• Lecture masters

• Each Tuesday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, Ron Peters, professor of psychology, looks out at 400 students for four hours straight in Lush Auditorium.
  
  And it's not something he has done just in the last year or so. Peters has taught large classes for more than 30 years.
  
  "I have a fun time down here (in front of a class)," he said.
  
  Peters is also good at what he does. He was one of five College of Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty members who have been named master teachers by the college for the current academic year, specifically recognizing large class teaching.
  
  In selecting Peters; James Colbert, associate professor of botany; Steve Kawaler, professor of physics and astronomy; Wolfgang Kliemann, professor of mathematics; and Barbara Mack, associate professor of journalism and communication, LAS did "reputational" surveys of advisers, department heads and the Center for Teaching Excellence.
  
  The selections were based on a variety of factors. Some master teachers use technology to enhance their instruction, while others simply know how to work a room.
  
  *Colbert uses e-mail listserves to conduct virtual discussions, which are difficult in large lectures. He also develops computer-based individual learning opportunities for his students.
  
  *Kawaler uses an existing Web site that lets students follow the path of the Leonid meteor shower or examine the best and worst of astronomy reporting in the press.
  
  *Kliemann has a reputation for making mathematics understandable to students at all levels.
  
  *Mack has a dynamic command of the classroom as she divides her students into small groups to help them learn together and also has out-of-class activities available on CD-ROM.
  
  *Peters uses PowerPoint presentations to help decrease the time required of students for note-taking with the intent of increasing the amount of time available for in-class thinking and active learning activities.
  
  The one asset each shares however is an enthusiasm for teaching.
  
  "Teaching large classes is something I thoroughly enjoy," Peters said. "If I didn't, I wouldn't do it."
  
  While Peters welcomes faculty members to his classroom to observe, he quickly points out that others should not try to duplicate what he does.
  
  "When I'm asked about what I do, I tell other professors, 'You can't teach like I do. You have to develop your own teaching style'," he said. "I suggest that people look at what I do in the classroom.
  
  "There's not just one way to do this. There are many different ways to become an effective teacher."
  
  One of the ways Kliemann works with large classes is to use that day's newspaper, discussing how mathematics affects the business news, sports and national politics.
  
  Colbert takes a similar approach. He has developed his own style of teaching large classes over the past 15 years as he relates his classroom material to the students' real life.
  
  But it is sometimes the students who influence Colbert's teaching style.
  
  "If you have 200 people in your class they're going to think of a lot of things to ask," he said, "and I don't always know the answers. I'll look those questions up and sometimes incorporate that information into my lectures."
  
  This spring, Colbert and the other master teachers, assisted by the Center for Teaching Excellence, will conduct seminars on large lecture teaching methods and open their classrooms to observation by other faculty (see related articles). One of the points Peters will make can relate to all teaching, no matter the class size.
  
  "What I try to do is pick interesting stuff to talk about," he said, "and you've got to be excited.
  
  "If you're not excited about what you're talking about, how do you expect your students to be excited?"
  
  And the master teachers are...
  
  James Colbert, associate professor of botany. Colbert's large classes are Botany 102; Biology of plants and the two-semester sequence Biology 201 and 202: Principles of Biology.
  
  Steve Kawaler, professor of physics and astronomy. Kawaler's large lecture class is Astronomy 120: The Sky and the Solar System. He also is known for Astronomy 250: Astronomy Bizarre, a course for nonscientists that explores things like black holes, quasars, colliding galaxies and searches for extraterrestrial life.
  
  Wolfgang Kliemann, professor of mathematics. Kliemann's large class is Mathematics 104: Introduction to Probability and Matrices.
  
  Barbara Mack, associate professor of journalism and communication. Mack's large class is JLMC 101: Mass Media and Society, where she has a reputation for dynamic command of the classroom.
  
  Ron Peters, professor of psychology. Peters' large class is Psychology 101: Introduction to Psychology. Over the last 15 yeas, about 40 percent of ISU undergraduates have enrolled in his classes. Peters is active in training other faculty on large-lecture format techniques.

From the left, Ron Peters, Wolfgang Kliemann, Barbara Mack, Jim Colbert