The semester got off to a bang with several major projects underway!!! Thanks to the many faculty partners who made all of these projects possible! Please let me know if I inadvertently left your name out – Apologies and I will add it ASAP!!!
- Lifelong learning projects
A) Benchmarking Project – Dr. Sukhdeep Gill and I received an Advisory Board grant which enabled us to complete a benchmarking project with our first semester incoming students. 189 first year students in multiple classes took the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) during the first week of classes. 75 of these students were in our college readiness course (PSU 008) offered the week before classes began. Thanks to Joan Smeltzer (Math 021), Tara Moore (ENGL 15), Ann Fetterman (Engl 15), Cora Dzubak and LeighAnn Myers (PSU 008), and Barb Eshbach (Director PSY Library) for participating in the project!! The goal of this project is to gain an understanding about the lifelong learning traits of our incoming first-year students. This data will also be used as control data against which to measure changes over time (with and without direct interventions).
B) ELLI Integration – Drs. Cora Dzubak (PSU 008) and Tara Moore (ENGL 15) and I (LL ED 005) are incorporating direct instruction of some aspects of the lifelong learning dimensions into our classes and will be tracking changes in ELLI pre/post semester. Student GPAs and retention rates will be tracked over time. - Sites integration – Students from Deirdre Folkers (IST 111), Deborah Eicher-Catt (CAS 402), Tara Moore (ENGL 202), and JeanMarie St. Claire Christman (HDFS 401/402) classes all participated in a workshop on the integration of websites/blogs into their coursework. Some are the beginnings of portfolio projects, others are websites with specific purposes.
- Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) integration/experiential projects…
A) A campus workshop giving an overview of lessons learned from the Summer 2015 Educator’s Institute for Social-Emotional Learning at the Greater Good Science Center (U CA Berkeley) was held on September 3. Interested faculty and staff from this gathering then decided to explore the topic further as members of…
B) Transformational Conversations – Faculty and staff meet every other week during the fall semester to experience practices and approaches learned at the Summer 2015 Educator’s Institute for Social-Emotional Learning at the Greater Good Science Center (U CA Berkeley). The goal of this project is to introduce faculty to SEL practices through an experiential approach to generate well-being, community, and an interest in a continued exploration of SEL in personal and professional venues. Thanks to Mike Jarrett, Fred Haag, Kerry Magni, Jane Emery, Barb Eshbach, Harry Payne, Annie Haines, and Noel Sloboda for their enthusiastic participation. I have loved doing this with you all!!!
C) SEL Integration (HDFS 397 – Gill and LL ED 005 – Shaffer) Both Dr. Gill and I have been experimenting with SEL practices embedded in coursework. We are working on several publications to document the practices and outcomes which have been very positive! This work has been very rewarding both personally and professionally.
D) A TLT Symposium Proposal will be submitted to share the highlights of the campus programs.
E) Holistic Education working group – Dr. Gill and I have been participating in a work group arranged by Jacqueline Edmondson, Ph.D., Associate Vice President & Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at UP. The group is looking for ways to encourage a broader offering of holistic educational experiences for students. From possible minors to co-curricular programs, the group sees the value of this approach to education on so many levels and is exploring possibilities. - Faculty Satisfaction Survey – The project is in the data analysis stage! Stay tuned for sharing of lessons learned!
- Canvas – See the blog post following this one for details!!! Things are moving finally!!!! Thanks to Joan Smeltzer and TLTAC for their support and input, and the early adopters for leading the way and providing valuable feedback: Jennifer Nesbitt, Mary Ritchey, Bill Cantor, Nancy Servatius, Fred Haag, Nicole Muscanell, Mark Casteel, Jane Sutton, Bob Bartell, and Jeff Warner! Jen, Bill, and I will be doing a Canvas demo on Monday November 16 at noon in GISTC 108.
- Tenure Track Faculty Teaching Q & A – This format has been used in the past as general open sessions for all faculty and during orientation sessions with adjunct faculty, and it has always been well received. This round, a smaller session targeting tenure-track faculty has been arranged to meet the specific needs of this group. Thanks to our FT faculty who have graciously offered to participate in this and/or future session to share their expertise – Cora Dzubak, Jen Nesbitt, Abul Hasan, Fred Haag, Deborah Eicher-Catt, Ann Fetterman, and Joe Downing. Possible future sessions include topics on classroom management (Downing) and documenting advances in teaching for the P & T dossier (Sloboda).
- We Listen Project – Heather Hughes (ETS) has been working with Sheri Yoder and a few international student leaders to incorporate the We Listen project into campus coffee hours during the fall semester. Heather came to campus in October to give an overview of the project to campus faculty and staff. Training for student-leaders followed and the first session of recording stories will take place on October 29th during pumpkin carving day! This project has great potential to help break down barriers and build community on campus! Please consider sharing your stories in the project! See me, Sheri, or come to coffee hour to record yours! This program could also be embedded in coursework. Talk to me about possibilities!
- Ed-Tech Projects – Joe Royer tested out a secure testing environment in our labs using ANGEL with his fall classes. He had good results and along with Dan Rupp and Loren Brewster contributed to the University-wide understanding of this process!!! Joe Downing is experimenting with using SWIVL to record students presentations; Ann Vardo-Zalik is exploring the use of an iPad mini for a future course in the shared Biology Program; engineering continues to explore the use of 3D printing in their coursework; Manel Wijesinha is using a graphics pad to offer extra online tutoring sessions for her stat students.
- Assessing the Creative Arts – Thanks to Fred Haag and Noel Sloboda for the great conversations around assessment challenges and approaches in the creative arts. Our conversations hit a highlight at a presentation we did at the Schreyer Conference on Transformative Teaching & Learning on 10/20! Thanks to you both for your leadership and insights in this area!
- Shared Biology Program updates – Fulgentius Lugemwa, Ann Vardo-Zalik, Judy Owen, and Bob Farrell have been heavily involved with the team at Shared Programs and Penn State Harrisburg as the shared biology program (with courses offered F2F, online, and via Polycom) begins to take shape! Fulgentius’s Biochem 402 course, offered online, is in development now with help from instructional designer Julie Lang via Shared Programs and launch scheduled for spring 2016! Faculty have been involved in workshops offered through Shared Programs as well as consultations with instructional design there.
I think you can see, that our faculty are VERY ENGAGED in the teaching and learning process at Penn State York. The list above represents just the big projects. What is missing from this list are the many daily conversations on the phone, in person, and over email that I am privileged to have every day with our faculty. I know first hand how important teaching and our students are to you.
I never feel as if I have enough time to do everything I’d like to do to meet your needs. I appreciate when others offer programs beyond what I can offer – I know this list isn’t exhaustive, but I’d like to mention them here just as a record of all the work being done related to teaching & learning!!! (let me know if I can add anything!) Kerry Magni, Jen Nesbitt, Ali Kara and the members of FAC for their support over the last few semesters and for their faculty colloquium, Ann Fetterman with the upcoming program on teaching Chinese students with her contact at York College, Noel Sloboda’s workshops for writing faculty, Joel Burkholder’s work with incorporating library instruction, the many Teaching International programs that enhance and inform our practice, faculty projects with engaged scholarship (Seidel, Fetterman – others – let me know who you are!) and undergraduate research (Sutton’s pecha kucha project – nice!), Deirdre Folkers’s part-time faculty orientation programs, and Jane Emery’s advising workshops. All of this work illustrates the interest and dedication that you have for what you do in the classroom and with our students.
It is a delight and a privilege to work with you all on these matters of teaching and learning. We have a wonderful faculty, full- and part-time alike, who are committed to what they do in the classroom, with their research, and in the service they provide each day. Thank you for letting me be a part of the work you do!!!
