After teaching at Fairfield University for more than 30 years, Kurt Schlichting, professor of sociology and anthropology, was looking for new ways to update his teaching. Fairfield’s Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) came to the rescue.
The Center “can help teach old teachers new tricks,” Schlichting said. He said that having the CAE is good for faculty who are very concerned about good teaching.
The CAE is responsible for helping many professors become more aware of the use of technology in the classroom and for finding new ways to help their students learn.
According to Larry Miners, a professor of economics and the director for the CAE, the center is designed to centralize the efforts of and act as a resource for faculty who would like to update their teaching methods. It may be invisible to many Fairfield students, but it has aided dozens of professors at the school.
The CAE holds many workshops throughout the school year and summer. It hosts key speakers and draws in professors both locally and nationally. The Center has already started to progress from an average of 12 participants in workshops in the 2003-2004 school year to 50 or more participants in 2004-2005.
Students in dozens of classes have already played a huge part in the progress of the center. Professors can now ask the center to do a mid-semester assessment of their courses. Half way through the semester, students in the class are asked to anonymously survey the professors’ teaching methods and to comment on what works and what does not work in the class. The comments are then typed and there is a debriefing with the professor about the students’ reactions.
Qin Zhang, associate professor of communication, chose to have a mid-semester assessment done because she wanted student feedback.
“I think it is important for us professors to know how our students react to our teaching and adapt our teaching based on their feedback to generate optimal learning outcomes,” Zhang said.
With this tool, the faculty can change methods that are not working and help to get a better understanding of the students’ needs.
Roben Torosyan, assistant director of the CAE, said that they have had a great response to the mid-semester assessment. Last spring only 25 professors asked for the assessment. Forty-one responded this past fall.
However, with all of the progress the Center has made, it is still widely unknown among students. Interviews with nine students found that eight had never heard of the CAE.
Caitlin Moroney ’08 completed a mid-semester assessment of a professor in her communication class.
“For the upcoming years, the teachers will be able to accommodate to the needs of the students,” she said. “It will help students better understand the info[rmation].”
Moroney also said that she thinks this is something that all teachers should use and take advantage of.
Schlichting, who attended Fairfield as an undergraduate, said that the mid-semester assessments have helped him become more aware of what his current students want in the class. He has even adjusted assignments and added more discussion time on class material because of the comments received in his mid-semester assessment.
“I wouldn’t have learned that unless I had taken part,” Schlichting said.
Along with the mid-semester assessments, the Center also offers research and books for professors, counseling and mentor programs with professors, and allows grants for professors to take time to redesign a course.
The CAE was started in 2003 after the university received a $200,000 grant. In 2004 the Center received a $100,000 grant to help further the program and to keep the progress growing. Along with Miners and Torosyan, the Center also has three student workers and just received permission to have a part-time administrator on board.
The Center is located in DiMenna-Nyselius Library and has received great support from its staff, according to Miners.
“I think the Center has done a great job in supporting faculty,” Zhang said.
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