Volume 2 Number 4 September 2003

Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching and LearningP.O. Box 160066 CL1-207Orlando, FL, 32816-0066

Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning www.fctl.ucf.edu

Articles

Reinventing LongDistance Learning forMultidisciplineExcitementRelationship Relief is onthe WayDatabase of TeachingResourcesBuilding Community onthe Web Through ServiceLearningUsing ComputerTechnology and ArtificialIntelligence to GenerateUnique Cases and theAssociated SolutionService Learning at UCFWomen Studies in Action:Seeds of RevolutionBlooming WildHangin’ at the FacultyCenter

Faculty Center Update

Winter Conference 2003Awards for Excellence inGraduate Teaching andResearchAnnouncement“The Laramie Project”“Excellence in Teachingwith Technology” Award -Dr. Nancy StanlickConnecting the UCFCommunity: Brown V.Board of EducationFaculty ForumTeaching Related Conferences

The Faculty Focus is a publication for all instructors at the University of Central Florida. This includes full- and part-time fac-ulty and teaching assistants at all UCF campuses. Its purpose is to provide an exchange of ideas on teaching and learning forthe university's community of teachers and scholars. It is envisioned that this publication will inspire more dialogue amongfaculty, whether in hallway discussions, departmental meetings, or in written articles. Toward this latter goal, the FacultyFocus will lead to an annual "Best Practices" edition where some of the ideas that were generated in the bi-semester editionswill be expanded and developed into full articles. The annual edition will be peer-reviewed and disseminated regionally. Thisrepresents an opportunity for faculty to reach their peers throughout the growing Central Florida community. The FacultyFocus invites you to contribute your ideas on teaching and learning in a short essay see the guidelines for submission onlineat <www.fctl.ucf.edu/focus/guidelines.htm>. Publication dates will be the middle of the first and last full months of eachsemester, and submission deadlines will be the Friday of the week prior. MLA format is preferred. Please send your submis-sions to Faculty Focus, fctl@mail.ucf.edu.

Submissions

Check us out Online!

www.fctl.ucf.edu

Contents

Faculty CenterCL1-207, 407-823-3544

...continued on page 2

Because of the excellence of our facultyand the long distance learning resources

available at UCF, many of our students havebenefited from a nontraditional learning envi-ronment which incorporates instructors andopportunities that used to be out of our phys-ical reach. Today, we can digitally link ourclassrooms with students or faculty fromacross the nation while working out ofOrlando. These new tools are making a dif-ference in how we transmit knowledge, infor-mation, and skills to students.

We also have the added resources of theFaculty Center and the Office of InstructionalResources, whose mission it is to aid our fac-ulty in creating cutting-edge approaches tothe delivery of education. Support is clearlyavailable to instructors wishing to incorpo-rate the enhanced technologies available to usas we teach our classes.

However, many ofus do not takeadvantage of thenew tools. Someare intimidated, butI believe most of usfind it difficult toimagine uses for thenew opportunitiesthat make it a different and dynamic experi-ence for ourselves and our students. Thismakes sense considering most of us learnedhow to teach in environments that did notinclude technology, and the idea of learning anew system feels akin to switching disci-

Reinventing Long Distance Learning for Multidiscipline ExcitementJohn Shafer

plines and going back to schoolourselves. Plus, it seems reason-able to ask, "why bother?" Afterall, a classroom environment isstill a classroom regardless of thespace between the instructor andthe students, right? Wrong. Usesfor these new technologies arelimited only by our imagination.

What about the potential for acultural diversity class that is

team taught with faculty and students fromFlorida, Vermont, Washington, DC, NewYork, and Iowa? Certainly the potential forregional differences in perceptions will beuncovered through personal contact. A statelike Vermont which has comparatively fewminorities would suddenly meet people faceto face. African Americans may discoverwhat it is like to need to travel to Quebec inorder to buy shampoo for their hair. Mythsbecome expelled.

How about a French class taught, shared, andaugmented by native speakers from Paris?International studies become alive with pos-sibilities when you imagine sharing the learn-ing experience in a truly international envi-ronment without actually leaving Orlando.

Have you always wanted to bring in a nation-ally noted specialist in your field? Budget

and scheduling canlimit your access.What if you canarrange time for theperson to addressyour class withoutthe time andexpense of travel?

I once saw a tombopened in real time while linked on the inter-net. Archeology and anthropology certainlybecome a lot more visceral when students andfaculty alike may ask questions and involvethemselves directly.

John Wayne Shafer is a member ofthe Dramatists Guild and has servedas a regional liaison for How to Be aWorking Actor, 4th edition by MariLyn Henry. John is an alumnus ofRutgers University's Mason GrossSchool for the Arts and is currentlyan Assistant Professor of Theatre atthe University of Central Florida.

“My venture into the long distanceenvironment has been challenging,

surprising, and rewarding to myself,my students, and my colleagues.”

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One of the strengths in using the technology available to usis that it makes opportunities accessible that did not seempossible only a few years ago. But, in my opinion, thebiggest advantage is the charge of excitement it provides tothe students and to me as a teacher. Using these tools makesme re-think how I teach. I gain new skills. I become moreeffective as an instructor and invigorated by the knowledgethat what we are doing is cutting-edge and unique and mystudents share this excitement and become far more involvedthan in traditional classes.

I am a theatre professor. I just ended a collaborative projectwith Bradley University in Illinois. It was called the BradleyUniversity/University of Central Florida Joint DynamicMedia Project. George Brown, Chair of Theatre at BradleyUniversity, and I collaborated to produce a piece of live inter-active theatre that made use of existing LDC's and telecon-ference facilities and technologies on both campuses. Wechose to take one of mankind's oldest stories and see if wecould tell it in a new live performance environment. AnIllinois newspaper described it like this:

"This unique collaboration between Bradley's theatredepartment and the University of Central Floridaattempts to push theatrical boundaries. It raises ques-tions about how the theatre of the future might departdramatically from the theatre of today… The 2,500year-old tragedy receives a 21st century spin thanks tohigh speed Internet access which enables live actorsand audiences in Peoria to share performance time withvirtual actors and audiences from Orlando."- JournalStar, July 31, 2003.

For a learning environment, I really could not ask for more.The project was beneficial in ways I had not foreseen.Positive surprises and relationships continue to blossom outof our experiment.

Students, colleagues, and businesses volunteered to partici-pate both on our campus and on Bradley's campus.Collaborations arose with colleagues from all over.Associate Professors of Theatre Be Boyd and MarkBrotherton became involved in the performance. DynamicMedia's Jeff Wirth and Mike Moshell, the Director ofCREAT, contributed ideas. Patsy Moskal from the Office ofResearch Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness aided us increating research documentation of the project. Dr. RuthMarshall, Director of the Office of Instructional Resources,provided invaluable access to equipment and knowledgeablepersonnel like Don Merritt. Dr. Alison Morrison-Shetlar,Director of the Faculty Center, aided us in communications.One of the UCF students involved (Danielle Marino) earneda Burnett Honors College Grant.

Nationally, Innoventive Software of California asked me toserve as a pre-consumer tester for their new story board soft-ware called Frame Forge 3D. I was later asked to write areview of the product and a description of our Bradley/UCFproject for e-Zine magazine. And Bradley has become a Beta

Teaching Related Conferences

Dr. Stacey Tantleff Dunn is anAssociate Professor in thePsychology Department. She joinedUCF in 1996 from the University ofSouth Florida where she received herPh.D. in Clinical Psychology. Dr.Dunn's primary research activity is inthe areas of body image and eatingbehavior. In addition, she is greatlyinterested in the scholarship of teach-

ing. Dr. Dunn has won both a College of Arts andSciences Graduate Teaching Award and a TIP award, andshe is honored to currently serve as a Faculty Fellow ofthe Faculty Center for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Relationship Relief is on the WayStacey Tantleff Dunn

Tester site for the Apple release of Frame Forge 3D. We willbe presenting at the Internet II conference in Indianapolis inOctober and at the South Eastern Theatre conference inTennessee in March. We have been invited to the Next Artconference at the Florida Film Festival.

Internationally, Bradley's Professor Brown is (at the time ofthis writing) in Athens, Greece with a DVD of our joint proj-ect. He is presenting us to an international conference on the-atre whose theme for the year is digital media and its appli-cations for theatre.

The data we have collected is unique and will guide futureprojects. There have only been a handful of live, long-dis-tance-performance projects from multiple locations. An esti-mated cost of the hardware used in one of the more success-ful (Dancing Beyond Boundaries) is placed at around$250,000. Bradley and UCF have created a paradigm for the-atrical interaction that makes use of existing facilities andlow budgets. This opens the door to other institutions to cre-ate in this new performance medium while using existingteleconference and long-distance learning facilities with ourwork as a potential model.

My venture into the long distance environment has been chal-lenging, surprising, and rewarding to me, my students, andmy colleagues. I learned to be flexible and unafraid of achanging educational environment. The work has inspiredother ideas and given me skills I did not possess before. It ismy hope that you will consider imaginative ways to growyour classes in the rich world of new technologies.

28th Annual POD ConferenceVision, Metaphors, and Images

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher EducationOctober 8-12, 2003Denver, Colorado

http://www.podnetwork.org/conferences/2003/index.htm

EDUCAUSE 2003Balancing Opportunities, Expectations, and Resources

November 4-7, 2003Anaheim, California

http://www.educause.edu/conference/annual/

8th Annual Conference on Learning Communities and CollaborationStudent Learning and Engagement in Learning Communities

November 5-7, 2003Indianapolis, Indiana

http://lcc.uc.iupui.edu/

The Ninth Sloan-C International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN)The Power of Online Learning: Implications for Teaching and Learning

November 14 - 16, 2003Orlando, Florida

http://www.aln.ucf.edu/

23rd Annual Lilly Conference on College TeachingThe Art and Craft of Teaching

November 20-23, 2003Oxford, Ohio

http://www.units.muohio.edu/lillycon/

Syllabus Fall 2003December 8-10, 2003

Cambridge, Massachusettshttp://www.syllabus.com

The Hawaii International Conference on EducationJanuary 3-6, 2004Honolulu, Hawaii

http://www.hiceducation.org/

Teaching for WisdomThe Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching & Learning

February 19-20, 2004St. Paul, Minnesota

http://www.collab.org

Association for American Colleges and Universities:The Network for Academic Renewal Conference

Valuing General Education and Assessment: Campus-Wide Collaboration for Engaged LiberalEducation

March 4-6, 2004Long Beach, California

http://www.aacu.org/meetings/generaleducation/index.cfm

2004 AAHE Learning to Change ConferenceLearning in 3-D: Democratic Process, Diverse Campus, Digital Environment

American Association for Higher LearningApril 1-4, 2004

San Diego, Californiahttp://www.aahe.org/convenings.htm

2004 AERA Annual MeetingAmerican Educational Research Association

April 12-16, 2004San Diego, California

http://www.aera.net/meeting/

For many of us, having the opportunity to nurture the intel-lectual and personal development of others is what makes

teaching such an important and rewarding endeavor. To me,teaching is as much (if not more) about developing relation-ships with students and embracing their desire to learn as it isabout providing access to information and facilitating stu-dents' acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities.

tions are not reliant upon higher grades, extra credit, orgreater leniency.

If you ever find yourself in difficult situations with students,please accept my invitation to come to the Faculty Center to

talk with us about the challengesyou are facing. There is no rea-son to face them alone.Sometimes just talking aboutthem can diffuse the negativefeelings that arise, and othertimes finding effective solutionsis just a conversation away.

Expertise in our academic domains is what so many of ushave relied upon in becoming competent educators.However, the reality is that teaching involves so much morethan conveying the information we have mastered. Takingsome extra time to explore and hone our relationship skillswith students can make an enormous difference in our teach-ing—helping us find greater fulfillment, and giving our stu-dents the best educational experiences we can offer.

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Database of Teaching ResourcesKathy Hohenleitner

It has become part of my job this year to answer the ques-tion: why, when so many wonderful resources are available

to us through the Faculty Center, do faculty find it difficult toaccess these resources? Time seems to be a key obstacle forfaculty every semester. We try to schedule our workshops tostraddle TR and MWF schedules, and to happen at varioushours of the school day. And at any time of the day you canstop in, have coffee, use a computer, or engage in casual con-versations about teaching. Still if you are someone whoseschedule never finds you near CL1-207, we are compilingresources for you into a database accessible through our web-site. So consider yourself invited to visit the website online,and more importantly, to contribute to this developing data-base.

Here are some ways we envision the database being useful tofaculty:

The quality of our relationships with our students can have amajor impact on how we feel about teaching, how studentsperceive us, and how effective we are as educators. When Ithink of some of the highs and lows in my teaching career,they are often related to particularly good or bad relation-ships with or feelings about stu-dents. I don't often reflect backon a wonderful PowerPoint®

presentation I pulled together, butI am likely to recall how appre-ciative a student was for anexplanation or advice I offeredduring office hours. It's not like-ly that I'd stress about fumbling a brief class demonstration,but it's quite likely that I would be concerned about a studentwho perceived being treated unfairly in some way.

Given the large numbers of students we teach through theyears, the odds are that all of us at some point will encounterchallenging and sometimes disheartening interactions withthe very individuals we are trying to help grow and learn.Depending on our own personality styles and the nature ofour classes, this may be a weekly occurrence or a very rareevent. However often, disputes with students can be stress-ful, distracting, and can eventually chip away at our confi-dence, competence, and love of teaching.

So what is a professor to do? Fortunately, there are manysteps that each of us can take toward preventing conflictswith our students and effectively addressing difficult inter-personal situations that arise. Some examples of theseinclude:

Taking a closer look at our own attitudes, beliefs, andvalues regarding higher education and working towardunderstanding how these ideas may play a role in how weapproach our relationships with students.Reviewing and learning to apply basic communication andconflict resolution skills that seem obvious but are oftenforgotten when we are upset, angry, or frustrated in ourattempts to deal with unhappy or difficult students.Talking with colleagues about our struggles in theinterpersonal domain of the classroom—a topic oftenignored and overshadowed by somewhat safer discussionsabout course content or grade distributions.

As a clinical psychologist, I have found that many of theskills I use in therapy, such as reflecting, empathizing, andclarifying, work well in dealing with a variety of challengingsituations with students. Careful never to blur the linebetween professor and therapist, through the years I haveapplied some of the principles for developing strong workingalliances with clients to creating mutually understanding andrespectful relationships with students. I also have conductedempirical research on faculty-student conflicts, and havebeen surprised (usually pleasantly) by the results. I will pres-ent this research in a future workshop at the Faculty Center,but the upshot is that students generally crave better commu-nication with their professors. For them, effective resolu-

Kathy Hohenleitner is Senior FacultyFellow at the Faculty Center for the2003-2004 academic year. In 1998she received her Ph.D. from theUniversity of Notre Dame and beganteaching in the UCF EnglishDepartment. She teaches WorldLiterature, British Literature andComposition and her research inter-ests include Irish literature, postcolo-

nial theory and Composition pedagogy. At the FacultyCenter she works on providing resources, both onlineand face to face, to support faculty success.

“However, the reality is that teachinginvolves so much more than conveying

the information we have mastered.”

Announcement: “The Laramie Project”

The University of Central Florida's Theatre UCF and theSands Theatre of Deland will open separate productions ofThe Laramie Project that will open within 24 hours of eachother. The two productions are under the direction of a hus-band and wife team. Theatre UCF's director is University ofCentral Florida's Associate Professor of Theatre, Be Boyd.The Sands Theatre's director is University of CentralFlorida's Assistant Professor of Theatre John Wayne Shafer.Both productions will offer separate panels on hate crimefeaturing distinguished speakers, following the performance.

Theatre UCF's The Laramie Project opens on October 9thand runs October 9-12 and October 15-19. Curtain times areat 8:00 except for October 10, which begins at 7:30 and mati-nees on October 12th and 19th which begin at 2:00 p.m. Thebox office number is 407-823-1500.

The Sands Theatre The Laramie Project opens on October10th and runs October 10-12 and October 16-19. Curtaintimes are 8:00 p.m. except for the Sunday matinees onOctober 12th and 19th which begin at 5:30 p.m. The boxoffice number is 386-736-7456.

The Sands Theatre's panel will take place on the fifthanniversary of Matthew Shepherd's death after the Sunday,October 12th, 5:30pm matinee performance. Among othernoted speakers, Allison Bethel, Director of Civil Rights forthe Florida Attorney General's Office will discuss how hatecrime is defined, recorded, and prevented.

Theatre UCF's panel will take place on Friday, October 9th,following the 8:00 p.m. performance. Among other notedspeakers, Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan will discussthe impact of hate crime on our communities.

The Theatre UCF production will feature a cast ofeightThe Sands Theatre's production will feature a cast ofthirtyClear Channel radio interviews are scheduled forOctober 1stNPR Arts Connection interviews are scheduled forSeptember 28thA photo shoot opportunity is scheduled for theSands Theatre production on September 23rd

Connecting the UCF Community:Brown V. Board of Education

Gary Orfield addressed the UCF and Orlando community onThursday, September 11, as part of the Connecting the UCFCommunity Initiative. Orfield, a highly esteemed politicalscientist at Harvard University, is a national expert on theBrown vs. Board of Education decision and its implicationsfor American education. His talk addressed the issue ofdesegregation in the South following the landmark decisionand assessed that segregation is still often the norm inAmerican public schools. The American South had virtuallymandated educational apartheid before the Brown vs. Boarddecision, but the Johnson administration enforced desegrega-tion, so that today, the military and the public schools are twoof the most desegregated populations in the country.However, in metropolitan areas around the country, where80% of schoolchildren live, school populations are deter-mined largely by geographic situation, so poorer studentsattend less well-funded schools.

Orfield observed that Americans don't worry about unequalhousing, job opportunities or healthcare access to the samedegree as we value education because we assume that if edu-cation offers opportunities for economic advancement to all,then it follows that those who succeed in getting an educationwill have access to other economic advancement.

Orfield's research indicates that the outcomes of desegrega-tion for minorities in desegregated schools include increasedtest scores, increased comfort level in a diverse work settingand in diverse neighborhoods, and enhanced critical thinkingskills to accommodate multiple perspectives in problem solv-ing. Because the value of desegregation has been proven, heencouraged the Orlando community to continue to seek outways to support equal educational opportunities for all peo-ple.

This lecture was exceedingly well attended (standing roomonly), and promised great success for the continuation of thecommunity conversation about Brown vs. Board throughoutthe year. The other upcoming distinguished speakers onissues of race and school segregation are Rebecca Walker,Cornel West, Stephen Carter and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Congratulations to Nancy Stanlick

The Faculty Center is proud to congratulate Dr.Nancy Stanlick, Assistant Professor of Philosophy,who has received our award for "Excellence inTeaching with Technology." She will receive theaward at the International Conference for Teachingand Learning at Jacksonville in March.

Faculty Forum

Don't forget to check out the Faculty Forum, ouronline faculty discussion board. This month, FacultyFellow Dr. Stacey Dunn from the PsychologyDepartment will lead a discussion about coping withdisruptive students in the classroom. Sign on andjoin the discussion!

http://forum.fctl.ucf.edu/forum/

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You are sitting at your computer at 10:30 in theevening wondering how to engage 80 students in thetopic of supply and demand economics for tomor-row's class. Get online and see what strategies yourpeers have used that you might adapt, whetherdiscipline-specific or not.You have heard that group work is a pedagogicallyacclaimed method to engage learners who don'trespond well to lecture, but you are worried aboutassigning one grade to the work of four students.Find rationales for group work, rubrics for assessingit, step by step advice on how to train students toperform successful group work and advice fortroubleshooting, without ever leaving your office.You are designing a new multiple choice test for aclass you are teaching for the first time. This is apivotal moment in your course development; a welldesigned test can be useful for a long time to come.See what approaches others have used, what advicethey can offer and what research exists onassessment that you can employ.

Ideally, you will come to the center and actually discuss thesemethods with other faculty in a workshop, a teaching circlediscussion, in an electronic Faculty Forum chat<http://forum.fctl.ucf.edu/forum/> or in a one-on-one con-sulting situation. But if you are at a regional campus, anadjunct who teaches at odd hours, or simply under severetime constraints, you can still be part of the conversation byusing and contributing to the teaching resource database.

What in-class strategies have worked well for you? Howhave you succeeded in creating community in your largerclasses? What success have you had incorporating service-learning into your course? What advice can you share abouttest construction? What should a tenure-earning professorknow about portfolio development? What issues are peda-gogically interesting to you that the Faculty Center has notaddressed yet?

We have a cache of instructional strategies, assessmentrubrics, class activities and workshops developed by UCFinstructors at various summer conferences and winter confer-ences and it's all available to you. Search our database. Youmay find your own contributions to the Faculty Centerresearch as well. All our data is credited to the source wherepossible, so add your contribution to your C.V. and portfolio.Please help us make this database an effective toolbox for thelearning community at UCF.

Melody Bowdon is an assistant pro-fessor in the UCF Department ofEnglish and coordinator of theGraduate Certificate in ProfessionalWriting. She is a Faculty CenterFaculty Fellow and an active memberof the UCF service-learning commu-nity. She and colleague Blake Scottare co-authors of Service-Learning inTechnical and Professional

Communication, part of the Allyn and Bacon technicalwriting book series. Melody holds office hours in theFaculty Center each Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:30. Sheinvites anyone interested in exploring or developingideas for service-learning course to stop by during thosehours to discuss ideas and share resources. Also, feelfree to email her at mbowdon@mail.ucf.edu for moreinformation.

Building Community on the Web ThroughService LearningMelody Bowdon

In 2001, the UCF Department of English decided to makeour Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing available

entirely via the web in order to serve students throughout thestate and region. Since that time, our enrollment hasincreased exponentially, as a group of "new" kinds of stu-dents have joined us. They include business people who trav-el frequently for work or who have unpredictable schedules,individuals who face physical limitations that make it hardfor them to attend class, parents who want to be at home withtheir families as much as possible, students who live aroundthe region and don't have access to a similar program in theirlocal areas, and many other students who appreciate theopportunity to learn via the Internet. They live in Tampa, theKeys, the Treasure Coast, southern Georgia, throughout cen-tral Florida, and beyond.

Students who inquire about the program frequently expressconcern about the online format. They wonder if they'll feelisolated and alone as they work in solitude at their computersmiles away from their classmates and professor. I understandtheir concern. When I started teaching on the web I was wor-ried that I wouldn't get to know my students, that I wouldn'tfeel like I was actually teaching, which, for me, involves con-necting with students as individuals. What we've learnedtogether, though, is that the web-based format, when used instrategic ways, actually allows us to feel more connected andmore a part of a community than traditional classroom inter-actions have in the past.

One key to this community development in my classes is theuse of service-learning, a teaching approach that Diane Winkdescribes in her article in this issue of Faculty Focus.Following this model, my professional writing students pro-duce a wide range of documents, including proposals,brochures, web pages, press packets, manuals, and style

captivating the audience with one dysfunctional slide; fromBill, the art of cracking up an auditorium of teachers whilelooking deadly serious. I'm still waiting to see what Kathyhas up her sleeve. All of this is applicable to teaching, andsometimes research, but the only way you could possiblyfind out what any of this means and how to apply it is to hangout at the Faculty Center and learn it for yourself.

Workshop Opportunity

Are you using Brown vs. Board of Education as a themein your classes? Are you thinking of incorporating the Common theme orusing the Common Reader in your classes for upcomingsemesters?

Come and hear strategies, assignments and approachesfrom faculty who have expertise across the disciplines onthis theme. They will share their approaches and thenallow time for questions and collaboration on ways tobetter incorporate discussion of Brown v. Board into theuniversity curriculum in history, education, composition,speech, literature, sociology and Diversity Initiatives.

There will be workshops on Wednesday, October 1st, at10:30 and Tuesday October 14th, at 10:30 in the FacultyCenter for Teaching and Learning, 207 Classroom 1 Bldg.All are welcome!

University of Central FloridaDivision of Graduate StudiesUCF Program Announcement

Awards for Excellence in GraduateTeaching and Research

The Division of Graduate Studies is pleased to announcethe availability of new awards for excellence in graduatestudent teaching and for excellence in thesis and disser-tation research. Specifically, four new awards have beenestablished for graduate students, as follows:

Award for Excellence by a Graduate TeachingAssistant: This award recognizes excellence byGraduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) who areresponsible for a laboratory or other similarteaching assignment under the direction of afaculty member who serves as the instructor ofrecord. It focuses on the quality of the assistance provided by the GTA to the leadinstructor and students in the class.

Award for Excellence in Graduate StudentTeaching: This award recognizes excellencein teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants(GTAs) who have independent teachingresponsibilities. It focuses on the quality of thestudent's teaching activities and the academiccontributions to those activities.

Award for the Outstanding Master's Thesis:This award recognizes excellence in themaster's thesis. It focuses on the quality andcontribution of the completed master's thesis.

Award for the Outstanding Dissertation: Thisaward recognizes excellence in the doctoraldissertation. It focuses on the quality andcontribution of the completed dissertation.

These recognitions will be awarded for the first timewithin the current academic year. Application materialsmust be submitted by Friday, February 6, 2004, andaward recipients will be announced at the ResearchForum to be hosted by the Graduate Student Associationand the Division of Graduate Studies on March 22-23,2004. University-level award winners will receive$1,000 cash awards.

Detailed information regarding the eligibility require-ments, application processes, submission materials, anddeadlines will be forthcoming from the Division ofGraduate Studies soon. Watch for this information onthe graduate website at www.graduate.ucf.edu.

"good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teach-ing comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher."

Parker Palmer

Winter Faculty Development Conference 2003December 15, 16, 17, 2003

RFP: Due 5 p.m., Friday, November 14, 2003

The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will pro-vide forty $500/person grants for faculty members whoare transforming their courses. Faculty will receive assis-tance for the completion of a project that modifies theirface-to-face or web-enhanced courses for the purpose ofimproving teaching, learning, and evaluation. Facultymembers from all colleges are invited to apply.

This year’s themes include:

Assessment and the documentation ofteaching and learningActive and collaborative learningProblem-based learningService LearningEmploying new technologies in the learningenvironmentTeaching in a studio classroomInterdisciplinarity or linked courses

Final decisions will be provided to all applicants byNovember 21, 2003.

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guides for nonprofit agencies, publicschools, and government organizationsin their own geographic areas. Thenthe students collaborate via the web tohelp each other develop and revisetheir texts. This allows a public schoolteacher in Oviedo to help an officemanager in a poverty-stricken commu-nity in south Georgia to develop fund-ing for a nutritional information pro-gram. It allows a technical writer inNaples to help an artist in south Floridato acquire state funding for a commu-nity crafts project. It allows a busi-nesswoman in Orlando to help a com-munity college professor raise fundsfor a women's halfway house inOsceola County. The examples areendless, but the idea is simple.Service-learning allows students in aweb-based course to become investedin their local communities, but it alsochallenges them to consider issues inthe communities they don't see everyday. When they are connected witheach other through hard work, intensestudy, and civic action, they form acommunity bond that is rare even inface-to-face classes. More important-ly, this experience helps them tobecome better writers, as they recog-nize the power of excellent writing tobring about change in a complexworld.

Using Computer Technology and Artificial Intelligence toGenerate Unique Cases and the Associated SolutionPaul Goldwater

Paul Goldwater teaches cost and managerial accountingcourses at the undergraduate and graduate level. He con-tinues to research in the areas of managerial accounting andmanagement decision making. He has consulting experi-ence in microcomputer-based systems and local area net-work systems. These systems experiences are all to do withmanagerial accounting topics (uncertainty analysis, activi-ty-based costing, activity-based management, balancedscorecard, Visual Basic programming andCOM/Automation of MS Office). Before joining academia

he worked for Arthur Young & Company in the consulting practice.

Students at all levels (undergraduate and graduate) are presentedassignments/cases that contain text and values. These cases tend to generate

"canned" solutions which, when passed between students, jeopardize the account-ability of individual efforts and the educational value of the assignment. Moderninformation technology, for all its benefits, tends to exacerbate this problem.

strong presence of individuals committed to change and theeffectiveness of academic programs that reach beyond theclassroom, engaging both students and the university withthe community.

As a full-time Women's Studies instructor, I found the suc-cess of the workshop was an articulation of all I work for, amoment that reassured me that my work is alive. Educationclearly promotes action, and in Women's Studies, that actionis tangible: a range of Women's Studies-affiliated organiza-tions, including FMLA, NOW, GLBSU, and BFDC, are vis-ible on campus, hosting workshops and protests, writing let-ters and lobbying. The Women's Studies office is consistent-ly buzzing with activity—handling academic and activistloads, promoting partnerships, and looking for new ways toexpand and reach more individuals. In Women's Studies'classrooms, theory becomes practice, as interdisciplinarycourses include activist or service learning components, andinstructors are as much a part of the community as they arethe classroom. It's a holistic approach to teaching, what bellhooks calls "engaged pedagogy," pushing knowledge outsidethe classroom, decentering one's authority as an instructor,engaging students with the material and connecting that tothe larger context that is their world. This is the richness ofWomen's Studies—its ability to be academic and activist,theoretical and practical, challenging and worthwhile.

Continuing to broaden and strengthen the Women's Studiesprogram at UCF must be a top priority if we are to fully har-ness the power such programs foster. Part of this includesbringing Women's Studies to regional campuses, and as theprogram expands to regional campuses, the demand for suchcourses is clear. In Summer B, sixteen students signed up foran Introduction to Women's Studies course in Cocoa, most ofthem unable to finish the Women's Studies requirement with-out it. In order to give our students the opportunity to pursuewhatever they desire, we must continue to provide Women'sStudies support at all campuses. As a new coordinator andadvisor for the Women's Studies program at regional cam-puses, my primary goal is to make Women's Studies anoption for all students, not just for those with access to theOrlando campus. And with Women's Studies courses comesWomen's Studies energy—my regional students have somuch passion and so many plans; the activist componentcalls them to many causes and discoveries, invites them toexplore ground they wouldn't otherwise, like those individu-als in the workshop were doing—exploring ground, embrac-ing possibilities, sharing voices.

The success of the workshop indicated that feminism is thriv-ing on our campus, and that Women's Studies courses aredriving students into the world, equipped with knowledge,passion, and most importantly, the motivation to work forsocial change. Students taking what they learn from the class-room into the world is a revolutionary practice indeed, and inthat workshop I saw the seeds of revolutions blooming wild.

Ali Korosy has taught Spanish andHumanities at UCF and FSU foreighteen years. Her main concern iskeeping the material interesting forher students (and herself), which iswhy she can be found at many facul-ty development workshops at theFaculty Center, Course Development,and other locations as a presenter andparticipant. She is currently analyz-

ing the effectiveness of information technology in learn-ing and student engagement.

Hangin’ at the Faculty CenterAli Korosy

So, what has the Faculty Center got that my office hallwaydoesn't? That's easy: a juggler, a missionary English

teacher, a new art owner, a quiet person, a former studentwhose mission is to help me, none of my current students,pastries, books and articles for reference on a wide variety oftopics and, best of all, lots of alien human beings. And thosehumans all have ideas, knowledge and skills that I don't have… yet. Kind of gives me a warm feeling, like I might be ableto ward off senior dementia for a few more months.

Of course, those of us who hang out at the center a lot wouldalmost prefer that the rest of you didn't find out how great aplace it is to be. We sort of like being a group with a secretweapon.

Never mind that the research convincingly demonstrates thatfeeling as if you are part of a community, feeling supportedat work, spending time with good people, and taking amoment during your day to relax are good for your physicaland mental well-being. After all, who would want to feel bet-ter, be less likely to suffer an illness and appear to be morepsychologically healthy? It's not going to help your career,your relationships, or your ability to enjoy life, …or is it?

Dropping by during a session on assessment, professionalportfolios, teaching with technology, or grant-writing for just10 minutes will get you a very warm welcome, cookies, andusually invaluable insight and information, an opportunity togain a new perspective on everything from classroom behav-ior to bringing in grant monies to everyday living. And that'sjust 10 minutes. Think what you could get if you were ableto stay longer! And it doesn't matter how long you've been atit, if you can't learn something new and fresh, you're notamong the living. (Oh cool! A zombie! Add it to the list.)

A sample of the various skills I have proudly acquired (I'veleft out a lot): from Jay, the knack for juggling ice; fromNorma, the art of getting others to eat a lunch you don't real-ly like; from Eric, the joy of speaking only in polysyllabicwords; from Alison, the talent for being unassuming whileholding an important [sounding] title; from Shari, the talentfor creating a professional PowerPoint presentation while

Practical tips for community building inweb-based courses:

Take advantage of WebCT's chat functionto hold informal office hours on a weeklybasis. This helped my students and me toget to know each other. We were oftenable to work through questions andconcerns quickly in this format, leavingtime to connect philosophical issues andcurrent events to our class work.Develop at least one class activity thatrequires students to draw on resources intheir own geographic areas. For example,in my class last summer we created agraphic that represented the "impactzones" of our class efforts. The studentswere able visualize the impact of theirshared efforts throughout the region andthis joint project gave them a new outlookon their work.Use a variety of group structures. Most ofmy students appreciate the opportunity toparticipate in both large and small groupdiscussions. My students like to get toknow a small group of classmates verywell through focused joint effort on aproject, but they also enjoy learning fromother members of the class. Invite students to create a joint identity bydeveloping a resource that people outsideof the class can use. Students in myproposal writing course createdindividual resource pages for peopleworking on grants and other similar projects. This shared objective helped tocement their sense of community.

One of my former students capturesthis phenomenon eloquently when shewrites:

The most important benefit Ihave observed from my onlineservice-learning experience isthat it breaks down barriers—notjust time and distance barriers,but, most importantly, social bar-riers. Because I did not have toworry about impression manage-ment, the supportive environ-ment allowed me to risk beingmore honest than I would havedared in the traditional class-room setting. The online formatgave me the freedom to expressmy joys and fears more honestlythan I have ever dared tobefore—and to my surprise, Iwas not ostracized for taking therisk—I received more supportthan I have ever experienced inany other professional or aca-demic setting.

I'm proud to work with the smart andcommitted students who take ouronline professional writing courses,and I feel privileged to be a member ofthe community they have created andcontinue to develop through their col-laborations.

Modern information technology hasfacilitated students' efforts to share"canned" solutions by email, etc. Iwanted a pedagogical innovation thatleveraged the power of modern tech-nology to generate a unique assign-ment for every student, and one thatwould generate for the benefit of theinstructor the unique solution for eachstudent assignment. Effectively theinnovation will foil the "canned" solu-tion.

The following innovation has lever-aged the power of modern technolo-gy—specifically PCs, artificial intelli-gence, analytical modeling and simula-tion. Every assignment is assembledusing Microsoft Excel, algebra, theappropriate artificial intelligent (AI)constructs and then using analyticalmodeling and simulation generates the

The system has beentested over the last 6semesters. It has onlybeen the last twosemesters that the pro-totype, initially devel-oped three years ago,could be used as a tem-plate to develop moreassignments. The sys-tem is currently beingused for both under-graduate level costaccounting studentsand for masters' levelstudents (MBA).

assignment such thatthe AI constructs areupheld. The AI con-structs are coded using"if-else-then" con-structs which are differ-ent for every assign-ment. The AI con-structs are also codedusing the inherent capa-bilities of Excel. Theassignment/case is sentto students by email. Aschematic of the systemis presented.

The purpose of the sys-tem is to prevent stu-dents sharing home-work, both betweensemesters and withinthe semester. All students are now forced to work their ownassignments. The system is also being used for examinationpurposes and therefore every student has a unique examassignment.

7FACULTY FOCUS

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Service Learning at UCFDiane Wink

Diane Wink is a Professor in theSchool of Nursing, COHPA. Shehelped develop the UCF community-based nursing education curriculumand helped refine the service-learningcomponent of the graduate nursepractitioner courses. She is currentlya Senior Faculty Fellow in the Officeof Academic Affairs where the focusof her work is expansion of service

learning activities across the campus.

Although formal efforts to bring service-learning (s-l) toUCF only began last year, this exciting teaching modal-

ity, which uses community involvement to help studentsapply course content to projects which meet communityneeds, is taking place in all the colleges. A cadre of facultywho have long used this approach has been joined by a grow-ing number of faculty who are adding service-learning activ-ities to their courses.

Service-learning is a teaching method that uses communityinvolvement to apply theories or skills being taught in acourse. Service-learning furthers the learning objectives ofthe academic course, addresses community needs, andrequires students to reflect on their activities in order to gainan appreciation for the relationship between academics andcivic life. Service-learning is a method by which people learnand develop through active participation in thoughtfully

organized experiences that:meet community needs are coordinated in collaboration between university andcommunity are integrated into academic curriculum provide structured time to think, talk, and write about the activity provide opportunities to use academic skills andknowledge in the community enhance what is taught in the classroom by extendinglearning beyond the classroomhelp foster ongoing development of a sense of caring for others.

(Adapted from: UCF definition of service-learning and state-ments of the Alliance for Service-Learning in EducationReform, 1993.) Service-Learning activities are not paid.They generally occur over a single semester but multi-semester projects can occur.

In 2002, the Service-Learning Committee received a grantfrom the Florida Campus Compact to expand s-l activities atUCF. Two workshops were presented and the grant support-ed presentations at the Faculty Center, including an s-l trackin the Summer Faculty Development Conference. In addi-tion, Dr. Melody Bowdon, Assistant Professor in theDepartment of English, offered consultation to faculty devel-oping s-l courses.

There are multiple initiatives to support s-l this year. The firstis the development of a central support site for faculty usings-l activities in their courses. Ms. Linda Hargreaves (mailto:lhargrea@mail.ucf.edu) is working with Dr. John Schell,Assistant VP and Dean for Undergraduate Studies, to set up

a central resource site. The service-learning web page, first developed bystudents in one of Mary EllenGomrad's tech writing courses as a s-lactivity, (http://www.undergraduates-tudies.ucf.edu/service/index.html) isbeing expanded. Links to sites whichhelp students and faculty contact com-munity agencies appropriate for a par-ticular course are being reviewed forinclusion. In addition, Linda has multi-ple informational workbooks and isworking on flyers and poster displaysto bring information on s-l to faculty,students, and the community. A serv-ice-learning newsletter for the UCFcommunity and our community part-ners is under development.

The second initiative is ongoing educa-tion of faculty. Dr. Bowdon continuesto offer consultation each Wednesdayfrom 2:30-4:30 at the Faculty Center.In addition, Dr. Diane Wink, a SeniorFaculty Fellow, has development andsupport of s-l courses as the majorfocus of her assignment. She offersconsultation and support and can bereached at wink@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu.Presentations will address s-l at theupcoming Winter and Summer FacultyDevelopment Conferences and addi-tional education programs are beingdeveloped.

Women Studies in Action:Seeds of Revolutions Blooming WildLeandra Preston

Leandra Preston received her B.A. and M.A. in Literature atUCF. She taught Composition in English for two years, andcurrently teaches Women's Studies full-time. She is the firstever full-time Visiting Instructor in Women's Studies andher research interests include theories of activism, third-wave feminist theory, and Italian-American women's writ-ing. She is a feminist, an activist, and is reveling in her posi-tion with Women's Studies until she pursues her Ph.D. in2004.

Amazing things happen in a room of committed individuals, and in a little roombig things happened one evening when at least thirty individuals gathered to

discuss feminism, Women's Studies, and possibilities for change. The FeministMajority Leadership Alliance hosted a feminism workshop on September 18th,where I joined them to talk about feminism—its many definitions, concerns, andpotential. During the two-hour workshop we smashed stereotypes, debunkedmyths, and worked toward practical solutions to a myriad of problems. We thought

S-L in an undergraduate course

This example of integration of s-l activitiesin an undergraduate course is provided byDr. Elizabeth Rash, Visiting AssistantProfessor in the School of Nursing. Thecourse is PAF 3930H, Honors ResearchMethods in Health and PublicAdministration.

Students are partnering with communityorganizations (ESTEEM, Inc., BloodBank, WP Community Liaison PoliceOfficer, Humane Society, NemoursPediatric Diabetes NP, Teen Xpress,Harvest Food Bank) cooperatively deter-mining community partner needs and chal-lenges, reviewing the current literaturerelated to these needs, and developingresearch proposals that address theseneeds. Students will then present their pro-posals to their community partners for theirreview and adoption, or adaptation.

Student reflection on the service-learningprocess, thus far, reveals some reticence toinitiate contact with (willing and eager)community partners. However, the enthu-siasm of the community partners has beenencouraging to the students. I believe that,for most of the students, this is their firstcollege exposure to service-learning.

A third initiative is an inventory of allcourses offered at UCF which haveservice-learning activities as a compo-nent. If you teach one or more coursesor course sections with service-learn-ing activities, please contact Dr. Winkto be included on our inventory. (Putthe phrase "service-learning" on thesubject line of your email.) Becausethere are a wide variety of course-relat-ed community outreach/partnershipprograms at UCF (e.g. s-l, internships,co-ops, clinical practice assignments),brief descriptions of each are providedin a handout which can be found at(http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/tresources/learning.htm). If you are not sure if yourcourse(s) would be classified as serv-ice-learning, please reply anyway.

Additional initiatives include an evalu-ation of current s-l initiatives and out-reach to students to increase theirawareness of s-l course options. Wewill provide more information as theyear progresses.

We hope all faculty will examine theircourses to determine if s-l is a teachingmodality that would help their studentsto achieve learning goals. Theresources to support this initiative arein place and we welcome requests forassistance.

both big and small—big in the sense ofbig plans, small in that the efforts aregrassroots, happening on campus, deal-ing with issues that directly affect ourfaculty, students, and community.

The foundation of the audience anddiscussion was not only feminism, butWomen's Studies; there were Women'sStudies minors, students of Women'sStudies classes, women from thePresident's office, the Director ofWomen's Studies, Lisa Logan, andmyself, teacher of Women's Studies.The dynamic of the workshop reflectedboth the power and necessity of theWomen's Studies program, in its workto foster academic development aroundwomen's issues, and its attempt to pro-vide a center for so many different con-cerns, intellectual and otherwise, butmore than anything, it reflected the

The system has beentested over the last 6semesters. It has onlybeen the last twosemesters that the pro-totype, initially devel-oped three years ago,could be used as a tem-plate to develop moreassignments. The sys-tem is currently beingused for both under-graduate level costaccounting studentsand for masters' levelstudents (MBA).

assignment such thatthe AI constructs areupheld. The AI con-structs are coded using"if-else-then" con-structs which are differ-ent for every assign-ment. The AI con-structs are also codedusing the inherent capa-bilities of Excel. Theassignment/case is sentto students by email. Aschematic of the systemis presented.

The purpose of the sys-tem is to prevent stu-dents sharing home-work, both betweensemesters and withinthe semester. All students are now forced to work their ownassignments. The system is also being used for examinationpurposes and therefore every student has a unique examassignment.

7FACULTY FOCUS

Vol. 2, No. 3 2003

6 FACULTY FOCUS

Vol. 2, No. 3 2003

Service Learning at UCFDiane Wink

Diane Wink is a Professor in theSchool of Nursing, COHPA. Shehelped develop the UCF community-based nursing education curriculumand helped refine the service-learningcomponent of the graduate nursepractitioner courses. She is currentlya Senior Faculty Fellow in the Officeof Academic Affairs where the focusof her work is expansion of service

learning activities across the campus.

Although formal efforts to bring service-learning (s-l) toUCF only began last year, this exciting teaching modal-

ity, which uses community involvement to help studentsapply course content to projects which meet communityneeds, is taking place in all the colleges. A cadre of facultywho have long used this approach has been joined by a grow-ing number of faculty who are adding service-learning activ-ities to their courses.

Service-learning is a teaching method that uses communityinvolvement to apply theories or skills being taught in acourse. Service-learning furthers the learning objectives ofthe academic course, addresses community needs, andrequires students to reflect on their activities in order to gainan appreciation for the relationship between academics andcivic life. Service-learning is a method by which people learnand develop through active participation in thoughtfully

organized experiences that:meet community needs are coordinated in collaboration between university andcommunity are integrated into academic curriculum provide structured time to think, talk, and write about the activity provide opportunities to use academic skills andknowledge in the community enhance what is taught in the classroom by extendinglearning beyond the classroomhelp foster ongoing development of a sense of caring for others.

(Adapted from: UCF definition of service-learning and state-ments of the Alliance for Service-Learning in EducationReform, 1993.) Service-Learning activities are not paid.They generally occur over a single semester but multi-semester projects can occur.

In 2002, the Service-Learning Committee received a grantfrom the Florida Campus Compact to expand s-l activities atUCF. Two workshops were presented and the grant support-ed presentations at the Faculty Center, including an s-l trackin the Summer Faculty Development Conference. In addi-tion, Dr. Melody Bowdon, Assistant Professor in theDepartment of English, offered consultation to faculty devel-oping s-l courses.

There are multiple initiatives to support s-l this year. The firstis the development of a central support site for faculty usings-l activities in their courses. Ms. Linda Hargreaves (mailto:lhargrea@mail.ucf.edu) is working with Dr. John Schell,Assistant VP and Dean for Undergraduate Studies, to set up

a central resource site. The service-learning web page, first developed bystudents in one of Mary EllenGomrad's tech writing courses as a s-lactivity, (http://www.undergraduates-tudies.ucf.edu/service/index.html) isbeing expanded. Links to sites whichhelp students and faculty contact com-munity agencies appropriate for a par-ticular course are being reviewed forinclusion. In addition, Linda has multi-ple informational workbooks and isworking on flyers and poster displaysto bring information on s-l to faculty,students, and the community. A serv-ice-learning newsletter for the UCFcommunity and our community part-ners is under development.

The second initiative is ongoing educa-tion of faculty. Dr. Bowdon continuesto offer consultation each Wednesdayfrom 2:30-4:30 at the Faculty Center.In addition, Dr. Diane Wink, a SeniorFaculty Fellow, has development andsupport of s-l courses as the majorfocus of her assignment. She offersconsultation and support and can bereached at wink@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu.Presentations will address s-l at theupcoming Winter and Summer FacultyDevelopment Conferences and addi-tional education programs are beingdeveloped.

Women Studies in Action:Seeds of Revolutions Blooming WildLeandra Preston

Leandra Preston received her B.A. and M.A. in Literature atUCF. She taught Composition in English for two years, andcurrently teaches Women's Studies full-time. She is the firstever full-time Visiting Instructor in Women's Studies andher research interests include theories of activism, third-wave feminist theory, and Italian-American women's writ-ing. She is a feminist, an activist, and is reveling in her posi-tion with Women's Studies until she pursues her Ph.D. in2004.

Amazing things happen in a room of committed individuals, and in a little roombig things happened one evening when at least thirty individuals gathered to

discuss feminism, Women's Studies, and possibilities for change. The FeministMajority Leadership Alliance hosted a feminism workshop on September 18th,where I joined them to talk about feminism—its many definitions, concerns, andpotential. During the two-hour workshop we smashed stereotypes, debunkedmyths, and worked toward practical solutions to a myriad of problems. We thought

S-L in an undergraduate course

This example of integration of s-l activitiesin an undergraduate course is provided byDr. Elizabeth Rash, Visiting AssistantProfessor in the School of Nursing. Thecourse is PAF 3930H, Honors ResearchMethods in Health and PublicAdministration.

Students are partnering with communityorganizations (ESTEEM, Inc., BloodBank, WP Community Liaison PoliceOfficer, Humane Society, NemoursPediatric Diabetes NP, Teen Xpress,Harvest Food Bank) cooperatively deter-mining community partner needs and chal-lenges, reviewing the current literaturerelated to these needs, and developingresearch proposals that address theseneeds. Students will then present their pro-posals to their community partners for theirreview and adoption, or adaptation.

Student reflection on the service-learningprocess, thus far, reveals some reticence toinitiate contact with (willing and eager)community partners. However, the enthu-siasm of the community partners has beenencouraging to the students. I believe that,for most of the students, this is their firstcollege exposure to service-learning.

A third initiative is an inventory of allcourses offered at UCF which haveservice-learning activities as a compo-nent. If you teach one or more coursesor course sections with service-learn-ing activities, please contact Dr. Winkto be included on our inventory. (Putthe phrase "service-learning" on thesubject line of your email.) Becausethere are a wide variety of course-relat-ed community outreach/partnershipprograms at UCF (e.g. s-l, internships,co-ops, clinical practice assignments),brief descriptions of each are providedin a handout which can be found at(http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/tresources/learning.htm). If you are not sure if yourcourse(s) would be classified as serv-ice-learning, please reply anyway.

Additional initiatives include an evalu-ation of current s-l initiatives and out-reach to students to increase theirawareness of s-l course options. Wewill provide more information as theyear progresses.

We hope all faculty will examine theircourses to determine if s-l is a teachingmodality that would help their studentsto achieve learning goals. Theresources to support this initiative arein place and we welcome requests forassistance.

both big and small—big in the sense ofbig plans, small in that the efforts aregrassroots, happening on campus, deal-ing with issues that directly affect ourfaculty, students, and community.

The foundation of the audience anddiscussion was not only feminism, butWomen's Studies; there were Women'sStudies minors, students of Women'sStudies classes, women from thePresident's office, the Director ofWomen's Studies, Lisa Logan, andmyself, teacher of Women's Studies.The dynamic of the workshop reflectedboth the power and necessity of theWomen's Studies program, in its workto foster academic development aroundwomen's issues, and its attempt to pro-vide a center for so many different con-cerns, intellectual and otherwise, butmore than anything, it reflected the

5FACULTY FOCUS

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guides for nonprofit agencies, publicschools, and government organizationsin their own geographic areas. Thenthe students collaborate via the web tohelp each other develop and revisetheir texts. This allows a public schoolteacher in Oviedo to help an officemanager in a poverty-stricken commu-nity in south Georgia to develop fund-ing for a nutritional information pro-gram. It allows a technical writer inNaples to help an artist in south Floridato acquire state funding for a commu-nity crafts project. It allows a busi-nesswoman in Orlando to help a com-munity college professor raise fundsfor a women's halfway house inOsceola County. The examples areendless, but the idea is simple.Service-learning allows students in aweb-based course to become investedin their local communities, but it alsochallenges them to consider issues inthe communities they don't see everyday. When they are connected witheach other through hard work, intensestudy, and civic action, they form acommunity bond that is rare even inface-to-face classes. More important-ly, this experience helps them tobecome better writers, as they recog-nize the power of excellent writing tobring about change in a complexworld.

Using Computer Technology and Artificial Intelligence toGenerate Unique Cases and the Associated SolutionPaul Goldwater

Paul Goldwater teaches cost and managerial accountingcourses at the undergraduate and graduate level. He con-tinues to research in the areas of managerial accounting andmanagement decision making. He has consulting experi-ence in microcomputer-based systems and local area net-work systems. These systems experiences are all to do withmanagerial accounting topics (uncertainty analysis, activi-ty-based costing, activity-based management, balancedscorecard, Visual Basic programming andCOM/Automation of MS Office). Before joining academia

he worked for Arthur Young & Company in the consulting practice.

Students at all levels (undergraduate and graduate) are presentedassignments/cases that contain text and values. These cases tend to generate

"canned" solutions which, when passed between students, jeopardize the account-ability of individual efforts and the educational value of the assignment. Moderninformation technology, for all its benefits, tends to exacerbate this problem.

strong presence of individuals committed to change and theeffectiveness of academic programs that reach beyond theclassroom, engaging both students and the university withthe community.

As a full-time Women's Studies instructor, I found the suc-cess of the workshop was an articulation of all I work for, amoment that reassured me that my work is alive. Educationclearly promotes action, and in Women's Studies, that actionis tangible: a range of Women's Studies-affiliated organiza-tions, including FMLA, NOW, GLBSU, and BFDC, are vis-ible on campus, hosting workshops and protests, writing let-ters and lobbying. The Women's Studies office is consistent-ly buzzing with activity—handling academic and activistloads, promoting partnerships, and looking for new ways toexpand and reach more individuals. In Women's Studies'classrooms, theory becomes practice, as interdisciplinarycourses include activist or service learning components, andinstructors are as much a part of the community as they arethe classroom. It's a holistic approach to teaching, what bellhooks calls "engaged pedagogy," pushing knowledge outsidethe classroom, decentering one's authority as an instructor,engaging students with the material and connecting that tothe larger context that is their world. This is the richness ofWomen's Studies—its ability to be academic and activist,theoretical and practical, challenging and worthwhile.

Continuing to broaden and strengthen the Women's Studiesprogram at UCF must be a top priority if we are to fully har-ness the power such programs foster. Part of this includesbringing Women's Studies to regional campuses, and as theprogram expands to regional campuses, the demand for suchcourses is clear. In Summer B, sixteen students signed up foran Introduction to Women's Studies course in Cocoa, most ofthem unable to finish the Women's Studies requirement with-out it. In order to give our students the opportunity to pursuewhatever they desire, we must continue to provide Women'sStudies support at all campuses. As a new coordinator andadvisor for the Women's Studies program at regional cam-puses, my primary goal is to make Women's Studies anoption for all students, not just for those with access to theOrlando campus. And with Women's Studies courses comesWomen's Studies energy—my regional students have somuch passion and so many plans; the activist componentcalls them to many causes and discoveries, invites them toexplore ground they wouldn't otherwise, like those individu-als in the workshop were doing—exploring ground, embrac-ing possibilities, sharing voices.

The success of the workshop indicated that feminism is thriv-ing on our campus, and that Women's Studies courses aredriving students into the world, equipped with knowledge,passion, and most importantly, the motivation to work forsocial change. Students taking what they learn from the class-room into the world is a revolutionary practice indeed, and inthat workshop I saw the seeds of revolutions blooming wild.

Ali Korosy has taught Spanish andHumanities at UCF and FSU foreighteen years. Her main concern iskeeping the material interesting forher students (and herself), which iswhy she can be found at many facul-ty development workshops at theFaculty Center, Course Development,and other locations as a presenter andparticipant. She is currently analyz-

ing the effectiveness of information technology in learn-ing and student engagement.

Hangin’ at the Faculty CenterAli Korosy

So, what has the Faculty Center got that my office hallwaydoesn't? That's easy: a juggler, a missionary English

teacher, a new art owner, a quiet person, a former studentwhose mission is to help me, none of my current students,pastries, books and articles for reference on a wide variety oftopics and, best of all, lots of alien human beings. And thosehumans all have ideas, knowledge and skills that I don't have… yet. Kind of gives me a warm feeling, like I might be ableto ward off senior dementia for a few more months.

Of course, those of us who hang out at the center a lot wouldalmost prefer that the rest of you didn't find out how great aplace it is to be. We sort of like being a group with a secretweapon.

Never mind that the research convincingly demonstrates thatfeeling as if you are part of a community, feeling supportedat work, spending time with good people, and taking amoment during your day to relax are good for your physicaland mental well-being. After all, who would want to feel bet-ter, be less likely to suffer an illness and appear to be morepsychologically healthy? It's not going to help your career,your relationships, or your ability to enjoy life, …or is it?

Dropping by during a session on assessment, professionalportfolios, teaching with technology, or grant-writing for just10 minutes will get you a very warm welcome, cookies, andusually invaluable insight and information, an opportunity togain a new perspective on everything from classroom behav-ior to bringing in grant monies to everyday living. And that'sjust 10 minutes. Think what you could get if you were ableto stay longer! And it doesn't matter how long you've been atit, if you can't learn something new and fresh, you're notamong the living. (Oh cool! A zombie! Add it to the list.)

A sample of the various skills I have proudly acquired (I'veleft out a lot): from Jay, the knack for juggling ice; fromNorma, the art of getting others to eat a lunch you don't real-ly like; from Eric, the joy of speaking only in polysyllabicwords; from Alison, the talent for being unassuming whileholding an important [sounding] title; from Shari, the talentfor creating a professional PowerPoint presentation while

Practical tips for community building inweb-based courses:

Take advantage of WebCT's chat functionto hold informal office hours on a weeklybasis. This helped my students and me toget to know each other. We were oftenable to work through questions andconcerns quickly in this format, leavingtime to connect philosophical issues andcurrent events to our class work.Develop at least one class activity thatrequires students to draw on resources intheir own geographic areas. For example,in my class last summer we created agraphic that represented the "impactzones" of our class efforts. The studentswere able visualize the impact of theirshared efforts throughout the region andthis joint project gave them a new outlookon their work.Use a variety of group structures. Most ofmy students appreciate the opportunity toparticipate in both large and small groupdiscussions. My students like to get toknow a small group of classmates verywell through focused joint effort on aproject, but they also enjoy learning fromother members of the class. Invite students to create a joint identity bydeveloping a resource that people outsideof the class can use. Students in myproposal writing course createdindividual resource pages for peopleworking on grants and other similar projects. This shared objective helped tocement their sense of community.

One of my former students capturesthis phenomenon eloquently when shewrites:

The most important benefit Ihave observed from my onlineservice-learning experience isthat it breaks down barriers—notjust time and distance barriers,but, most importantly, social bar-riers. Because I did not have toworry about impression manage-ment, the supportive environ-ment allowed me to risk beingmore honest than I would havedared in the traditional class-room setting. The online formatgave me the freedom to expressmy joys and fears more honestlythan I have ever dared tobefore—and to my surprise, Iwas not ostracized for taking therisk—I received more supportthan I have ever experienced inany other professional or aca-demic setting.

I'm proud to work with the smart andcommitted students who take ouronline professional writing courses,and I feel privileged to be a member ofthe community they have created andcontinue to develop through their col-laborations.

Modern information technology hasfacilitated students' efforts to share"canned" solutions by email, etc. Iwanted a pedagogical innovation thatleveraged the power of modern tech-nology to generate a unique assign-ment for every student, and one thatwould generate for the benefit of theinstructor the unique solution for eachstudent assignment. Effectively theinnovation will foil the "canned" solu-tion.

The following innovation has lever-aged the power of modern technolo-gy—specifically PCs, artificial intelli-gence, analytical modeling and simula-tion. Every assignment is assembledusing Microsoft Excel, algebra, theappropriate artificial intelligent (AI)constructs and then using analyticalmodeling and simulation generates the

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9FACULTY FOCUS4 FACULTY FOCUS

You are sitting at your computer at 10:30 in theevening wondering how to engage 80 students in thetopic of supply and demand economics for tomor-row's class. Get online and see what strategies yourpeers have used that you might adapt, whetherdiscipline-specific or not.You have heard that group work is a pedagogicallyacclaimed method to engage learners who don'trespond well to lecture, but you are worried aboutassigning one grade to the work of four students.Find rationales for group work, rubrics for assessingit, step by step advice on how to train students toperform successful group work and advice fortroubleshooting, without ever leaving your office.You are designing a new multiple choice test for aclass you are teaching for the first time. This is apivotal moment in your course development; a welldesigned test can be useful for a long time to come.See what approaches others have used, what advicethey can offer and what research exists onassessment that you can employ.

Ideally, you will come to the center and actually discuss thesemethods with other faculty in a workshop, a teaching circlediscussion, in an electronic Faculty Forum chat<http://forum.fctl.ucf.edu/forum/> or in a one-on-one con-sulting situation. But if you are at a regional campus, anadjunct who teaches at odd hours, or simply under severetime constraints, you can still be part of the conversation byusing and contributing to the teaching resource database.

What in-class strategies have worked well for you? Howhave you succeeded in creating community in your largerclasses? What success have you had incorporating service-learning into your course? What advice can you share abouttest construction? What should a tenure-earning professorknow about portfolio development? What issues are peda-gogically interesting to you that the Faculty Center has notaddressed yet?

We have a cache of instructional strategies, assessmentrubrics, class activities and workshops developed by UCFinstructors at various summer conferences and winter confer-ences and it's all available to you. Search our database. Youmay find your own contributions to the Faculty Centerresearch as well. All our data is credited to the source wherepossible, so add your contribution to your C.V. and portfolio.Please help us make this database an effective toolbox for thelearning community at UCF.

Melody Bowdon is an assistant pro-fessor in the UCF Department ofEnglish and coordinator of theGraduate Certificate in ProfessionalWriting. She is a Faculty CenterFaculty Fellow and an active memberof the UCF service-learning commu-nity. She and colleague Blake Scottare co-authors of Service-Learning inTechnical and Professional

Communication, part of the Allyn and Bacon technicalwriting book series. Melody holds office hours in theFaculty Center each Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:30. Sheinvites anyone interested in exploring or developingideas for service-learning course to stop by during thosehours to discuss ideas and share resources. Also, feelfree to email her at mbowdon@mail.ucf.edu for moreinformation.

Building Community on the Web ThroughService LearningMelody Bowdon

In 2001, the UCF Department of English decided to makeour Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing available

entirely via the web in order to serve students throughout thestate and region. Since that time, our enrollment hasincreased exponentially, as a group of "new" kinds of stu-dents have joined us. They include business people who trav-el frequently for work or who have unpredictable schedules,individuals who face physical limitations that make it hardfor them to attend class, parents who want to be at home withtheir families as much as possible, students who live aroundthe region and don't have access to a similar program in theirlocal areas, and many other students who appreciate theopportunity to learn via the Internet. They live in Tampa, theKeys, the Treasure Coast, southern Georgia, throughout cen-tral Florida, and beyond.

Students who inquire about the program frequently expressconcern about the online format. They wonder if they'll feelisolated and alone as they work in solitude at their computersmiles away from their classmates and professor. I understandtheir concern. When I started teaching on the web I was wor-ried that I wouldn't get to know my students, that I wouldn'tfeel like I was actually teaching, which, for me, involves con-necting with students as individuals. What we've learnedtogether, though, is that the web-based format, when used instrategic ways, actually allows us to feel more connected andmore a part of a community than traditional classroom inter-actions have in the past.

One key to this community development in my classes is theuse of service-learning, a teaching approach that Diane Winkdescribes in her article in this issue of Faculty Focus.Following this model, my professional writing students pro-duce a wide range of documents, including proposals,brochures, web pages, press packets, manuals, and style

captivating the audience with one dysfunctional slide; fromBill, the art of cracking up an auditorium of teachers whilelooking deadly serious. I'm still waiting to see what Kathyhas up her sleeve. All of this is applicable to teaching, andsometimes research, but the only way you could possiblyfind out what any of this means and how to apply it is to hangout at the Faculty Center and learn it for yourself.

Workshop Opportunity

Are you using Brown vs. Board of Education as a themein your classes? Are you thinking of incorporating the Common theme orusing the Common Reader in your classes for upcomingsemesters?

Come and hear strategies, assignments and approachesfrom faculty who have expertise across the disciplines onthis theme. They will share their approaches and thenallow time for questions and collaboration on ways tobetter incorporate discussion of Brown v. Board into theuniversity curriculum in history, education, composition,speech, literature, sociology and Diversity Initiatives.

There will be workshops on Wednesday, October 1st, at10:30 and Tuesday October 14th, at 10:30 in the FacultyCenter for Teaching and Learning, 207 Classroom 1 Bldg.All are welcome!

University of Central FloridaDivision of Graduate StudiesUCF Program Announcement

Awards for Excellence in GraduateTeaching and Research

The Division of Graduate Studies is pleased to announcethe availability of new awards for excellence in graduatestudent teaching and for excellence in thesis and disser-tation research. Specifically, four new awards have beenestablished for graduate students, as follows:

Award for Excellence by a Graduate TeachingAssistant: This award recognizes excellence byGraduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) who areresponsible for a laboratory or other similarteaching assignment under the direction of afaculty member who serves as the instructor ofrecord. It focuses on the quality of the assistance provided by the GTA to the leadinstructor and students in the class.

Award for Excellence in Graduate StudentTeaching: This award recognizes excellencein teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants(GTAs) who have independent teachingresponsibilities. It focuses on the quality of thestudent's teaching activities and the academiccontributions to those activities.

Award for the Outstanding Master's Thesis:This award recognizes excellence in themaster's thesis. It focuses on the quality andcontribution of the completed master's thesis.

Award for the Outstanding Dissertation: Thisaward recognizes excellence in the doctoraldissertation. It focuses on the quality andcontribution of the completed dissertation.

These recognitions will be awarded for the first timewithin the current academic year. Application materialsmust be submitted by Friday, February 6, 2004, andaward recipients will be announced at the ResearchForum to be hosted by the Graduate Student Associationand the Division of Graduate Studies on March 22-23,2004. University-level award winners will receive$1,000 cash awards.

Detailed information regarding the eligibility require-ments, application processes, submission materials, anddeadlines will be forthcoming from the Division ofGraduate Studies soon. Watch for this information onthe graduate website at www.graduate.ucf.edu.

"good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teach-ing comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher."

Parker Palmer

Winter Faculty Development Conference 2003December 15, 16, 17, 2003

RFP: Due 5 p.m., Friday, November 14, 2003

The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will pro-vide forty $500/person grants for faculty members whoare transforming their courses. Faculty will receive assis-tance for the completion of a project that modifies theirface-to-face or web-enhanced courses for the purpose ofimproving teaching, learning, and evaluation. Facultymembers from all colleges are invited to apply.

This year’s themes include:

Assessment and the documentation ofteaching and learningActive and collaborative learningProblem-based learningService LearningEmploying new technologies in the learningenvironmentTeaching in a studio classroomInterdisciplinarity or linked courses

Final decisions will be provided to all applicants byNovember 21, 2003.

tions are not reliant upon higher grades, extra credit, orgreater leniency.

If you ever find yourself in difficult situations with students,please accept my invitation to come to the Faculty Center to

talk with us about the challengesyou are facing. There is no rea-son to face them alone.Sometimes just talking aboutthem can diffuse the negativefeelings that arise, and othertimes finding effective solutionsis just a conversation away.

Expertise in our academic domains is what so many of ushave relied upon in becoming competent educators.However, the reality is that teaching involves so much morethan conveying the information we have mastered. Takingsome extra time to explore and hone our relationship skillswith students can make an enormous difference in our teach-ing—helping us find greater fulfillment, and giving our stu-dents the best educational experiences we can offer.

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10 FACULTY FOCUS 3FACULTY FOCUS

Database of Teaching ResourcesKathy Hohenleitner

It has become part of my job this year to answer the ques-tion: why, when so many wonderful resources are available

to us through the Faculty Center, do faculty find it difficult toaccess these resources? Time seems to be a key obstacle forfaculty every semester. We try to schedule our workshops tostraddle TR and MWF schedules, and to happen at varioushours of the school day. And at any time of the day you canstop in, have coffee, use a computer, or engage in casual con-versations about teaching. Still if you are someone whoseschedule never finds you near CL1-207, we are compilingresources for you into a database accessible through our web-site. So consider yourself invited to visit the website online,and more importantly, to contribute to this developing data-base.

Here are some ways we envision the database being useful tofaculty:

The quality of our relationships with our students can have amajor impact on how we feel about teaching, how studentsperceive us, and how effective we are as educators. When Ithink of some of the highs and lows in my teaching career,they are often related to particularly good or bad relation-ships with or feelings about stu-dents. I don't often reflect backon a wonderful PowerPoint®

presentation I pulled together, butI am likely to recall how appre-ciative a student was for anexplanation or advice I offeredduring office hours. It's not like-ly that I'd stress about fumbling a brief class demonstration,but it's quite likely that I would be concerned about a studentwho perceived being treated unfairly in some way.

Given the large numbers of students we teach through theyears, the odds are that all of us at some point will encounterchallenging and sometimes disheartening interactions withthe very individuals we are trying to help grow and learn.Depending on our own personality styles and the nature ofour classes, this may be a weekly occurrence or a very rareevent. However often, disputes with students can be stress-ful, distracting, and can eventually chip away at our confi-dence, competence, and love of teaching.

So what is a professor to do? Fortunately, there are manysteps that each of us can take toward preventing conflictswith our students and effectively addressing difficult inter-personal situations that arise. Some examples of theseinclude:

Taking a closer look at our own attitudes, beliefs, andvalues regarding higher education and working towardunderstanding how these ideas may play a role in how weapproach our relationships with students.Reviewing and learning to apply basic communication andconflict resolution skills that seem obvious but are oftenforgotten when we are upset, angry, or frustrated in ourattempts to deal with unhappy or difficult students.Talking with colleagues about our struggles in theinterpersonal domain of the classroom—a topic oftenignored and overshadowed by somewhat safer discussionsabout course content or grade distributions.

As a clinical psychologist, I have found that many of theskills I use in therapy, such as reflecting, empathizing, andclarifying, work well in dealing with a variety of challengingsituations with students. Careful never to blur the linebetween professor and therapist, through the years I haveapplied some of the principles for developing strong workingalliances with clients to creating mutually understanding andrespectful relationships with students. I also have conductedempirical research on faculty-student conflicts, and havebeen surprised (usually pleasantly) by the results. I will pres-ent this research in a future workshop at the Faculty Center,but the upshot is that students generally crave better commu-nication with their professors. For them, effective resolu-

Kathy Hohenleitner is Senior FacultyFellow at the Faculty Center for the2003-2004 academic year. In 1998she received her Ph.D. from theUniversity of Notre Dame and beganteaching in the UCF EnglishDepartment. She teaches WorldLiterature, British Literature andComposition and her research inter-ests include Irish literature, postcolo-

nial theory and Composition pedagogy. At the FacultyCenter she works on providing resources, both onlineand face to face, to support faculty success.

“However, the reality is that teachinginvolves so much more than conveying

the information we have mastered.”

Announcement: “The Laramie Project”

The University of Central Florida's Theatre UCF and theSands Theatre of Deland will open separate productions ofThe Laramie Project that will open within 24 hours of eachother. The two productions are under the direction of a hus-band and wife team. Theatre UCF's director is University ofCentral Florida's Associate Professor of Theatre, Be Boyd.The Sands Theatre's director is University of CentralFlorida's Assistant Professor of Theatre John Wayne Shafer.Both productions will offer separate panels on hate crimefeaturing distinguished speakers, following the performance.

Theatre UCF's The Laramie Project opens on October 9thand runs October 9-12 and October 15-19. Curtain times areat 8:00 except for October 10, which begins at 7:30 and mati-nees on October 12th and 19th which begin at 2:00 p.m. Thebox office number is 407-823-1500.

The Sands Theatre The Laramie Project opens on October10th and runs October 10-12 and October 16-19. Curtaintimes are 8:00 p.m. except for the Sunday matinees onOctober 12th and 19th which begin at 5:30 p.m. The boxoffice number is 386-736-7456.

The Sands Theatre's panel will take place on the fifthanniversary of Matthew Shepherd's death after the Sunday,October 12th, 5:30pm matinee performance. Among othernoted speakers, Allison Bethel, Director of Civil Rights forthe Florida Attorney General's Office will discuss how hatecrime is defined, recorded, and prevented.

Theatre UCF's panel will take place on Friday, October 9th,following the 8:00 p.m. performance. Among other notedspeakers, Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan will discussthe impact of hate crime on our communities.

The Theatre UCF production will feature a cast ofeightThe Sands Theatre's production will feature a cast ofthirtyClear Channel radio interviews are scheduled forOctober 1stNPR Arts Connection interviews are scheduled forSeptember 28thA photo shoot opportunity is scheduled for theSands Theatre production on September 23rd

Connecting the UCF Community:Brown V. Board of Education

Gary Orfield addressed the UCF and Orlando community onThursday, September 11, as part of the Connecting the UCFCommunity Initiative. Orfield, a highly esteemed politicalscientist at Harvard University, is a national expert on theBrown vs. Board of Education decision and its implicationsfor American education. His talk addressed the issue ofdesegregation in the South following the landmark decisionand assessed that segregation is still often the norm inAmerican public schools. The American South had virtuallymandated educational apartheid before the Brown vs. Boarddecision, but the Johnson administration enforced desegrega-tion, so that today, the military and the public schools are twoof the most desegregated populations in the country.However, in metropolitan areas around the country, where80% of schoolchildren live, school populations are deter-mined largely by geographic situation, so poorer studentsattend less well-funded schools.

Orfield observed that Americans don't worry about unequalhousing, job opportunities or healthcare access to the samedegree as we value education because we assume that if edu-cation offers opportunities for economic advancement to all,then it follows that those who succeed in getting an educationwill have access to other economic advancement.

Orfield's research indicates that the outcomes of desegrega-tion for minorities in desegregated schools include increasedtest scores, increased comfort level in a diverse work settingand in diverse neighborhoods, and enhanced critical thinkingskills to accommodate multiple perspectives in problem solv-ing. Because the value of desegregation has been proven, heencouraged the Orlando community to continue to seek outways to support equal educational opportunities for all peo-ple.

This lecture was exceedingly well attended (standing roomonly), and promised great success for the continuation of thecommunity conversation about Brown vs. Board throughoutthe year. The other upcoming distinguished speakers onissues of race and school segregation are Rebecca Walker,Cornel West, Stephen Carter and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Congratulations to Nancy Stanlick

The Faculty Center is proud to congratulate Dr.Nancy Stanlick, Assistant Professor of Philosophy,who has received our award for "Excellence inTeaching with Technology." She will receive theaward at the International Conference for Teachingand Learning at Jacksonville in March.

Faculty Forum

Don't forget to check out the Faculty Forum, ouronline faculty discussion board. This month, FacultyFellow Dr. Stacey Dunn from the PsychologyDepartment will lead a discussion about coping withdisruptive students in the classroom. Sign on andjoin the discussion!

http://forum.fctl.ucf.edu/forum/

11FACULTY FOCUS

Vol. 2, No. 3 2003

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FACULTY FOCUS

One of the strengths in using the technology available to usis that it makes opportunities accessible that did not seempossible only a few years ago. But, in my opinion, thebiggest advantage is the charge of excitement it provides tothe students and to me as a teacher. Using these tools makesme re-think how I teach. I gain new skills. I become moreeffective as an instructor and invigorated by the knowledgethat what we are doing is cutting-edge and unique and mystudents share this excitement and become far more involvedthan in traditional classes.

I am a theatre professor. I just ended a collaborative projectwith Bradley University in Illinois. It was called the BradleyUniversity/University of Central Florida Joint DynamicMedia Project. George Brown, Chair of Theatre at BradleyUniversity, and I collaborated to produce a piece of live inter-active theatre that made use of existing LDC's and telecon-ference facilities and technologies on both campuses. Wechose to take one of mankind's oldest stories and see if wecould tell it in a new live performance environment. AnIllinois newspaper described it like this:

"This unique collaboration between Bradley's theatredepartment and the University of Central Floridaattempts to push theatrical boundaries. It raises ques-tions about how the theatre of the future might departdramatically from the theatre of today… The 2,500year-old tragedy receives a 21st century spin thanks tohigh speed Internet access which enables live actorsand audiences in Peoria to share performance time withvirtual actors and audiences from Orlando."- JournalStar, July 31, 2003.

For a learning environment, I really could not ask for more.The project was beneficial in ways I had not foreseen.Positive surprises and relationships continue to blossom outof our experiment.

Students, colleagues, and businesses volunteered to partici-pate both on our campus and on Bradley's campus.Collaborations arose with colleagues from all over.Associate Professors of Theatre Be Boyd and MarkBrotherton became involved in the performance. DynamicMedia's Jeff Wirth and Mike Moshell, the Director ofCREAT, contributed ideas. Patsy Moskal from the Office ofResearch Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness aided us increating research documentation of the project. Dr. RuthMarshall, Director of the Office of Instructional Resources,provided invaluable access to equipment and knowledgeablepersonnel like Don Merritt. Dr. Alison Morrison-Shetlar,Director of the Faculty Center, aided us in communications.One of the UCF students involved (Danielle Marino) earneda Burnett Honors College Grant.

Nationally, Innoventive Software of California asked me toserve as a pre-consumer tester for their new story board soft-ware called Frame Forge 3D. I was later asked to write areview of the product and a description of our Bradley/UCFproject for e-Zine magazine. And Bradley has become a Beta

Teaching Related Conferences

Dr. Stacey Tantleff Dunn is anAssociate Professor in thePsychology Department. She joinedUCF in 1996 from the University ofSouth Florida where she received herPh.D. in Clinical Psychology. Dr.Dunn's primary research activity is inthe areas of body image and eatingbehavior. In addition, she is greatlyinterested in the scholarship of teach-

ing. Dr. Dunn has won both a College of Arts andSciences Graduate Teaching Award and a TIP award, andshe is honored to currently serve as a Faculty Fellow ofthe Faculty Center for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Relationship Relief is on the WayStacey Tantleff Dunn

Tester site for the Apple release of Frame Forge 3D. We willbe presenting at the Internet II conference in Indianapolis inOctober and at the South Eastern Theatre conference inTennessee in March. We have been invited to the Next Artconference at the Florida Film Festival.

Internationally, Bradley's Professor Brown is (at the time ofthis writing) in Athens, Greece with a DVD of our joint proj-ect. He is presenting us to an international conference on the-atre whose theme for the year is digital media and its appli-cations for theatre.

The data we have collected is unique and will guide futureprojects. There have only been a handful of live, long-dis-tance-performance projects from multiple locations. An esti-mated cost of the hardware used in one of the more success-ful (Dancing Beyond Boundaries) is placed at around$250,000. Bradley and UCF have created a paradigm for the-atrical interaction that makes use of existing facilities andlow budgets. This opens the door to other institutions to cre-ate in this new performance medium while using existingteleconference and long-distance learning facilities with ourwork as a potential model.

My venture into the long distance environment has been chal-lenging, surprising, and rewarding to me, my students, andmy colleagues. I learned to be flexible and unafraid of achanging educational environment. The work has inspiredother ideas and given me skills I did not possess before. It ismy hope that you will consider imaginative ways to growyour classes in the rich world of new technologies.

28th Annual POD ConferenceVision, Metaphors, and Images

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher EducationOctober 8-12, 2003Denver, Colorado

http://www.podnetwork.org/conferences/2003/index.htm

EDUCAUSE 2003Balancing Opportunities, Expectations, and Resources

November 4-7, 2003Anaheim, California

http://www.educause.edu/conference/annual/

8th Annual Conference on Learning Communities and CollaborationStudent Learning and Engagement in Learning Communities

November 5-7, 2003Indianapolis, Indiana

http://lcc.uc.iupui.edu/

The Ninth Sloan-C International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN)The Power of Online Learning: Implications for Teaching and Learning

November 14 - 16, 2003Orlando, Florida

http://www.aln.ucf.edu/

23rd Annual Lilly Conference on College TeachingThe Art and Craft of Teaching

November 20-23, 2003Oxford, Ohio

http://www.units.muohio.edu/lillycon/

Syllabus Fall 2003December 8-10, 2003

Cambridge, Massachusettshttp://www.syllabus.com

The Hawaii International Conference on EducationJanuary 3-6, 2004Honolulu, Hawaii

http://www.hiceducation.org/

Teaching for WisdomThe Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching & Learning

February 19-20, 2004St. Paul, Minnesota

http://www.collab.org

Association for American Colleges and Universities:The Network for Academic Renewal Conference

Valuing General Education and Assessment: Campus-Wide Collaboration for Engaged LiberalEducation

March 4-6, 2004Long Beach, California

http://www.aacu.org/meetings/generaleducation/index.cfm

2004 AAHE Learning to Change ConferenceLearning in 3-D: Democratic Process, Diverse Campus, Digital Environment

American Association for Higher LearningApril 1-4, 2004

San Diego, Californiahttp://www.aahe.org/convenings.htm

2004 AERA Annual MeetingAmerican Educational Research Association

April 12-16, 2004San Diego, California

http://www.aera.net/meeting/

For many of us, having the opportunity to nurture the intel-lectual and personal development of others is what makes

teaching such an important and rewarding endeavor. To me,teaching is as much (if not more) about developing relation-ships with students and embracing their desire to learn as it isabout providing access to information and facilitating stu-dents' acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Volume 2 Number 4 September 2003

Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching and LearningP.O. Box 160066 CL1-207Orlando, FL, 32816-0066

Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning www.fctl.ucf.edu

Articles

Reinventing LongDistance Learning forMultidisciplineExcitementRelationship Relief is onthe WayDatabase of TeachingResourcesBuilding Community onthe Web Through ServiceLearningUsing ComputerTechnology and ArtificialIntelligence to GenerateUnique Cases and theAssociated SolutionService Learning at UCFWomen Studies in Action:Seeds of RevolutionBlooming WildHangin’ at the FacultyCenter

Faculty Center Update

Winter Conference 2003Awards for Excellence inGraduate Teaching andResearchAnnouncement“The Laramie Project”“Excellence in Teachingwith Technology” Award -Dr. Nancy StanlickConnecting the UCFCommunity: Brown V.Board of EducationFaculty ForumTeaching Related Conferences

The Faculty Focus is a publication for all instructors at the University of Central Florida. This includes full- and part-time fac-ulty and teaching assistants at all UCF campuses. Its purpose is to provide an exchange of ideas on teaching and learning forthe university's community of teachers and scholars. It is envisioned that this publication will inspire more dialogue amongfaculty, whether in hallway discussions, departmental meetings, or in written articles. Toward this latter goal, the FacultyFocus will lead to an annual "Best Practices" edition where some of the ideas that were generated in the bi-semester editionswill be expanded and developed into full articles. The annual edition will be peer-reviewed and disseminated regionally. Thisrepresents an opportunity for faculty to reach their peers throughout the growing Central Florida community. The FacultyFocus invites you to contribute your ideas on teaching and learning in a short essay see the guidelines for submission onlineat <www.fctl.ucf.edu/focus/guidelines.htm>. Publication dates will be the middle of the first and last full months of eachsemester, and submission deadlines will be the Friday of the week prior. MLA format is preferred. Please send your submis-sions to Faculty Focus, fctl@mail.ucf.edu.

Submissions

Check us out Online!

www.fctl.ucf.edu

Contents

Faculty CenterCL1-207, 407-823-3544

...continued on page 2

Because of the excellence of our facultyand the long distance learning resources

available at UCF, many of our students havebenefited from a nontraditional learning envi-ronment which incorporates instructors andopportunities that used to be out of our phys-ical reach. Today, we can digitally link ourclassrooms with students or faculty fromacross the nation while working out ofOrlando. These new tools are making a dif-ference in how we transmit knowledge, infor-mation, and skills to students.

We also have the added resources of theFaculty Center and the Office of InstructionalResources, whose mission it is to aid our fac-ulty in creating cutting-edge approaches tothe delivery of education. Support is clearlyavailable to instructors wishing to incorpo-rate the enhanced technologies available to usas we teach our classes.

However, many ofus do not takeadvantage of thenew tools. Someare intimidated, butI believe most of usfind it difficult toimagine uses for thenew opportunitiesthat make it a different and dynamic experi-ence for ourselves and our students. Thismakes sense considering most of us learnedhow to teach in environments that did notinclude technology, and the idea of learning anew system feels akin to switching disci-

Reinventing Long Distance Learning for Multidiscipline ExcitementJohn Shafer

plines and going back to schoolourselves. Plus, it seems reason-able to ask, "why bother?" Afterall, a classroom environment isstill a classroom regardless of thespace between the instructor andthe students, right? Wrong. Usesfor these new technologies arelimited only by our imagination.

What about the potential for acultural diversity class that is

team taught with faculty and students fromFlorida, Vermont, Washington, DC, NewYork, and Iowa? Certainly the potential forregional differences in perceptions will beuncovered through personal contact. A statelike Vermont which has comparatively fewminorities would suddenly meet people faceto face. African Americans may discoverwhat it is like to need to travel to Quebec inorder to buy shampoo for their hair. Mythsbecome expelled.

How about a French class taught, shared, andaugmented by native speakers from Paris?International studies become alive with pos-sibilities when you imagine sharing the learn-ing experience in a truly international envi-ronment without actually leaving Orlando.

Have you always wanted to bring in a nation-ally noted specialist in your field? Budget

and scheduling canlimit your access.What if you canarrange time for theperson to addressyour class withoutthe time andexpense of travel?

I once saw a tombopened in real time while linked on the inter-net. Archeology and anthropology certainlybecome a lot more visceral when students andfaculty alike may ask questions and involvethemselves directly.

John Wayne Shafer is a member ofthe Dramatists Guild and has servedas a regional liaison for How to Be aWorking Actor, 4th edition by MariLyn Henry. John is an alumnus ofRutgers University's Mason GrossSchool for the Arts and is currentlyan Assistant Professor of Theatre atthe University of Central Florida.

“My venture into the long distanceenvironment has been challenging,

surprising, and rewarding to myself,my students, and my colleagues.”