Putting Learning First

On Saturday, April 25, 2009 the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Missouri in Kansas City hosted the Greater Kansas City Third Annual Symposium on Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

Amy Goodburn, Associate Dean for Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Nebraska--Lincoln, gave the keynote address, "Different Roles, Same Goals: My Journey Towards Scholarly Teaching." Professor Goodburn engaged the audience of fifty teachers from ten area colleges (Avila College, ITT Technical Institute, Johnson County CC, the University of Kansas, U of Missouri—Columbia, Park University, Rockhurst University, the Truman Medical Center, UMKC, and William Jewell) and the Topeka School District in a lively personal narrative about an academic career enlivened by the work of Ernest Boyer and Lee Schulman. She explained how her attitude towards teaching, research, and service was transformed by the 1991 AAHE publication on Teaching Portfolios (Edgerton, Hutchings, Quinlan). After making a convincing case for the direct involvement of teaching faculty in the definition of the administrative structures and processes used to assess and reward teaching, Professor Goodburn led an hour long open conversation about the place of Scholarly Teaching in Higher Education.

In addition to twenty-five posters on subjects including “Writing as a Way to Learn about the Brain,” the “Shared Inquiry Model,” and “Using Graphs to Illustrate the process of Recursion,” breakout sessions during the day demonstrated a number of different aspects of the scholarship of teaching and learning. The sessions emphasized curricular integration and the application of "online social interaction," ways to use student work to provoke SoTL-oriented enquiry, the process of turning research into teaching and vice-versa, Diversity Education as a way of re-defining learning-based scholarship, and classroom strategies that stimulate engaged learning.

During the final, all-group session, “How to Make It Count!,” Professors Bernstein and Goodburn were joined at the podium by Thomas Stroik, Professor of Linguistics and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at UMKC. After Professor Bernstein had re-capped the history of SoTL, emphasizing why it is crucial that we make our scholarly work on teaching and learning public, Professor Stroik questioned the priority given to “Teaching” in too many conversations that are, ostensibly, about “Learning.” Playfully suggesting that we should re-name the discipline the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching, "SOLT," so as to centralize what should count, Stroik challenged the audience to think about how we “learn to learn” and “whose learning counts?” Professor Goodburn concluded the formal presentation by analyzing the word “count,” engaging the audience in deep criticism of how we hierarchize, value and exclude different kinds of knowledge and how we decide what to define as “learning.”

Next year’s symposium will also be hosted by UMKC (April 24, 2010). For details from this year’s symposium please go to http://www.umkc.edu/provost/initiatives/FaCET/SoTL.asp

-Written by Stephen Dilks, FaCET Director, UMKC

Promotion & Tenure Information Sessions

The Provost Office has scheduled the following open Promotion & Tenure Information Sessions at the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET, located in the Miller Nichols Library) for faculty members interested in the promotion and tenure process.

These annual sessions provide opportunities for faculty members to learn about the P&T process and ask questions about how to prepare for it. Topics covered in the recent Hospital Hill P&T Info Session included portfolio preparation (electronic and hard-copy), how to select external evaluators, how mid-tenure reviews and annual evaluations assist in P&T preparation, how portfolios are reviewed, and a quick review of the 2009-2010 P&T calendar/timeline.

Sessions are open to all Faculty members interested in the promotion and/or tenure process, and will highlight the upcoming 2009-2010 review period. Scheduled over the lunch hour, all attendees are welcome to bring and eat their lunch during the session. Hosted by Dr. Ronald MacQuarrie, Vice Provost

Monday, March 16, 2009 Noon – 1:30 pm (Brown Bag)
Miller Nichols Library, Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET) Room 122 MLN

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 Noon – 1:30 pm (Brown Bag)
Miller Nichols Library, Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET) Room 122 MLN

Report from FaCET

The Provost is proud to support the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET) and is pleased to call attention to its achievements and progress. FaCET is a service program in its fourth year. Faculty pioneered and driven, the program continues to operate with faculty at the helm: Director Dr. Stephen Dilks, a full-time member of the English Department, works closely with two "Faculty Fellows," Professors Cindy Amyot, Director of Distance Education and Faculty Development at the School of Dentistry, and William Everett, Associate Professor in Music History and Musicology. Bob Schubert, who teaches classes on software applications, coordinates the calendar of events and runs the Teaching with Technology committee. And Muffy Guilfoil, an I Ph D student in History and English, organizes the FaCET library and leads the Student Advisory committee.

The FaCET office is located in room 122 of the Miller-Nichols Library. The foyer has comfortable seating and an inviting mini-library with education-inspired art on the walls. Faculty are welcome to stop by to borrow books, to chat about teaching and learning, and to experiment with new and unfamiliar classroom technologies on FaCET's fully equipped ILE station. Faculty are also invited to suggest topics for formal and informal seminars and presentations. Contact Steve, Bill, Cindy, or Bob with enquiries.

On a modest budget the center has expanded from seven events with a total of 112 attendees in Spring 2005 to thirty-nine events with a total of 551 attendees in Spring 2008. Each year FaCET hosts a celebration of Teaching and Learning. In 2009, the 3rd Annual Spring Symposium is focused on “Teaching Environments”; faculty are invited to submit proposals for presentations, posters, and roundtable discussions.

Since Spring 2005 FaCET has hosted over two hundred seminars on issues including Academic Assessment, Blackboard and other classroom technologies, Identity Politics, Academic Freedom and Diversity, Promotion and Tenure, Experiential Learning, International Teaching, Interdisciplinary, Library Resources, Writing to Learn, Urban Literacies, Online Courses and Teaching Large Classes. See FaCET’s web-site www.umkc.edu/provost/initiatives/FaCET for the current "Calendar of Events" and “Faculty Resources.” Write to Stephen Dilks(dilkss@umkc.edu) with suggestions for programming.

In addition to the web-site, information about FaCET is available in “Facets of Teaching and Learning,” the newsletter distributed at the beginning of fall and spring semesters. If you have any comments about the newsletter or if you'd like to contribute an article on any aspect of teaching and learning, please contact Steve Dilks.

Premiering this fall, "Teaching Circles" is a program designed to connect teachers interested in sharing ideas about classroom practice. Unstructured, independent meetings with no report requirement allow free brain-storming, solicited constructive critique, and sustained professional support.

The Teaching Enhancement Grants program (TEG), initiated in Fall 2006 with matching funds from Academic Deans, has provided grant support for thirty-one projects. The grants support a range of projects including classroom research, curricular development, and all aspects of the scholarship of teaching and learning.

FaCET support for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) also includes collaboration with faculty at other institutions locally and nationally. The Center supports faculty attendance at national and international conferences and, on April 25, 2009 FaCET will host the Greater Kansas City Annual SoTL Symposium.

In the future FaCET is planning to expand its connections with students and the community through more extensive work with the Student Advisory Committee and "Serve to Learn," an on-campus initiative designed to connect students and community leaders with faculty who provide service-learning opportunities as part of their curriculum. The new Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Cynthia Pemberton, is already committed to working with the "Serve to Learn" committee.

-Written by Bibie M. Chronwall, Ph.D, Vice Provost, Faculty Development, and Stephen Dilks, Associate Professor, Director of FaCET

New Faculty Teaching Scholars

The New Faculty Teaching Scholars (NFTS) is a UM System-wide, year-long program designed to support new faculty. Faculty members in their first four years in the UM System are eligible to participate. During three retreats professors learn how to build an academic portfolio, how to balance teaching, research and scholarship, and how to develop courses and become effective teachers. The retreats also afford abundant opportunities to network among colleagues from all four campuses.

The UMKC 2008-2009 cohort of scholars comes from seven academic units and represents a dozen disciplines.

This year's scholars are:

• Jon Anderson, School of Medicine
• Carolyn Barber, School of Education
• Teresa Blanc, School of Nursing
• Lauri Blanch, School of Medicine
• Kun Cheng, School of Pharmacy
• Derrick Hodge, College of Arts and Sciences
• Jae Jung, Bloch School of Business and Public Administration
• (Walter) Daniel Leon-Salas, School of Computing and Engineering
• (Shirley) Marie McCarther, School of Education
• Sookhee Oh, College of Arts and Sciences
• Larson Powell, College of Arts and Sciences
• Dana Tulodziecki, College of Arts and Sciences

See their pictures and profiles here

They make a commitment to attend each retreat and to participate in seminars and discussions that focus on strategies to support student learning, engagement, and success at UMKC’s Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET). Their sparse free time is spent on a wide variety of exciting activities.

The first NFTS retreat for this academic year took place October 2-3 in Jefferson City and was led by Dr. James Groccia. Groccia directed the Program for Excellence in Teaching at University of Missouri - Columbia before accepting the position as Director of the Biggio Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn University in Alabama. He is an internationally acclaimed educational leader and author, and a dynamic workshop leader.

Here are some comments offered by UMKC participants about the retreat:

…..“The retreat was very helpful, I learned a lot, especially about effective teaching techniques … eager to apply the Seven Principles."

“…a great opportunity to reflect on my academic portfolio…. I needed the 'sanctuary' apart from my routine to think and write about my research, teaching, outreach, and service roles…”

“…surprised by the emphasis to actually get things done while we were there. I also did not expect it to be as social as it actually was. And I met more people than I anticipated which was very nice.”

“…I am so impressed that the UM- system seems to know something that some major eastern universities do not: new faculty are hungry for the opportunity to improve their teaching. Actively working on teaching skills requires both mentoring and some time away from our daily duties. I am glad that I came to a university that understands the need to make this worthy of investment!"

-Written by Bibie Chronwall, Vice Provost for Faculty Development

Want to know more about NFTS? Read this month's newsletter, U Matters