|
|
- August 29, 2006
Six named LAS master teachers
-
Six faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS)
at Iowa State University have been named Master Teachers for 2006-07.
The LAS Master Teachers named are Dirk Deam, senior lecturer in political
science; Volker Hegelheimer, assistant professor of English; Aili Mu,
assistant professor of world languages and cultures; John Nason, associate
professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology; Heather Thompson,
senior lecturer in mathematics; and Ken Windom, associate professor of
geological and atmospheric sciences.
This is the eighth year of the LAS Master Teacher program, which recognizes
teachers who have a reputation for using unique methods to enhance student
learning. This year's award recognizes individuals who have successfully
integrated innovative materials and activities into their teaching, which
has enhanced the learning of students.
Previous LAS Master Teacher classes have focused on technology use in
the classroom, large lecture classroom instruction, undergraduate research,
off-campus learning opportunities, multicultural teaching activities,
and graduate instruction.
The six LAS Master Teachers will plan teaching methods seminars and in-class
demonstrations throughout the academic year.
The honorees include:
Dirk Deam, senior lecturer in political science. Since
joining the Department of Political Science in 2000, Deam 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 extraordinary high teaching evaluations and has done so
uniformly across courses.
Volker Hegelheimer, associate professor of English.
Hegelheimer has gained a national/international reputation for his pedagogical
innovations in the realm of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL),
an emerging area of TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language). His
teaching fully exploits his expertise in computer applications for second
language learning. 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. He
has also developed and implemented iWRITE ("internet-based Writing Resource
for the Innovative Teaching of English"), an online grammar resource for
international students enrolled in writing courses.
Aili Mu, assistant professor of world languages and cultures.
Mu 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 and course websites that are fully integrated into
the learning process.
John Nason, associate professor of ecology, evolution
and organismal biology. An outstanding instructor at both the undergraduate
and graduate levels, Nason teaches Biology 315, "Biological Evolution."
This required course for all biology majors is also taken by students
from numerous other majors. Nason constantly receives all 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. Thompson
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. Throughout his teaching career, Windom has relentlessly been
on the leading edge in using technology, incorporating computer assignments
into his classes as early as the late 1970s. He uses "real world" examples
in which students obtain data from literature to incorporate into the
assignments. He was instrumental in establishing the Department of Geological
and Atmospheric Sciences' first student computer lab and has created interactive
computer exercises for introductory geoscience courses.
Heather Thompson
|
|
