Faculty discusses general education

In a small room in the back of Butler Library, there is a large dry-erase board posted with sheets of paper. On them are scribbled phrases like "teaching strategies," "active learning" and "real life."

Here, alongside a tray of fruit and bagels, faculty work closely with one another to share their experiences and their ideas about how students can get the most out of their time in the classroom.

Currently, the offices of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Professional Development and General Education are supporting a series of discussions to discover how they may improve the teaching of general education courses at Buffalo State.

This could mean students will get the chance to take classes better suited to the way they learn, and focused on how subject matter applies to their career after college, said Lisa Hunter, assistant dean for intellectual foundations.

The discussions are led by Hunter, Faculty Development Director Sue McMillen, and Campus Coordinator for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning John Draeger, who

say they hope to foster a change in the culture of how such courses are approached.

"The same way you're never done learning, you're never done figuring out how to teach," Draeger said. "I wouldn't say there's one problem either with teaching, or with Intellectual Foundations, but I think it's part of a broader conversation about how we can make improvements, and noticing what's worked and what hasn't worked. We always want to get better."

Among the topics at the discussions are the difference between teaching general education and major courses, challenges in getting students to realize the value of a good general education, and assignments or teaching strategies faculty have found helpful.

Anne Marie Sokol, a chemistry professor, said one of her favorite assignments to give students involves creating signs that read, "I love chemistry," and hanging them in their rooms.

"I tell them that their grade will improve by at least ten percent because they're changing their perception of the subject," she said.

Others mentioned faculty support is key, with initiatives like flexible, collaborative workshops and a possible introduction to Intellectual Foundations for part-time faculty on ANGEL.

"It's critical for the attitude of the faculty to be there," said computer information systems professor Barbara Sherman, "because if you go in with a negative attitude, you're never going to inspire those students."

Although discussions like these ones were ongoing in the past, Draeger said this is only the second semester they have been formally organized.

McMillen said she, Draeger and Hunter originally worked together at a conference held by the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

"We found at the conference that there was a lot of interest from colleagues at other institutions in continuing the discussion about how general education, faculty development and scholarship of teaching and learning could support each other," McMillen said. "So, although we were each carrying out our own conversations before, we wanted to get a collective effort going to better support our common goal."

Moving forward, McMillen said she and Lisa Hunter plan on incorporating what they hear into their end-of-the-year teaching workshops called the Pedagogical Institute.

They said they are also hoping to receive feedback from professors regarding the Intellectual Foundations review, which Hunter will then be taking back to Senate Intellectual Foundations Oversight Committee, to indirectly guide their plan to revise the program.

Final discussion sessions will be held Wednesday and Thursday in Butler Library.

Brian Alexander can be reached by email at alexander.record@live.com.