Each of our GAs this year is hard-working and committed to the mission of the center, and each brings her and his own teaching experiences and pedagogical knowledge.

Returning for a second year as a GA in the Center, Erin Solomon is currently finishing a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, with a concentration in Social Psychology. Erin has taught several courses in the Psychology Department including General Psychology and Foundations of Research Methods and Statistics. She has also taught Psychology courses online for the School for Professional Studies.

Joining us for his first year, Jacob Van Sickle is a Ph.D. Candidate in Historical Theology in the Department of Theological Studies, focusing on early Greek and Byzantine Christianity.  His passion for religious education at all levels will be fostered as he develops his pedagogical knowledge through his experiences in the Reinert Center.

Also a new Graduate Assistant to the Reinert Center, Elisabeth Hedrick-Moser will complete a doctorate degree in English, with a concentration in Transatlantic Modernism and Trauma Theory. She has taught several courses in the English Department, from Advanced Strategies in Rhetoric and Research to Women in Literature.  She also earned a graduate minor in Women’s and Gender Studies and has taught Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies at the Frost campus as well as Feminism in Action at the Madrid campus.

We look forward to the contributions that Erin, Jacob, and Elisabeth bring to all those the Reinert Center serves this year.

Dr. Beccy Aldrich explains how and why she partnered with a colleague at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden this spring 2013 semester to teach students about how culture influences the understanding of occupational therapy, geopolitics, and disability.

by Michaella Thornton, Assistant Director for Instructional Design

It is an inspiring and instructive privilege to be able to peek inside others’ classrooms to experience how others teach, hear how and why teachers make the choices they do for students, learning goals and objectives, and respective disciplines, and to consider how such possibilities may be transformed by those who teach elsewhere and/or do research on the scholarship of teaching and learning.

On Friday, April 19th past and current Innovative Teaching Fellows shared their perspectives about teaching in the Learning Studio, a state-of-the-art teaching space designed by a team of Saint Louis University faculty and students as part of the Herman Miller Learning Spaces Research Program.  Almost 40 full-time SLU faculty and administrators attended this at-capacity event.

Presenting CTTL Innovative Teaching Fellows included:

• Jenny Agnew, Ph.D., School for Professional Studies (Fall 2012), who discussed how her “ENGL 150:  The Process of Composition” students used theme-based writing projects via a public WordPress blog to explore the collaborative and on-going nature of writing, food, and culture, in addition to sharing how flexible classroom design may enhance the teaching of composition, especially in hosting teacher-student conferences, brainstorming sessions, and peer review.
• Beccy Aldrich, Ph.D., Department of Occupational Sciences and Occupational Therapy (Spring 2013), who shared how her “OCS 372: Occupations in Diverse Contexts” class uses immersive, collaborative learning technologies such as Fuze Meeting to connect with the Karolinska Institutet, a premier medical university located in Stockholm, Sweden, to foster a more globalized and diverse student perspective about occupational therapy.
• Paul Lynch, Ph.D., Department of English (Spring 2013), who shared how his graduate-level “ENGL 501: Teaching Writing” class uses a course blog and Google Docs to empower first-year composition instructors to co-construct assignments, the course syllabus, and model effective writing feedback for first-year composition students.
• Nathaniel Rivers, Ph.D., Department of English (Fall 2012), gave the audience a first-hand look at what he and his students have learned through the course, “ENGL 401: New Media Science Writing,” by sharing a snippet from his forthcoming jointly-created webtext, “Articulation.”  To see and/or hear a  different Vimeo video that sets the tone for the course Dr. Rivers held in the Learning Studio last fall, please click here.
• Thomas Stewart, J.D., School of Law (Fall 2012), who discussed how his first-year Evidence students used Google Docs and team-based and case-based learning to identify, apply, and contextualize the Federal Rules of Evidence (and the Missouri counterparts) to prepare students to practice law as professional attorneys.

We are so grateful to the Symposium panelists, who make this annual event possible by generously sharing their teaching and learning reflections with the larger Saint Louis University community.  [update on Tuesday, May 15th]: For those in the SLU community who were unable to attend the Symposium and would like to view a password-protected video, please email me at mthornt7[at]slu[dot]edu and I will enroll you in the CTTL Events course via Blackboard Learn.

Special thanks is also due to Flannery Burke, Ph.D., Department of History (Spring 2012), who prepared and introduced the Symposium panelists and deftly facilitated the Q&A session that immediately followed the panelists’ presentations.

We especially look forward to continuing the reflective conversation next April (2014) when we host our 3rd Annual Learning Studio Symposium.  Since the Innovative Teaching Fellowship program began in Fall 2011, the faculty who teach in the Learning Studio have much to share with the broader community about what teaching practices and educational technologies resonate with them, transfer to classrooms outside of the Learning Studio, the role of instructional design, and how providing space, time, and support to be in a new or refreshed mindset can make all the difference in reinvigorating or creating innovative learning environments for 21st Century students.

by Debra Rudder Lohe, PhD, CTTL Director

On Sunday, I received the news that Dr. Cheryl Cavallo – faculty emerita in the Program for Physical Therapy here at SLU – had lost her long, difficult battle with cancer.  This news is sad for all who had the great pleasure of knowing Cheryl, and for us here in the Center, it is especially so.  Cheryl was a part of the Center even before there was a Center; she was a member of the planning committee that first proposed the creation of a teaching center.  Along with a small handful of other SLU faculty, she worked tirelessly to launch the Center and to ensure that it had a strong foundation for success.  Cheryl served on our Advisory Board until her retirement in 2011.  Given all that she has done for and meant to the Center, we offer this small tribute as a way to keep her light burning.

Cheryl’s humor and humility are well-known to friends and colleagues.  Whip-smart, warmer than sunlight, she was passionately committed to the Jesuit charism of cura personalis; she cared for all of us as “whole persons” and did not separate heart from head like so many academics do.  But then, Cheryl wasn’t first and foremost an academic; she was a practitioner.  In fact, she would want me to tell you that she was a reflective practitioner.  The difference, for Cheryl, made all the difference.

Reflection was a defining feature of who Cheryl was.  In May 2010, we invited her to share her reflections on teaching at our spring Certificate Ceremony.  Although she was sure we’d invited the wrong person (see comment above re: “humility”), Cheryl told the story of how she came to teach, and she focused her comments on the importance of being what she called “a reflective practitioner of the art and science of teaching.”  Reflection, Cheryl explained, was not only a “basic tenet of all Jesuit philosophy,” it was an essential element of good teaching.  To be a reflective practitioner, good teachers must be willing to undertake “an honest appraisal,” of both strengths and weaknesses, and to do this regularly, with “a commitment to address ways to effect positive change.”  Ultimately, Cheryl explained, “Reflective teachers are the ones who have the courage to challenge themselves, to venture outside their comfort zones, and to try innovative teaching techniques which may or may not be successful.”

As we remember Cheryl Cavallo, let us also remember that the word reflection has another, equally relevant meaning here: the ability of one thing to reflect light or heat or image onto another.  Cheryl’s light and warmth and wisdom were her own – but they were also a reflection of what she saw in each of us.  Without her searching and fearless gaze, the light surrounding us all is a bit dimmer today.

Click the podcast below to hear Cheryl’s Reflections on Teaching, from May 2010.

Full Transcript of Cheryl’s Reflections on Teaching, from May 2010.

Chris Grabau passed his doctoral comprehensive examination on Saturday, October 13.  He is well on his way to a PhD!

This year, Kim Scharringhausen celebrates her 26^th year at SLU.  Congratulations to Kim, and to all of us who have had the pleasure of working with her over the years.

Kim was also one of three CTTL staff members to present at the Focus on Teaching and Technology Conference at UMSL on November 1-2.  Kim presented on “Flipping Learning Technology Support: Preparing Faculty in the 24/7 World.”   Also at the UMSL conference, Sandy Gambill led a workshop on “Designing, Implementing, and Assessing Technology-Based Assignments,” and Michaella Thornton joined forces with Dr. Jenny Agnew (one of our Innovative Teaching Fellows), to present “Food for Thought: Collaborative Course Design and Social Media in the Writing Classroom.”

Four of us had an opportunity to attend and present at the annual conference of the Professional and Organizational Network in Higher Education (POD Network) in Seattle at the end of October.  (POD is the premier faculty/instructional development professional organization in the United States.)  Dr. Gina Merys and Sandy Gambill presented a poster on our pilot of asynchronous Small Group Instructional Feedback sessions.  Both Gina and Sandy also were a part of other sessions at POD: Sandy joined Dr. Debra Lohe and Michaella Thornton in a workshop entitled, “Learning Space: Classroom or Change Agent?,” and Gina, MIchaella, and Debie held a roundtable discussion on strategic planning, “Illuminating ‘Lived Experiences’: Strategic Planning in Teaching and Learning Centers.”

While this year marks the Center’s 15-year anniversary, the fall semester also marks our first full year of the Innovative Teaching Fellows program, which began with three pioneering full-time faculty members who taught in the Learning Studio during the Fall 2011 semester: Stephanie Mooshegian (School for Professional Studies), Tim Howell (Department of Athletic Training and Physical Therapy), and Rachel Schwartz (formerly of the School of Public Health).

In Spring 2012, the baton was passed to Flannery Burke (History), Elena Bray Speth (Biology), and Kathleen Llewellyn (Modern & Classical Languages).

A year later, I am happy to introduce the five Innovative Teaching Fellows for the Fall 2012 semester who will continue the tradition of crafting engaging, creative, and student-centered learning experiences in the Learning Studio and to welcome back one of the inaugural Fellows, Stephanie Mooshegian, who will return to teach organizational studies.

Jenny Agnew, Ph.D.

Jenny Agnew, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of English and assistant chair of the Core Curriculum and General Studies Program at Saint Louis University’s School for Professional Studies. Her areas of interest are American Literature, Gothic fiction, adult learners, and food studies.

She is excited to teach an English 150: The Process of Composition course based on food and culture in the Learning Studio, where the class will be able to take advantage of the unique space and technology to become better writers. Dr. Agnew’s students will also enact and practice the writing process through their course blog, Food 150.

Jamel Bell, Ph.D.

As an Innovative Teaching Fellow for the fall 2012 semester, Professor Jamel Santa Cruze Bell will be teaching Communication 512, Contemporary Issues in Media: Crossroads of Race, Class, and the Digital Divide on Tuesday nights, just in time for the 2012 Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. Dr. Bell’s research and teaching interests revolve around the study of race, ethnicity, and gender, specifically questioning the extent to which dominant discourses like media influence and contribute to the social construction of race and gender as well as the reproduction of social inequality.

Through a critical/cultural lens, Dr. Bell interrogates these images focusing on the sociopolitical, power, and economic considerations that drive the depictions and the issues of identity that may result. Dr. Bell has presented her research at many scholarly conferences nationally and internationally as well as in local communities. She has written multiple book chapters and has articles published in journals such as the Howard Journal of Communications and Race, Gender, and Class. Dr. Bell is currently working on two book projects, including a co-edited volume that focuses on the work of media mogul, Tyler Perry, and a solo-authored book examining the role of race and new media in apologetic discourse.

In addition to her focus on research, Dr. Bell is also an award-winning teacher who views the classroom as a “safe haven” where multiple and diverse perspectives are encouraged, discussed, and critiqued.

Nathaniel A. Rivers, Ph.D.

Nathaniel A. Rivers is an assistant professor of English. His primary area of research and teaching is rhetorical theory and composition, with specializations in technical and professional communication, new media, and public rhetoric. As a teacher, Nathaniel works to foster student engagement-with themselves, each other, and the world at large. With respect to teaching with technology, he assumes that technology in the classroom is nothing new. Desks, textbooks, quizzes and tests, lecterns and lectures, and even classrooms themselves are all pedagogical technologies. He attempts, then, to productively pair course goals with a particular tool or suite of tools (some old, some new).

Additionally, he works to examine the ethical implications of his pedagogy, acknowledging that if education is more than knowledge-banking, then it is certainly more personal, more participatory, and thus much more ethically precarious. His research has appeared in College Composition and Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Kairos, Janus Head, and Ecology, Writing Theory, and New Media. Nathaniel’s course website also provides a comprehensive, creative framework to English 401: New Media Science Writing (also cross-listed as Film Studies 443).

Thomas L. Stewart, J.D.

Professor Tom Stewart is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Trial Advocacy program at Saint Louis University’s School of Law. This semester Professor Stewart is teaching Evidence in the Learning Studio. The Learning Studio’s flexible arrangement is especially conducive to the problem-based, collaborative teaching and learning Professor Stewart will use to introduce and guide students through the Federal Rules of Evidence (and the Missouri counterparts).

Students in the Evidence course will also act as lead and second chair trial groups throughout the semester. In May 2012, Professor Stewart presented on using technology to teach advocacy at “Educating Advocates: Teaching Advocacy Skills 2012” at Stetson Law School. Professor Stewart is the first Law School professor to teach in the Learning Studio.

Emmanuel Uwalaka, Ph.D.

Associate professor of Political Science, Dr. Emmanual Uwalaka teaches courses on African Politics, International Relations of Africa, Methods in Political Science, Political Systems of Sub-Sahara, and the Politics of Health.  He has conducted research and published on the intersections of the Church and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, and is currently working on “The Implementation of the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) in a Failed State: The Case of Somalia.”

In the Learning Studio this fall, Dr. Uwalaka will teach International Relations of Africa, which will include students at SLU and at Ithaca College in New York.  This collaborative course will simulate a regional conflict – “Globalization and Nigerian Oil.”  Teaching in the Learning Studio will enable him to create a highly- collaborative learning experience for students.

Returning Fellow: Stephanie Mooshegian, Ph.D.

Dr. Stephanie Mooshegian is an Assistant Professor and Chair, Organizational Studies in the School for Professional Studies. Her primary research interests include employee and student retention and work-life balance with a secondary research focus on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Mooshegian teaches courses in Organizational Studies Program, including OSTD 300, Organizational Foundations, which she instructed in the learning studio as one of its first Innovative Teaching Fellows.

She has instructed in multiple modalities (video-conference, online, and traditional classrooms) and enjoys bringing new and innovative teaching practices into the classroom. This semester Professor Mooshegian returns to the Learning Studio to teach Organizational Foundations. 

by Gina Merys, Assistant Director for Faculty and Graduate Student Development

The Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning is very lucky to have three Graduate Assistants on our staff.   Graduate Assistants in the Center assist in the administration of the Certificate in University Teaching Skills (CUTS) program, conduct research on teaching and learning topics, consult with graduate students about teaching,  and assist Center staff with design, implementation, and assessment of programs.

Each of our GAs this year is hard-working and committed to the mission of the center, and each brings her own teaching experiences and pedagogical knowledge.

Returning for a second year as a GA in the center, Divya Subramaniam is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Health. In addition to the regular duties of our GAs, Divya played an instrumental role in assisting our Instructional Liaison, Kim Sharringhausen, with SLU Global support last year.  Prior to her assistantship at the CTTL, she served as a graduate research assistant, where she assisted faculty members in the School of Public Health with their online classes; served as a teaching assistant; and assisted on research projects.

Having joined the CTTL in July of 2012, Erin Solomon is just beginning her time with us. She is a doctoral student in the Experimental Psychology Program, with a concentration in Social Psychology. Prior to joining the CTTL, Erin taught several courses in the Psychology Department, including General Psychology and Foundations of Research Methods and Statistics. She was also the instructor of Applied Social Psychology, an online course in the School for Professional Studies.

Also a new Graduate Assistant to the CTTL, Dipti Subramaniam, is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Health.  Previously, she was a research assistant with the Institute for Biosecurity and Disaster Preparedness in the School of Public Health, and also a graduate research assistant with the Environmental Health Research Lab. Dipti’s research interest includes qualitative and mixed methods research; predictive modeling; contemporary issues in global health; and the socio-cultural and psycho-social aspects of health promotion and behavior.

We look forward to the contributions that Divya, Erin, and Dipti bring to all those the CTTL serves this year.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been around here at Saint Louis University almost from the time they first became available in 1995.  SLU adopted WebCT in 1997 and launched it as a small pilot for the Nursing School and then made it available to the entire University.  My relationship with WebCT – now SLU Global (the new Blackboard 9.1) – has been going strong since 2000, and I have supported the faculty and staff of SLU on WebCT/SLU Global ever since.

The nice thing about SLU Global is that it can be used in a variety of ways, and it has so many interactive tools and features to choose from.  For face-to-face courses, SLU Global is a great place to post files, YouTube videos, web links, and grades in the Grade Center tool to give millennial students access to your course without having to carry a lot of paper work around (not to mention the ease of re-locating a misplaced assignment sheet or syllabus).  Blended classes, where the course meets sometimes face-to-face and sometimes online, can benefit from communication tools like course announcements, discussion boards, blogs and journals.

Potential ways to leverage SLU Global in your course may include:

• Posting and/or Curating Content: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF, audio files, image files, links to websites, links to videos, YouTube videos, Flickr images, link to library e-reserves
• Communicating with Students: announcements, external e-mail, internal e-mail, threaded discussion boards, blogs, journals, wikis, calendar
• Assessing Students: assignments, tests, rubrics
• Grading and Evaluation: gradebook that can be made available to students
• Fostering Collaborative Learning: student collaboration on assignments, discussion boards, journals, blogs and wikis

Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQs, about SLU Global tend to center around how instructors may gain access to a SLU Global course, how to enroll students in a course, and how to make a course available to teaching assistants and students. To find the answers to these questions (and many more), first consult the SLU Global Faculty Support Page. A great place to start with SLU Global is the Frequently Asked Questions page.  More complete documentation is available on the Documentation page, which contains six manuals for different areas of SLU Global.  The Blackboard Corporation also has a helpful website full of comprehensive training videos.

Still don’t have an answer to your SLU Global question? Please contact me (Kim Scharringhausen) at 314-977-2252 or email me at: facsupport@slu.edu. I am also available for one-on-one consultations and departmental or group classes. Faculty support coverage hours span from Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time.  Additional support is available 24-7 on the SLU Global Faculty Support website.

Last but not least, supplementary SLU Global applications SLU faculty members find helpful in creating assessments, collaborative projects such as wikis, blogs, and journals, and lecture capture include:

• Respondus, a test creation and management tool that works with SLU Global is also supported by the CTTL.  The website with information on how to get Respondus on your SLU and/or your personal computer is here.
• Campus Pack is a software package that is integrated through SLU Global.  Campus Pack provides wiki, blog and journal tools.
• Tegrity, the University’s lecture capture tool, is also linked to SLU Global.

If you are interested in learning more about the flipped class and other ways you might better engage students in your classes, we invite you to make an appointment with one of our staff members.  To see Dr. Lohe’s interview visit http://fox2now.com/2012/07/25/the-flipped-classroom-at-slu/

The Center celebrated a record number of 50 Certificate in University Teaching Skills graduates on May 4, 2012 with Dr. Gina Merys, Assistant Director, and Dr. Debra Rudder Lohe, Director of the CTTL.

The Center honored a record number of 50 Certificate in University Teaching Skills recipients at our Spring Ceremony on Friday, 4 May.

After warm welcomes from Dr. Debra Rudder Lohe, Director of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, and Dr. Paaige Turner, Associate Vice-President for International and Academic Affairs, keynote speaker, Dr. Lynda Morrison, professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, imparted her words of wisdom on teaching and learning to the recipients, friends, and family in attendance.

The Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning enhances the quality of undergraduate and graduate education by offering two certificates for graduate students and (full- and part-time) faculty: the Participation Certificate in University Teaching Skills and the more comprehensive Certificate in University Teaching Skills. The Participation Certificate can be earned by attending ten Effective Teaching Seminars, which are offered on a regular basis by the CTTL. The Certificate in University Teaching Skills, with more complex requirements, results in a professional Teaching Portfolio. Certificates are awarded twice a year, at the fall and spring semester Certificate Ceremonies.

For more information about our Certificate programs, please visit: http://slu.edu/cttl/programs-and-services/certificate-programs

Dr. Lynda Morrison, Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, congratulates and addresses the Certificate in University Teaching Skills (CUTS) graduates (May 4, 2012).

Katie Beres

In June, the CTTL welcomed its newest staff member, Katie Beres, who serves as Instructional Liaison for Faculty and Graduate Student Development.  Under the direction of Dr. Gina Merys, Katie works closely with graduate students and faculty enrolled in our Certificate Programs, and she assists with the creation, implementation, and assessment of programs focused on teaching enhancement, assessment of student learning, and many other topics.

Katie comes to us from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where she served as an instructional designer, providing course and instructional development for distance learning.  Before that, she worked in the Division of Student Development here at SLU, as an academic advisor and as a coordinator in the Learning Communities program.  While in Student Development, Katie worked closely with the Center to develop resources and programs for faculty teaching in First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs) and developed her knowledge of Ignatian pedagogy.

Katie has taught both first-year and upper-level students, at SLU and at The Ohio State University, where she received her Master’s in Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs.  With an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Gender Studies from Notre Dame, Katie brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her work in the Center.  She has a deep commitment to Ignatian pedagogy and to understanding how people learn and how student development theory can inform the ways in which we structure learning experiences.  To read more about Katie, check out her page in the staff directory.

The next time you’re in Pius Library, stop in to the Center and meet Katie – we are happy to have her on our team!