Teaching Center Programs for 2008-09

We are very pleased to announce five programs offered by the new UMW Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning (“TeachUMW”) this year.  These are (in order of deadlines):

• The Technology and Teaching Showcase Series  (November 4 and 6)
• <!--[if !supportLists]-->Designated and Open Travel Grants  (November 10)
• <!--[if !supportLists]-->Mentoring Programs  (November 12)
• <!--[if !supportLists]-->The Collaborative Teaching Program  (December 8)
• The University Teaching Fellows Program  (December 8)

Several of these have impending deadlines (shown in bold), for which we apologize.  Such is the nature of new programs.  All coversheets and application forms are included as attachments to this email. 

1. The Technology Showcase Series

This was announced in an email from Nina Mikhalevsky earlier this week.  The format for the Technology Showcase Series will be a seminar to introduce faculty to a topic examining how technology might augment teaching and scholarship, followed by two hands-on workshops for participants who want to explore more deeply.  Each session will last 75 minutes, and will be presented twice - once on each campus.  The first series, “Pedagogy 2.0: Teaching and Learning for the  Knowledge Age” is a workshop that explores the web-based learning landscape and tools and resources freely available on the web.  The first session will be held November 4 at CAS, and November 6 at CGPS.  A second series will be offered during the spring semester, on a topic to be announced later.

2. Designated and Open Travel Grants:

The Teaching Center will send one faculty member to represent the university at two conferences which are programmatically linked to teaching.  The first of these conferences is the 2009 Educause Learning Initiative, to be held in Orlando, FL, January 20-22, 2009.  The second is the Sloan-C Blended and Online Learning Workshop to be held in Chicago, IL, May 2009.  TeachUMW will cover all expenses (subject to State travel regulations) for these trips.  Faculty interested in attending these conferences should submit a letter of application, explaining the importance of the conference to your teaching, and explaining how you plan to share what you learn.  For example, you could post a reflection about your experience on the TeachUMW website (http://teachumw.org) or you could give an oral presentation in some venue.  Letters of application should be sent to Steve Greenlaw, Teaching Center Program Coordinator, sgreenla@umw.edu  by November 10, 2008.  

Faculty may also apply for more limited funding (up to $500) to support their attendance at a conference or workshop of their choice.  This amount can supplement funding from other sources (departmental allotments, supplemental travel grants, etc.).  Faculty interested in applying for these funds should submit a completed copy of the Open Travel Grants application form (attached) to Steve Greenlaw, Teaching Center Program Coordinator, sgreenla@umw.edu  by November 10, 2008.    

3. Mentoring Programs

TeachUMW will offer programs throughout the 2008-2009 academic year to mentor faculty in their teaching.

In the Fall 2008 semester, TeachUMW will host an Experiential Learning Workshop "Using and Improving Facilitative Skills" featuring Suzanne de Janasz, Associate Professor of Leadership and Management.  Dr. de Janasz is the recipient of the New Educator Award from the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society and the Teaching Innovation Award from James Madison University.  This engaging workshop is designed to help faculty adopt a more participative, democratic, and discussion-based style.  A description of the experiential learning workshop follows:

Many professors use the skill of professing to translate concepts and encourage learning.  Hours are spent preparing for class, organizing a lecture and producing notes, and the ensuing class session follows in a comfortable and predictable mode.  But what about professors who release control of class content and process?  Can they be equally effective?  Can you teach without a prepared lecture…perhaps just an outline?  Can you teach without following a specific agenda to the minute?  Do you have the courage to teach without predictability and control?  In this workshop, we discuss the art of classroom facilitation and of having the courage to relinquish control and allow class sessions to evolve naturally.  These are skills that are rarely taught in doctoral programs!

The experiential learning workshop will be held on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, at 12:30 – 3:30 p.m., in Room 217, North Building at CGPS.  All faculty are welcome to participate in this workshop, and new faculty are particularly encouraged to attend.  If you wish to attend this workshop, please RSVP to Suzanne Sumner, Programming Sub-Committee Chair for the Teaching Center Advisory Committee, by Wednesday, November 5, 2008, at ssumner@umw.edu or 654-1335.

4. The Collaborative Teaching Program

TeachUMW invites applications for the 2009-2010 Collaborative Teaching Program.  The Collaborative Teaching Program provides opportunities for faculty to work together to explore different teaching methods and approaches, and serve as peer mentors to each other.  In the Team Teaching program, two or more faculty team-teach a single course as part of their regular teaching load; one hire behind is provided.  In the Partner Exchange program, two faculty members each receive a course release to engage as a student in the other faculty member’s course; each attends all classes, completes all assignments, and provides on-going feedback to the other throughout the semester.

For both Team Teaching and Partner Exchange programs, participants are expected to present their findings through the Teaching Center Colloquium Series as well as participate in on-going discussions throughout the semester through the University Teaching Center web-environment.

Three pairs of faculty have been selected for Collaborative Teaching awards for the Spring 2009 semester.

Mary Beth Mathews (Religion) and Krystyn Moon (American Studies) will team-teach AMST 471/RELG 331:  Religion and Sex in America.

Bob Ekey (Physics) and David Rettinger (Psychology) will team-teach FSEM 100:  Sight & Sound:  Experiencing the Physical World.

Norah Hooper (Master of Education Program) and Jo Tyler (Special Education Program) will participate in a partner exchange, in which Jo will attend Norah's EDEL 539:  Special Education Leadership in Schools course and Norah will attend Jo's TESL 511A:  Applied Linguistics course.

Faculty wishing to participate in the Collaborative Teaching program for courses to be taught during the 2009-2010 academic year should submit two copies of the appropriate application form (attached) to Steve Greenlaw (Department of Economics, sgreenla@umw.edu), Teaching Center Program Coordinator, by Monday, December 8, 2008.  One copy should be submitted via email; the other, with signatures, should be submitted via campus mail.

Preference in the selection process will be given to pairings that involve faculty from both Colleges.

5. The University Teaching Fellows Program

The Teaching Center invites participation in its 2008-2009 Teaching Fellows Program.  More than a faculty development initiative, the program is designed to bridge teaching, scholarship and service. 

Teaching Fellows will be given the opportunity to explore a specific question involving research and experimentation with new pedagogies, assessment of student learning, innovative course design or curriculum development, emerging academic technologies and tools of access to information, or other areas that may promote excellence in teaching.   Fellows will use what they learn to develop a new course or to substantially revise an existing course which will then be taught in the academic year following the fellowship.  Fellows will receive one course release to be used during the research period or the semester of the fellowship course offering (the timing must be specified in the proposal), and up to $700 to support the purchase of materials, research, travel, etc. during the fellowship period. Additional funding to support the implementation and activities of the course may also be requested.

An important objective of the program is to develop expertise by participants that can be drawn on subsequently by faculty at large.  Fellows will be expected to engage in regular conversations about their work with the Teaching Center Director and other participants in the program, as well as to reflect publicly using the Teaching Center web environment.  Fellows will also present their work through the Teaching Center Colloquium Series.

Teaching Fellowships are open to all full-time continuing faculty of the university, but no more than one fellowship from any academic department or program will be funded in a single year.  An effort will be made to ensure that faculty from both Colleges are fully represented. 

Applicants for fellowships should submit a proposal that includes details about the research area that he/she will explore during the fellowship year.  These details should address the following questions:

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  What is the research question you propose to explore, and why do you wish to explore it?

• How will this research promote teaching excellence?

• What is your plan for conducting the research or other creative endeavor?

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  What is the potential for improving teaching and learning at UMW, and more broadly?

• What is the proposed new course (or proposed revision to an existing course) that this research will facilitate?

For Academic Year 2008-2009, up to four University Teaching Fellowships will be awarded.  Proposals should be submitted no later than Monday, December 8 for fellowships to be held spring 2009.  Fellows will be selected by the Teaching Center Advisory Committee based on the quality of the proposal.

Please submit your proposal via email to: Steve Greenlaw (Department of Economics, sgreenla@umw.edu), Teaching Center Program Coordinator.  The proposal coversheet should be submitted separately via campus mail.