Outreach: Teaching and Learning Activities
Current activities for a significant enhancement of teaching and learning
Best Practices
Benchmarked with 28 other universities regarding undergraduate requirements and course offerings for restructuring & enhancing the undergraduate curriculum; Use of collaborative learning activities (writing assignments, consensus group model presentations, & peer tutoring); All graduate students participate in a 15 week hospital or school based externship as a “capstone experience”; Faculty have initiated co-teaching/co-observation in practicum supervision classes; infuse World Wide Web & Internet in classroom activities & assignments; Course specific list-servs to encourage student feedback on learning in the classroom; Cooperative learning techniques, service based learning, & case study techniques used to enhance learning; Office of Undergraduate Education & departmental faculty facilitators have conducted & will continue to lead focus groups on assessment of teaching/learning excellence; Mentoring programs for graduate students in their practicum classes have been developed resulting in more positive clinical learning experiences; Peer mentoring programs have been implemented in undergraduate courses; Courses redesigned to provide more peer collaboration and reinforce learning in communities versus isolation.
Faculty Development
All faculty required to develop 5-year plan for teaching/learning excellence reviewed annually as an important component of the review process; Annual Department Retreat devotes half day to discuss assessment in the classroom & individual faculty member's teaching learning strategies; Specific faculty meetings dedicated to discussions about teaching/learning & pedagogical styles resulting in increased use of campus resources to enhance teaching effectiveness, exam development, use of technology; New faculty hires are strongly encouraged to attend the Penn State Course on College Teaching (CELT); Department encourages faculty to submit proposals for teaching innovation grants & provides release time, matching funds.
Grants for Teaching
Two major grants (US Department of Education for $899,000 and $597,000) awarded this year to support graduate students & provide funding to offer specific courses focused on augmentative communication, cultural diversity and rural education issues; Instructional grants for undergraduate courses from University for technology upgrades; CIC Technology Award Grant awarded to develop software for undergraduate instruction; Program Innovation Fund Grant and Program Assistance Support Funds from University to develop a continuing and distance education workshop series for students, alumni, and professionals.
Integration of teaching/research/outreach
Undergraduate students' involvement in research projects has risen from 5% to > 25% and will continue to be a priority; Outcome data shows last year more than 100 CSD students provided supervised high quality services in the Speech and/or Hearing Teaching Clinics.
Recognition for Excellence
Faculty selected this year for College's outstanding teaching award; last year College's outstanding faculty advising award; Department was finalist this year for Provost's Academic Unit Collaborative Teaching and Learning Award. Additional activities planned or under consideration to improve teaching and learning.
Faculty Support
The department will continue to provide support for faculty to attend and participate at state, national and international professional conferences on teaching in the discipline (use of computer technology in classrooms and clinics, revisions of curriculum, etc.); encourage participation at Learning Colloquies and other university activities.
Department Benchmarking
The department will be expanding benchmarking activities to a larger number of schools to insure continued high quality learning experiences.