Tom Cruise wasn鈥檛 there, but from the rave reviews of those who were at the UW鈥檚 鈥淭op Gun鈥� program for teachers, he might as well have been.
鈥淚 had expected a positive experience, but this was so much more,鈥� said Nursing Professor Patti Brandt. 鈥淚t was motivating, invigorating and morale boosting.鈥�
鈥淎fter being part of this group of faculty,鈥� added Mary Abrums, a nursing professor at 91探花Bothell, 鈥淚 am convinced that we have the best and most dedicated educators in the world at the UW.鈥�
What they were raving about was the Institute for Teaching Excellence, (ITE) an enrichment program for senior faculty held between spring and summer quarters.
鈥淥ur senior faculty used to complain that although there was the Faculty Fellows program for their junior colleagues, there was nothing for them,鈥� said Dean of Undergraduate Education George Bridges. 鈥淭hen one day four years ago I was watching the movie Top Gun with my son, and I got the idea for a special 鈥榮chool鈥� for senior faculty to advance their teaching skills 鈥� a little 鈥榖est of the best鈥� program.鈥�
Bridges, who was then associate dean, proposed the program to Dean Fred Campbell, who gave the go-ahead. It鈥檚 been an annual event ever since. Bridges planned the first three institutes himself; this year he passed the torch to Gerald Baldasty from Communications and Robin Wright from Zoology, both past winners of the Distinguished Teaching Award who were program facilitators last year.
The weeklong institute is held at the Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks, and according to its official description is designed to 鈥渁llow experienced faculty members an opportunity to work and reflect with colleagues about their teaching methods and goals.鈥� Participants bring material from courses that they want to overhaul.
Brandt, for example, had a problem she needed help with. She was revising a four-credit class that needed to be reduced to two credits and had to figure out how to fulfill the learning objectives in less time.
鈥淚 used the opportunity to get feedback during my presentation of ways to create group activities instead of using an individual approach to a standardized clinical scenario,鈥� Brandt said.
In the early part of the week participants are given the opportunity to attend mini-workshops on such topics as service learning and teaching in diverse classrooms. They鈥檙e also introduced to resources like the Center for Instructional Development and Research, Catalyst and UWOnCue. Later, there is more open time to allow participants to work on their own projects. On the final day, participants present their course materials to their colleagues for critique and feedback.
Participant Mark Haselkorn took full advantage of the presence of Catalyst staffers at the institute. He was working on an online case study that he hoped would help address a split in his technical communication classes: One portion was 鈥済etting鈥� the material and the other wasn鈥檛. He wanted a way to get everyone to the same place so that he could judge their communication skills apart from their background knowledge. So he began designing a case study that students would go through as individuals but would experience as a group. In other words, at each decision point in the case, the action would be decided by what the majority of students wanted to do and no one would be left behind.
Haselkorn is using Virtual Case, a Catalyst tool, and not only is he trying something new for his classes, he鈥檚 trying something new for Catalyst. 鈥淭he folks at Catalyst are as excited as I am because I am pushing the limits of the current software tool and helping them refine it for others,鈥� he said.
Wright says that although the faculty who attend are experienced teachers, they come needing help. 鈥淥ne of the things that happens when you鈥檙e teaching is you reach a kind of plateau,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n fact in some cases you start to go down because you鈥檙e not moving forward. The institute is meant to energize faculty at that stage and help them think more creatively about what they鈥檙e doing.鈥�
Beyond the specific content, however, everyone seems to agree that the real value of ITE is in the ideas exchanged and the connections made. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something about this kind of seminar, that if you have any interest in teaching at all, somewhere between the second and sixth hour, you get this charge of energy and excitement,鈥� Baldasty said. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 an awful lot of just talking. People really become, in a wonderful way, quite energized.鈥�
The organizers try to encourage this kind of talk by building in time for 鈥渃ouch clinics,鈥� sessions at which participants can simply bring up situations they鈥檙e facing and get ideas from the other participants.
And the end result of ITE, Baldasty and Wright say, is that the exchange of ideas doesn鈥檛 stop when the institute is over. Participants go back to campus knowing a group of people they can call on to discuss their teaching.
鈥淭he sharing across disciplines and across all three campuses is fantastic,鈥� Wright said.
What鈥檚 more, once participants start talking to each other, networking inevitably takes over and they meet others with a particular interest in teaching. That鈥檚 why Baldasty and Wright say they get as much out of attending ITE as the participants. 鈥淎ny time I go to one of these I come away with a larger cohort of people I can talk to who are very concerned about teaching on this campus,鈥� Baldasty said.