Fall 2009 cycle
Ten proposals were funded in the Fall 2009 cycle.
The Creation of Short-Term International Study Courses
- Carolyn Zerbe Enns, Professor of Psychology, Cornell College
- Erin Davis, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Cornell College
- Joan Ericson, Professor of Japanese and Director of Asian Studies Program, Colorado College
This Collaborative Research and Teaching proposal builds on earlier work supported by a FaCE Project grant in 2008 for discussions and a field visit to develop an off-campus course in Japan offered jointly by Colorado College and Cornell College.
The current proposal involves aspects of teaching of the linked/intersecting Colorado College and Cornell College courses in Japan in March 2010, creating materials that can inform the work of other faculty members interested in teaching such a course, and disseminating the results of this project, including:
- Honoraria for guest speakers and an on-site consultant;
- Partial support for attendance at various cultural sites (e.g., temples and shrines), fine arts events, and museums, with the goal of gathering information about a wide range of cultural activities and sites that are of educational value to liberal arts college students; and
- Organization and dissemination of the outcomes of this experiment in inter-institutional teaching of off-campus courses. Some of these materials are likely to include:
- Commentary about pre-departure activities and methods for making the most of short-term study-travel abroad.
- Syllabus materials from the Colorado College and Cornell College courses and bibliographies of resources according to topic area.
- Lists of educational activities and sites (especially in Tokyo), along with discussions of how these activities can be integrated with the goals of short-term study-abroad courses. List of suggested guest speakers.
- Activities and writing activities that encourage immersion within the culture (instead of spectator mentalities). Writing assignments that support self-reflection and self-investment in cultural learning. Research projects that are feasible during short-term study abroad class.
- Methods for assessing cultural competence and/or attitudes toward cultural learning. Pre and post measures may be useful, and knowledge survey (metacognition) tools may be adapted for this type of learning situation.
- Discussions of costs and benefits of short-term travel and study abroad, a list of housing resources, and post-travel reflection experiences.
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Developing a High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium for Multi-Disciplinary Applications on ACM Campuses
- Christopher Fasano, Professor of Physics, Monmouth College
High Performance Computing (HPC) has the potential to change the manner in which we live our lives, conduct our research, collaborate with colleagues, and teach the academically well-prepared, intellectually engaged students that we attract to ACM colleges.
This Collaborative Event will bring together colleagues from the ACM at a two-day workshop on High Performance Computing in late spring/early summer 2010. We anticipate attendees from traditionally computationally-intensive fields and from newly computationally-intensive disciplines like biology, economics, visual arts, media, and others.
The short-term goal of this project is to foster intensive discussion about moving toward a shared high-speed computing system across ACM campuses, to compare needs and interests, and to begin to plan a faculty development workshop on applications of high-speed computing to be held in summer 2011.
The long-term goal is to form a High Performance Computing Consortium that shares both physical computing resources (and software) for all the ACM colleges and provides a regular opportunity for faculty members to meet to discuss HPC-related applications, projects with students, curricular innovations and research. This consortium will allow ACM schools to remain in dialogue with (and to a degree competitive with) research universities; but far more importantly, such a consortium would allow us to develop our own unique niche as we explore the applications of HPC in the context of liberal education.
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Developing Student Agency Through Community Exploration, Reflection, and Engagement
- Phase One: Collaborative research in the scholarship of teaching and learning
Phase One Participants: Beloit College (lead institution), Coe College, Lawrence University
- Phase Two: Collaborative event in which phase one participants lead a workshop focused on
best practices for all interested members of ACM colleges
- Project Leaders:
Natalie Gummer, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Academic Director of First and Second-Year Initiatives, Beloit College;
Martin St. Clair, Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean of Faculty, Coe College;
David Burrows, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Lawrence University.
This project seeks to develop, assess, and share across the ACM exercises, assignments, and learning experiences that foster students' sense of agency and responsibility, both as learners and as community members, through a progressive sequence of exercises initially focused on observation, exploration, and self-reflective interpretation of the environment in which their college is located, with the aim of preparing students for thoughtful and respectful modes of engagement with community members and organizations, whether at home or abroad.
The project will be in two phases. During the Phase One of the grant, the three participating colleges will focus in particular on designing and assessing a developmental sequence of learning experiences appropriate for first-year students. These learning experiences are intended to challenge new students to engage actively, reflectively, and critically with the communities in which they will spend much of the next four years. Through exploration activities and writing assignments, students will develop basic skills in mapping and careful observation. Through in-class activities, they will also encounter theoretical frameworks that will help them to think with greater awareness and insight, both about the community and about their own role as observers. Phase One will include a three-day workshop in May 2010 which will focus on developing relevant skills and perspectives among those faculty and staff directly involved in the planning and implementation of first-year programming. During the 2010-11 academic year the participating colleges will collaborate to develop and test a "toolkit" of customizable assignments, activities, and developmental sequences, with the goal of sharing and further developing this toolkit with other ACM colleges in the second phase of the project.
Phase Two -- A workshop in August 2011 will bring the results of our research into effective pedagogies focused on community observation and exploration to interested members of ACM colleges. The workshop format will be similar to the "phase one" workshop; participants will complete exercises (and assessments thereof) designed in the first phase of the project, and will also design new exercises and assessment instruments to test on their own campuses. All participants will be asked to contribute the exercises they have designed and the results of their implementation to the "Community Observation and Exploration" website.
Spring 2012: "Community Observation And Exploration" Website and Results of Project Publicized -- The project leaders propose to share assignments and the results of the study of their efficacy on a "Community Observation and Exploration" website, to be made accessible to the public in Spring 2012. The website is envisioned as a dynamic resource to which members of ACM colleges can continue to post new activities and assignments, as well as assessments thereof.
Outcomes -- The primary and overarching outcome of the grant will be to foster student agency and meaningful community engagement across the ACM through the production, assessment, and dissemination of the aforementioned "toolkit" of customizable assignments, activities, and developmental sequences, together with the publications and ongoing assessment programs proposed in what follows. In addition, project leaders perceive this model to offer beneficial outcomes for student acculturation, development, and retention, as well as for community relations. Each of the participating colleges has also identified outcomes specific to their own curricular and co-curricular initiatives.
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Earth and the Environment in Italy
- Cameron Davidson, Professor of Geology, Carleton College (Lead Institution)
- Laura Cleaveland Peterson, Environmental Studies, Luther College
- Alessandro Montanari, Geological Observatory of Coldigioco, Italy
The ultimate goal of this Collaborative Research project is to bring together ACM faculty from a variety of science disciplines to explore the possibility of a field-based Earth and Environmental Science off-campus studies program based at the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco (OGC) in Italy.
Funding from the FaCE Project will support a faculty workshop to be held at OGC during the summer of 2010. The main purposes of the workshop are to:
- Introduce faculty to the excellent facilities and local resources available at OGC;
- Collaborate across campuses and disciplines to develop new field-based projects and research opportunities for ACM faculty and students; and
- Work together to propose an off-campus studies program for 15-20 students in 2011 and 2012 in order to test the long-term sustainability of an “Earth and the Environment in Italy” semester abroad program for ACM students.
For more information, go to the Earth and the Environment in Italy website.
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Finding Our Way: Strategies for Internationalizing Undergraduate Psychology
- Dana Gross, Professor of Psychology, St. Olaf College
- Kenneth Abrams, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Carleton College
This Collaborative Event, a two-day workshop to be held at St. Olaf College and Carleton College, will bring together psychology faculty from across the ACM to network, share ideas, and develop strategies for internationalizing psychology curricula, both through study abroad and conventional classroom experiences.
The workshop is intended to enhance psychology students’ sociocultural and international awareness by:
- Facilitating dissemination of best practices and lessons learned by faculty (including those in the ACM) who have taught psychology courses off campus in international settings;
- Developing an ACM network to encourage and support faculty who would like to develop off-campus psychology courses in international settings or incorporate related issues into courses taught on campus;
- Creating a listserv for continued discussion and collaboration among ACM workshop participants, exploring avenues for co-authoring publications; and
- Creating an online database of presentations, teaching materials, and bibliographies from ACM faculty related to internationalizing psychology.
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First-Year Learning Outcomes and Their Assessment
- Dennis McEnnerney, Chair, First-year Experience, Colorado College
- Rachel Ragland, Assistant Professor of Education, Lake Forest College
- DeJuran Richardson, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Mathematics, Lake Forest College
This Collaborative Event will have three phases:
- An opportunity for faculty at Colorado College, Lake Forest College, and one or two additional ACM colleges to collaborate across various academic disciplines and across institutions to create student learning outcomes and ways to measure those outcomes directly in first-year seminar courses;
- A 'cross pollination' meeting among the Phase One colleges engaged in similar initiatives in order to share approaches and incubate new ideas; and
- A mini-conference in spring 2011 of faculty and administrators from across the ACM colleges to share models for directly measuring student learning outcomes. This conference will give participants an opportunity to identify and compare student outcomes of a liberal arts education, discuss how those outcomes are best incorporated into programs and general education requirements (especially first-year experiences), and examine how ACM colleges are designing and implementing direct assessment measures of those outcomes.
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The Impact of Student Social Networks on Classroom Participation, Student Learning, and Student Satisfaction
- Rachael Neal, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Coe College
- Ryan Sheppard, Assistant Professor of Sociology, St. Olaf College
In recent decades, researchers of student learning have touted the effectiveness of collaborative learning strategies in the college classroom. These strategies are characterized by high levels of discussion, faculty-student interactions, peer teaching, and other activities that require critical engagement with academic materials.
This Collaborative Research project will explore the impact of students' social networks with one another on:
- Their willingness to participate in their classes;
- Students' evaluation of and satisfaction with their classes; and
- Their academic success in their classes.
This project will also develop strategies for faculty interested in shaping students’ social networks within their classrooms for the benefit of faculty and students alike.
Rachael Neal brings expertise in social network analysis, Ryan Sheppard brings expertise in quantitative analysis, and both are experienced in conducting research on college students. Spring semester (2010) provides an excellent opportunity for this joint research. Each collaborator will be teaching two sections of introductory sociology courses, so they will be able to study the variables of interest across four classes while holding course content relatively constant, and will jointly engage in research design, data analysis, and reporting.
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Collaboration on planning and coordinating this Collaborative Event will be shared among language faculty and librarians at:
- Cornell College (lead planning institution): Devan Baty (Assistant Professor of French), Marcela Ochoa-Shivapour (Associate Professor of Spanish), Jennifer Rouse (Consulting Librarian for the Humanities, Performing Arts, and Education), and Laurel Whisler (College Librarian)
- Coe College: Joyce Janca-Aji (Assistant Professor of French)
- Lake Forest College: Gizella Meneses (Assistant Professor of Spanish)
This collaborative workshop will explore ways of incorporating information literacy into the study of languages.
The study of language at both the beginning and advanced levels involves not only the acquisition of skills such as grammar and oral proficiency but also intercultural competencies and global perspectives. Collaboration between librarians and instructors is key to the success of information literacy instruction in the classroom, as librarians and instructors work with students to access, evaluate, and create new knowledge using a wide range of internet and print materials.
The workshop will bring together librarians and faculty to discuss assignments, lab activities, and other learning opportunities that integrate information literacy with the study of language, literature, and culture. Information technology or academic media specialists also will be invited into the conversation. This group of professionals will provide expertise for using tools, such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, and websites, for integrating information literacy into the language classroom.
Outcomes of the workshop will be the articulation of the benefits of incorporating information literacy into language study, best practices and innovations, and development of skills and specific projects to support student learning.
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Integrating Sustainability into the Undergraduate Curriculum
The planning team for this Collaborative Event includes:
- Luther College (lead institution): Ruth Kath (Professor of German and Director of the Sense of Vocation Program), Jon Jensen (Associate Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies), and Steve Holland (Assistant Professor of Economics)
- Carleton College: Mary Savina (Professor of Geology)
- Macalester College: Suzanne Savanick Hansen (Sustainability Manager)
- St. Olaf College: James Farrell (Professor of History and Environmental Studies)
The planning team defines sustainability education as an experience that allows students to explore the interplay between the social, economic and environmental needs of current and future generations. Among the ACM member institutions is a core of schools recognized as contributing national leadership on sustainability. Yet even among recognized leaders, the emphasis on sustainability is having more of an impact on campus operations than it is on the curriculum. Sustainability education complements the goals of a liberal education in many ways.
The project will gather carefully-selected faculty representatives of ACM schools to work together in an intentional and structured way over a full year. Plans include an opening workshop in summer 2010 and a culminating workshop and conference in spring 2011.
The goal of this cross-disciplinary and cross-college collaboration is to develop, assess, and then disseminate well thought-out pedagogical strategies and practical, meaningful, usable activities for introductory courses across the disciplines at our institutions and beyond. Teaching and learning resources that will be developed over the course of the project will be disseminated online.
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Linguistics Programs in Undergraduate Education
The following faculty members were involved in the developing this proposal for a Collaborative Event to discuss the best design for an undergraduate Linguistics major:
- Mike Flynn, Professor of Linguistics, Carleton College
- Ruth Lanouette, Associate Professor of German and Director of the Linguistics Program, Lawrence University
- Dominique Poncelet, Associate Professor of French, Ripon College
- Laurie Zaring, Assistant Professor of Linguistics and French, Luther College
Since ACM institutions are all at four-year liberal arts colleges with relatively small faculties, we cannot offer as many courses as universities with graduate programs can. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge. Our linguistics courses are tailored to the needs of undergraduates and may therefore better serve our students than comparable courses at large institutions; however, the more limited course offerings means we need to carefully consider what is necessary for a major or minor to learn, both in designing our overall program and our courses. How can we best design our courses and utilize our staffing to meet our students' needs?
The primary goals are to come away from this workshop with ideas for:
- Determining which courses should be required for a strong undergraduate major and minor in Linguistics;
- Designing courses that best support that program; and
- Meeting staffing needs of interdisciplinary programs.
In addition, the workshop organizers hope to establish a coalition of faculty teaching Linguistics at ACM schools. By working in collaboration with and establishing good communication among ACM Linguistics faculty, we may identify ways to share resources across campuses, such as guest speaker exchanges among ACM faculty, or pooling resources to bring in outside speakers.
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