|
|
-
Six named LAS Master Teachers
Individuals selected for "successful innovations in teaching."
-
Six LAS faculty members have been named Master Teachers for 2006-07.
This is the eighth year of the program, which recognizes teachers who
have a reputation for using unique methods to enhance student learning.
Individuals who have successfully integrated innovative materials and
activities into their teaching, which has enhanced the learning of students,
were recognized this year.
The honorees include:
Dirk Deam, senior lecturer in political science, has
taught over 15 different courses, covering several different subfields.
Despite the array of classes and the large number of students he teaches
each year, Deam has earned extraordinarily high teaching evaluations and
has done so uniformly across courses.
Volker Hegelheimer, associate professor of English,
has gained an international reputation for pedagogical innovations in
the realm of Computer-Assisted Language Learning, an emerging area of
Teaching English as a Second Language. His innovations include a database-driven
online system for students to increase their vocabulary skills, which
he uses in his writing courses. For listening/reading courses for non-native
speakers, Hegelheimer has developed online materials to enhance their
skills.
Aili Mu, assistant professor of world languages and cultures,
integrates her research on contemporary Chinese culture into a wide range
of course offerings on film, literature and popular texts. Students also
have access to syllabi, web links and a significant amount of supplemental
materials on WebCT.
John Nason, associate professor of ecology, evolution
and organismal biology, teaches Biology 315, "Biological Evolution." Nason
constantly receives top evaluations from students in this conceptually
challenging course, which requires great sensitivity to the preconceived
ideas and personal beliefs that many students bring to the classroom.
Heather Thompson, senior lecturer in mathematics, believes
that students, particularly future teachers, need to experience the "back-end"
of mathematics. Through this teaching innovation, Thompson's students
gain a different perspective when they explore what results when they
define the terms, create multiple examples, and compare and contrast the
results with what they conjectured through Thompson's "back-end"
approach.
Ken Windom, associate professor of geological and atmospheric
sciences, has been on the leading edge in using technology. He regularly
incorporates computer assignments into his classes and has created interactive
computer exercises for introductory geoscience courses.
Heather Thompson
Around LAS
September 4-17, 2006
|
|
