Reports

Center For Educational Development Annual Report 07/01/03-06/30/04

Prepared by Judith E. Miller 8/11/04

CEDA carries out its mission by providing support for the enhancement and assessment of teaching and learning at WPI. Its activities (categorized as to the three areas of CEDA's mission) include:

Promote educational development at WPI:
- greeted new faculty with a welcoming letter and complimentary book on teaching;
- organized and ran a mentoring program for new faculty, involving six mentor-mentee teams;
- offered a TA development program (organized by a consultant);
- presented a workshop entitled "Preparing and Delivering Classroom Presentations" for new TA training;
- conducted training for undergraduate Peer Learning Assistants (PLAs);
- offered full-day orientation on teaching for new WPI faculty;
- provided individual consultation to numerous faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students, and members of the Worcester Consortium and national communities concerning teaching improvement issues and miscellaneous educational topics;
- organized and conducted a series of "Food for Thought" lunch sessions on various educational topics (teaching with questions; responding to student writing; getting involved in IQP advising; creating a gender-inclusive classroom environment; getting donations of software and equipment);
- organized and funded workshops presented by experts on teaching topics (e.g. strategies for improving testing and grading; succeeding in the large lecture format);
- conducted workshops and meetings to educate faculty about the IDEA student ratings of instruction, including repeated two-hour workshops (articulating course objectives using the IDEA students ratings system; interpreting your IDEA ratings report) and shorter sessions tailed to individual departments;
- conducted a weekly Summer Film Festival, consisting of education-related videos;
- coordinated the ordering and distribution of a teaching pamphlet among multiple departments;
- maintained and disseminated a collection of instructional and faculty development materials on teaching improvement topics;
- served as ex officio member of Educational Development Council; administered its small grants program and provided advice on preparation of proposals; administered the Moruzzi award for innovative young faculty;
- met with numerous campus visitors;
- served on First Year Council;
- chaired the Colleges of Worcester Consortium Faculty Development Committee;
- served as academic program director of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium’s Certificate in College Teaching program;
- served on the Board of Directors of the New England Faculty Development Consortium (NEFDC);
- served on CORE (executive) Committee, Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education, term runs 2002-2005.
- maintained an active program of individual educational scholarship.
Promote the pedagogically sound use of educational technology at WPI:
- collaborated with ATC to organize skill building workshops on teaching-with-technology topics (detecting and preventing plagiarism in the digital age; options for grading electronically submitted papers);
- posted audio recordings and slides from some workshops and FFT lunches on a myWPI site for remote asynchronous access;
- maintained and disseminated a collection of instructional and faculty development materials concerning the use of educational technology.
Promote the ongoing assessment and improvement of teaching and learning at WPI.
- assisted with preparation of 11 grant proposals;
- assisted faculty and departments in the development and conduct of assessment plans for educational research projects, both by personal consultation and by providing assessment consultants to carry out the work;
- served as ex officio member of the Undergraduate Outcomes Assessment Committee;
- maintained and disseminated a collection of instructional and faculty development materials concerning assessment practices;
- assisted in the development of a proposal to the Davis Educational Foundation for reform of the core curriculum.

Usage(1) of CEDA services:

Usage of CEDA services for 03-04 included 730 total usages by 378 different individuals.
154 different WPI faculty used CEDA services in 03-04, representing a 5% increase from 02-03. (Users are asked to self-identify their categories; "faculty" is broadly defined to include Mass Academy and non-tenure track faculty.)
Other users include staff (71 different users), grad students and undergraduates (55), and non-WPI people (98), many from the Colleges of Worcester Consortium.

(1) "Usage" includes attending an event, borrowing an item, requesting and receiving information, having a draft written document reviewed, participating in a consultation, or receiving other forms of assistance.

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Last modified: Mar 21, 2008, 12:04 EDT