Teaching-Learning Academy
Highlights 21-22 May 2008
Ø 59 people across the four dialogue groups participated in planning “legacy” items from the various interest groups related to enabling genuine dialogue across multiple perspectives.
Note: The following items represent only the main ideas proposed. See verbatim notes in group folders for all details and come hear interest groups share their legacies at the last TLA sessions June 4/5.
Interdisciplinary Studies
- Meet with incoming president Bruce Shepard and propose idea of creating an Interdisciplinary Studies Task Force.
à Make an appointment (through Administrative Assistant Liz Sipes)
à Invite TLA participants from Interdisciplinary interest groups to participate in meeting. Try to include two students who have tried unsuccessfully to get interdisciplinary major.
à Create a brief written document and send before meeting that includes rationale for IS program as well as supporting evidence from the literature, statistics from current General Studies major.
- Consider recasting general studies major as an interdisciplinary studies major and providing full time advisor(s).
- Propose that TLA generate a question connected with interdisciplinary studies as its BIG question in 2008-09 and seed fall dialogue with possible sub-questions.
Virtual Learning Commons
- Float possible names for this community site and invite the whole campus to decide on it, perhaps with something like “14 Days to Have Your Say.”
- Link this online forum to "MyWestern.”
- Invite incoming President Bruce Shepard to participate in this space in the fall - maybe a "President's Corner" where he posts a question and respond to others.
- Seed the discussion forum with content generated from various existing sources, such as:
à Western Front article responses
à Associated Students “Question of the Month”
à Dialogue with new President
Virtual Learning Commons Continued
5. Identify groups that might use the forum, such as:
à On-campus Residents
à Off-campus students
à Majors
à Year in school (first-year, etc.)
à Pre-majors
à Transfer students
à Students interested in interdisciplinary studies
à Big GUR classes (ex. Comm 101)
à Limited term faculty
- Develop incentives for students to contribute to developing the site (e.g. book store certificates, munch money, prizes like iPods, etc.), as well as facilitating the dialogue (e.g. Communication 339 practicum credit).
- Send all the TLA suggestions on this topic to the Virtual Learning Commons Advisory Group.
Letter to Incoming WWU President
- Write letter of invitation informing him about the TLA and inviting him (and his wife) to sign up as regular participants beginning in the fall. Send 1st letter in July and then hand-deliver 2nd letter in person in September.
- Write another letter to incoming president that is framed in terms of WWU's strategic plan, highlighting Diversity, Integrity, Innovation, Excellence, Engagement, and Community Service with specific items to recommend in each category.
Course Evaluations
- Promote midterm evaluations for all classes and provide incentives for professors to use them.
- Design a new form that includes a more accurate title (one that focuses on evaluating teaching rather than on evaluating the course), has fewer questions, uses four response options (instead of six), and has revised response terms based on how well “expectations were met.” (See sample.)
- Change policy from current opt-in system to an opt-out policy to increase number of faculty using evaluations.
- Create a bank of open ended questions for the non-bubble evaluation.
- Send all the TLA suggestions on this topic to the Committee on the Assessment of Teaching and Learning and to the Office of Institutional Assessment, Research, and Testing.