this mentoring relationship to me has taken a number of forms; you told me things about my teaching that I certainly was in no position to see for myself, and that observers from my department had never noticed (my guess is, because they know the Òbig pictureÓ and were listening for the main points to be made). The really important techniques you showed me were how to work participative learning into large lecture classes and how to get students to discover what they should know instead of me telling them. One way to put it is, thereÕs plenty of weight on the side of doing research: colleagues to talk to, conferences to be present at, deadlines to meet, reviewers to answer to. Having a teaching mentor may be the only way to equalize the pull so that teaching gets something approaching equal time. I could go on and on Ð á Jack KelsoÕs (Anthropology, Boulder) project as a PresidentÕs Teaching Scholar consists in the main of organizing, offering, contributing to, and serving as the Instructor of Record for a new course, Introduction to Honors. This course is designed primarily for 60 first-year students eligible to participate in the Honors Program. The content of the course consists of 12 weeklong two-part presentations by PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars. Every week a scholar makes a presentation to the entire class on a topic which she or her regards as an important aspect of his or her area of specialty. Later in the week the Teaching Scholar then meets with each of four recitations for further discussion of the issue in a small group format. Teaching Scholars contributing this semester come from both the Denver and Boulder campus and from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of Law, and from the College of Business Administration. Students thus obtain an exposure to unusually broad of context areas and receive that exposure from those recognized for their teaching ability. The students tell Kelso they love the course. á Donald J. Kleier (Dentistry, Health Sciences Center) has initiated the use of CD-ROM for take home lecture reviews. The project will use propriety software to produce photo CD portfolio discs. These discs will present color educational modules that are coupled to audiocassette and instructional manuals in two specific areas of dentistry: dental trauma and endodontic surgery. Once the discs are produced, students will be able to run the presentations in the computer lab or by checking out a portable photo or CD player. The presentations can be run on any color television and will allow students to review current knowledge and techniques in settings other than in the classroom. Kleier is in the process of acquiring the necessary hardware to author the portfolio discs. á William B. Kratz and Klaus D. Timmerhaus (both Chemical Engineering, Boulder) are planning an exhibit, tentatively titled the ÒOutstanding Educators Exhibit,Ó focusing on teaching excellence at the University of Colorado. Probable site for the display would be on the Boulder Campus in the CU Heritage Center, the repository of items relating the history of the University. Kratz and Timmerhaus envisage both a static exhibit, featuring various outstanding educational programs on the campus, major teaching award winners, textbooks written by faculty, and a dynamic video exhibit highlighting outstanding teachers at CU. á Clayton Lewis (Computer Science, Boulder) reacting to the reluctance of his colleagues to discuss teaching, is starting an ongoing series of informal discussions of teaching methods to occur during lunch. As senior faculty members might be uncomfortable being labeled as experts on teaching and being asked to deliver talks on teaching, the format chosen for these discussions is indirect. Lewis interviews a faculty member and the interviewer-interviewee dialogue becomes the focus for a wide-ranging discussion and exchange of ideas. Lewis is involved in a second project, also based on interviewing. He is developing a methodology and procedure for interviewing new faculty members at the Boulder campus. Lewis hopes to reach a fuller understanding of both the problems faced by new faculty and the ways in which they might be better supported in their new roles as university professors. á John R. Mays (College of Engineering, Denver) mentored assistant professor Gita Alaghband (Computer Science, Denver). á Ronald Melicher (Business Administration, Boulder) feels that one area of perceived neglect in the College of Business relates to the lack of orientation and guidance of new junior faculty hires in helping them become ÒgoodÓ teachers. He proposes to plan, develop, and initiate a program designed to assist junior faculty in their first year of teaching (as well as junior faculty with some teaching experience that are hired from other universities). The program would begin with an initial orientation, a senior faculty member in the same area designated to mentor the junior faculty member (including an exchange of classroom visits), and use of the videotape consultation service (as made available through the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program). Melicher views this as a yearlong endeavor. He would also like to put in place a somewhat similar program for new non-tenure track faculty hires including a less intensive program for part-time faculty. MelicherÕs second goal is to develop a forum for improving teaching at the graduate level (MBA/MS programs). This would encourage involvement by both junior and senior faculty. Teaching at the graduate level has its own set of unique concerns separate from those at the undergraduate level. He wants to develop both faculty and student workshops that would address Ògood teaching characteristics.Ó He intends to utilize the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program services in conjunction with these workshops. For the Graduate Student Workshop, Melicher intends to use the 37-item survey of Ògood teaching characteristicsÓ in an effort to develop student responses and interactions as to the relative importance of these items in a Graduate Management Program. The Faculty Workshop would revolve around the classroom observation and the good teaching characteristics survey, as well as the potential value of videotape consultations in improving individual faculty teaching abilities. á Dale Meyer (Business and Administration, Boulder) has conducted (with Kathy Petersen of Business) a survey of alumni to ascertain the characteristics of teachers cited as excellent by respondents. An open-ended survey was presented to Boulder alumni (from the years 1956/61/66/71/76/81/86/90) containing three questions: 1) What were the characteristics and behaviors of the professor(s) who had a positive, long-term impact on you?; 2) What were the characteristics and behaviors of the professor(s) who had a negative, long-term impact on you?; and 3) General comments on your educational experience at CU-Boulder. The characteristics mentioned by the 100 alumni respondents were then ranked and compared to rankings in a published study of undergraduate students. The report of the survey results indicate those attributes in a teacher that are considered most important to alumni and how they differ from the attributes ranked highly by the undergraduates. According to Meyer and PetersenÕs report, CU alumni valued most highly in their former professors their personality characteristics, their concern and respect for students and their ability to motivate students to do their best by setting high performance standards. Undergraduates, on the other hand, are reported by Feldman (1988) as valuing the instructorsÕ sensitivity to and concern with class level and progress, their preparation and organization, their knowledge of the subject matter and their stimulation of interest in the course. Finally, Meyer and Petersen also ranked the factors that alumni saw as contributing to the ineffectiveness of their former instructors. The top factors in this ranking were negative personality characteristics, lack of concern and respect for students, and lack of enthusiasm. Meyer continues his longitudinal study of alumni perceptions of their Ògreat teachersÓ to further identify the sources the sources of lasting impacts of professors. This work also explores sources of lasting negative impacts of poor teaching practices. Meyer also continues to mentor several assistant professors. He plans to do a careful analysis of the distinguishing characteristics of the PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars by class visits and seminars on what visitorÕs observe about PresidentÕs Teach Scholars. Meyer is presently mentoring Lisa Penaloza, an assistant professor in the College of Business. He also taught this fall with other PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars in Jack KelsoÕs Honors course ÒIntroduction to Honors,Ó á Wesley Morriston (Philosophy, Boulder) is mentoring assistant professor Claudia Mills (Philosophy, Boulder). á Wesely Morriston (Philosophy, Boulder) and Claudia Mills (Philosophy, Boulder) are the Faculty Sponsors of the Undergraduate Philosophy Camp, Department of Philosophy. The Department of PhilosophyÕs First Undergraduate Philosophy Camp took place at Snow Mountain Ranch, taking its theme ÒThe Meaning of LifeÓ and including discussions emanating from studentsÕ viewing of the film ÒMindwalk,Ó reading of TolstoyÕs ÒMy ConfessionÓ and Thomas NagelÕs ÒThe Meaning of LifeÓ and ÒreaderÕs theater presentationÓ of SartreÕs ÒNo Exit.Ó The Camp closed on Sunday morning with a discussion of the question: ÒWhat is Philosophy For?Ó The camp was structured to have a reasonable amount of philosophical content while not resembling school in any way and plenty of free time for winter recreation and informal conversation. The camp commenced on a Friday evening and concluded on the following Sunday morning. 16 Philosophy majors participated; Wes would like to see the number grow to 25-30. The camp was deemed an unqualified success É conversation was consistently lively Ð students welcomed and eagerly participated in the free ranging, less formally structured philosophical conversation Ð and faculty and students alike fully enjoyed their time together in this context. á Robert A. Pois (History, Boulder) has been mentoring Paul Erhard, an assistant professor in the College of Music. He is also interested in conducting a longer-term project dealing with problems faced by women colleagues in classroom situations. á David Prescott (Molecular, Cellular, and developmental Biology, Boulder) has, for the last several years, been developing a program of individual instruction for undergraduates in research. This has three components: (1) Learning intricate and demanding techniques of laboratory procedures and designing experiments to answer a significant question in molecular genetics. (2) Learning how to think analytically and critically about the process of creating new knowledge. (3) Learning to present and interpret experimental findings by writing a concise, clear honors thesis. Prescott believes that this kind of one-on-one experience in the most intense and effective teaching method he knows. It is extremely beneficial for those few students who can do it. The disadvantage is its expense; he can only work individually with five or six undergraduates at any one time, but it is an important addition to conventional classroom teaching. á Joan E. Klingel Ray (English, Colorado Springs) is currently working with the Director of Composition at UCCS, Debbie Odell, to try to make Òwriting across the curriculumÓ a reality on their campus. Odell teaches a peer-tutoring course and has incited several faculty to explain to the class how they used writing in their courses Ð courses ranging from fine arts to mathematics. The presentations gave Ray and Odell the idea to create a forum when faculty could share with one another some new and practical ways to use writings in their own courses. In Spring 1995 the bi-weekly forums will begin meeting in 50-minute sessions. Each meeting will feature two faculty members who will give ten-minute presentations describing their writing assignments, philosophies, successes and failures. Ray believes that Ògetting faculty together to talk about writing will show us that we have a lot of unrecognized expertise, talent and innovationÓ going on in the classrooms that can be shared and applied in other courses. They have tentatively named their forum ÒFaculty Talking with Faculty about Using Writing in the Classroom.Ó á Ed Rivers (English and University Writing Program, Boulder) has written ÒConfessions of a Mask: A Personal View of teachers and TeachingÓ for the third volume of On teaching, published by the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program. Rivers worked on the essay off and on for about a year, consulting with colleagues and students before completing the final version. He hopes that the essay Òwill open us a couple of new perspectives on teaching, although as the subtitle says, it claims to be no more than a Ôpersonal view.ÕÓ He says that the essay forced him to discover what he really thinks about teaching. In 1989 he began mentoring Martha Hanna (History, Boulder) and says about the mentoring experience, ÒIf I were ever assigned to mentor anybody who really does need it Ð unlike Martha Ð I would try to serve not as a role model, but as a Òrole-anti-model.Õ The ÔmenteeÕ would get a stern rebuke for imitating me or anybody else, just as students in my writing classes often get the same rebuke. Since Martha was already very much her own woman, in full control of herself and her classes, and practicing a very different teaching style of he own, she didnÕt need any meddling from me. Although he welcomed me graciously and asked lots of respectful questions, I somehow managed to find the good sense to butt out rather quickly.Ó á Norton Steuben and Ann Estin (School of Law, Boulder) mentoring partners, have developed a very specific aid designed to assist their School of Law colleagues. Citing the typical lack of teacher training for entry-level law teachers, Estin and Steuben plan to establish a library of videotapes which will assist law faculty in achieving higher standards of instruction. The core of the library will be a series of taped classes covering all of the likely parameters of law classrooms: large and small class sizes, lower and upper-division courses, and statutory and common law subject areas. Estin and Steuben foresee these tapes as being valuable resource materials which will be especially helpful to beginning law teachers. á John R. Taylor (Physics, Boulder) is working to improve learning in his introductory physics course. Taylor notes: Recent research has shown that most introductory physics course impart remarkable little understanding of any physical principles. Taylor is trying to find ways to improve and to measure the level of understanding by the students in Physics 1000, our most basic introductory course. This work is being conducted with the help of three colleagues: Professor Richard Hake of Indiana University (whose ÔSocraticÕ laboratories we shall be adapting for use here); Professor Alan van Heuvelen of New Mexico State (whose Ôactive learning approach we shall try to use); and Professor David Hesteness of Arizona State (whose Ôforce concept inventoryÕ we shall be testing as a measure of the studentsÕ understanding). á John R. Taylor (Physics, Boulder) uses his PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars grant to purchase a new computer and to take several courses in computing. This use of his grant enabled him to successfully implement the use of Mathematica in the Physics DepartmentÕs Math Methods course. The Physics Department mandated recently that all physics courses should have a component related to computing, and the sophomore level Math methods course was, in TaylorÕs words, Òthe supreme example of a course that should, but did not, contain a large component of computing.Ó Taylor, with the assistance of graduate student Barry Bruce, was the first in his department to integrate the use of Mathematica, as well as a new computer lab containing 25 NeXT stations, into a mainstream course. Since he piloted the project, the other faculty teaching the course have adopted his format. The students in the class spend several hours per week in the lab. The problems that they are able to solve contribute significantly to their understanding of the math in that course and, at the same time, give them the experience they need to use the lab facility and language in their future courses. The reviews uniformly praise the new addition to the class as useful, relevant, interesting, and enjoyable. Encouraged by the tremendous success of this class, Taylor and Bruce plan to teach an independent, one- credit course to introduce students who have not take math methods class to the use of Mathematica for solving a variety of physics problems; this course will be launched in the Springs of 1994. á Klaus D. Timmerhaus (Chemical Engineering, Boulder0 will research and test methods of increasing student involvement in large classroom environments. In such situations students typically feel overwhelmed by the impersonal atmosphere and, as a result, interaction is low. By use of small groups and examination of real-life examples, Timmerhaus will strive to engage a higher percentage of the students in active study. á Clyde Tucker (School of Medicine, Health Sciences Center) claims there is a definite need for a method of testing students in the health sciences to determine how well they have learned and how well they can apply what they have learned to clinical situations. The following issues are being explored: á Traditional exams for health students only test increase in factual knowledge; á No existing exam assesses studentsÕ ability to apply knowledge in either ÒsubsequentÓ courses or clinical situations; and á This project involved development of a computer-based testing system to provide needed assessment. The method of testing in the project entitled ÒComputer Based Testing of Knowledge Applications by Health Profession StudentsÓ will be by a computer program module system; the content of the modules will be chosen from clinical situations and presented as case studies. Based on the description of an examination, the student must then provide an example, an analysis and a diagnosis. The clear advantage of such a testing system is that it is more Òreal world basedÓ than the kind of test now used which measures only the studentsÕ retention of material learned in a course. Those students who test as being particularly weak in clinical analysis can be given remedial work or weeded out of the program. á UCHSC Teaching ScholarsÕ Project Ð Teaching Excellence Committee The Teaching Scholars at the Health Sciences Center have had their proposal approved for the establishment of a teaching excellence committee on their campus. The proposed committee would consist of 12 members: 4 from the School of Medicine, 2 each from the Schools of Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Nursing, as well as 2 student representatives. The mission of the teaching committee will be to promote interest in educational issues, to ensure that teaching is treated as equal in importance to research and clinical care, and to sponsor activities that enhance faculty development. á UCHSC Teaching ScholarsÕ Project Ð Teaching Excellence Committee The Teaching Scholars at the Health Sciences Center established a Teaching Excellence Committee (TEC) on their campus in February of 1991. The mission of the committee is to promote faculty interest and concern about educational issues, clarify and support the role of teaching relative to research, clinical care and service, encourage, sponsor and coordinate campus activities that will enhance faculty development as educators, serve in an advisory capacity to the educational development resources on campus, and advise the campus administration on issues relating to education and educational support. The TEC includes faculty members from each of the schools, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Pharmacy, students appointed by the UCHSC Student Senate, and the PresidentÕs Teaching Scholars. Primary Activities of the Teaching Excellence Committee Most teaching occurs in the classroom setting. Most faculty have devised their own teaching style and they seldom exchange ideas that might enhance teaching effectiveness. The TEC is developing a program that will offer a peer consultation service to the campus faculty. The consultants will be UCHSC faculty, most from the TEC. During the spring and summer of 1992, the TEC pilot tested instruments and procedures to provide this service. The prototype consultation involves an initial conference between the consultants and the client to discuss the concerns of the client and to learn about the course environment. The TEC expects to announce this service to all UCHSC faculty in the fall of 1992. During the initial conference the client can select from a variety of services that are offered. The services include: á ConsultantsÕ observation of a typical class period. á Video recording of that same class for subsequent review by the client and the consultants. á Survey of students in that class to learn about their perceptions of teaching behavior of that instruction. á Review of teaching materials used in that class. Teaching Orientation for the New Faculty The TEC recognizes that when new faculty arrive on campus they are unfamiliar with the resources that are available to support their teaching efforts and their previous teaching experience varies greatly. In 1992 the TEC will take an initial step to address this need by working with the dean of each of the schools to plan an orientation to the teaching support resources that are available to help them with their teaching. The goal will be to offer this orientation to faculty before they assume new teaching roles. The orientation will be offered for the first time in late summer 1993. Other Activities Relating to Teaching The campus has recommended that oversight of the USCHSC Standardized Teacher Course Evaluation System be transferred to the TEC. That recommendation is under advisement by the Office of Academic Affairs. á UCHSC Teaching ScholarsÕ Project Ð Teaching Excellence Committee The Teaching Scholars at the Health Sciences Center established a Teaching Excellence Committee (TEC) on their campus in February of 1991. The mission of the committee is to promote faculty interest and concern about educational issues, clarify and support the role of teaching relative to research, clinical care and service, encourage, sponsor and coordinate campus activities that will enhance faculty development as educators, serve in an advisory capacity to the educational development resources on campus, advise the campus administration on issues related to education and educational support and advise and set policies for the UCHSC Standard Teacher/Course Evaluation program. The TEC enjoys the committed and enthusiastic support of UCHSC Chancellor Vincent Fulginiti, whose interest in enhancing the importance of teaching of the UCHSC campus and willingness to participate in selected programs in order to help persuade campus policy setters to place greater emphasis on excellence in education has stimulated and encouraged the TEC in its efforts. In the year 1992-93, the TEC sponsored seven different workshops on teaching, three of which were offered at two different times to accommodate fac | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||