Initiatives
Classroom Learning Analysis Studies (CLAS)
This work was promoted by an Initiative of the President's Teaching Scholars in Engaged Learning. The basis of the work is Richard J. Light's book Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds. Several Teaching Scholars undertook research in when students in a particular course were engaged and why and when they were not engaged and why not. President's Teaching Scholars Bill Briggs Math UCD and Mitch Handelsman Psychology UCD are published in the subject. On the Boulder campus, President's Teaching Scholar Clayton Lewis undertook with others a project producing CLAS Report No. 1 after interviewing 45 randomly selected undergraduate students on issues about learning and faculty members' teaching. This report will be enhanced during AY 08-09 by a second interview protocol and report. A sizable stakeholder committee comprised of students, faculty and staff will create a new protocol. Interviews and analysis will follow. Not unlike the Light work, CU Boulder campus will be enhanced in both faculty members' teaching, student learning and policy by distribution of the reports both campus and system wide.
Professor and President’s Teaching Scholar Clayton Lewis, Computer Science
Dr. Mary Ann Shea, Director, Faculty Teaching Excellence Program
“Studies of Student Engagement” – Clayton Lewis
“A Measure of College Student Course Engagement” – Mitch Handelsman, Bill Briggs, Noral Sullivan, and Annette Towler.
President's Teaching and Learning Collaborative (PTLC)
Borne of an Initiative of the President's Teaching Scholars, the President's Teaching and Learning Collaborative is an opportunity for all CU faculty to propose a research and scholarly project on learning and student engagement in a particular course. Now in it third year of membership in the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning Academy, the Collaborative has had 33 faculty participants, 6 of whom have published an article in a refereed journal.
The Collaborative and the faculty researchers have contributed to the scholarship of teaching and learning both nationally and internationally, they have made both department and campus presentations about their work and they have developed system collaboration as coaches and mentors across campuses to fan the richness of their work as educators and promoters of what it means to teach and to learn and to assess learning in the disciplines.
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Promotion and Tenure Proposal (Iowa State Model)
The proposal to revise the way faculty work is defined and evaluated began from a chance encounter to a presentation given by Iowa State University at an AAC&U conference. The idea was brought before the President’s Teaching Scholars Program 2007 spring retreat and the scholars decided to send a contingent to Iowa State to get more details and to help decide if CU would develop some similar system. After the Iowa State visit, each of the three campuses of the university set about developing their own vision of the model.
The Chancellor and Provost at UCCS were very supportive of the idea, and a task force was set up in October of 2007 to develop a proposal. The one page summary is a synopsis of our proposal that will go to faculty in the fall of 2008. While we used Boyer’s Scholarship Reconsidered as a starting point, the task force significantly modified the four (we have five) types of scholarship. We also added a category for professional practice in a four part versus the traditional three part breakdown of faculty work.
The UCCS faculty voted to approve proposed revisions to the reappointment, promotion and tenure process at their November 14 meeting. Click here to read the Silver & Gold article.
Cllick here to read a summary of the 2008 UCCS Proposal
