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Innovation and Learning Awards
On February 7, 2012, I joined students, faculty and staff gathered in Armfield Atrium to recognize faculty members selected in each department by students to receive Teaching Innovation Awards. A warm thank you to both our recipients for their dedication to education and students for their nominations! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate teaching innovations and those who create them.
Celebrate Teaching! Month recognizes our School’s educational leaders and offers a platform to ignite conversations about new pedagogical methods to enhance student learning.We must pay more attention not just to what we teach but to how we teach and how students learn. (I wish I could remember everything I learned in my undergraduate educational pedagogy classes!) As part of SPH2020, the School’s strategic planning effort, our Teaching and Learning Task Force recommended that we create teaching innovations with technology and reward and celebrate excellence in teaching. I could not agree more, and our School’s leadership fully supports the recommendation.
In addition to the Teaching Innovation Awards ceremony, Kelly Hogan, PhD, senior lecturer from UNC-Chapel Hill biology department, spoke on February 9th. Dr. Hogan captivated the audience with her personal journey about how she changed her own teaching style to be more interactive with students and facilitative of learning. It was a fabulous session, and we all got ideas about how to create more engaging learning opportunities. Dr. Hogan routinely teaches introductory biology classes with 400 students and engages them. Now, that’s something I really admire. Has anyone tried any of Kelly’s ideas yet? By the way, Kathy Barboriak, PhD, Assistant Dean, Instructional and Information Services, tells me that the cellular upgrade is expected in March 2012. After that, faculty members will be able to use various smart phone technologies for polling and other activities.
Upcoming Events
Join us Friday, February 17th for an interactive presentation, led by David Kleinbaum, PhD, epidemiology professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, about his personal experience creating innovations in teaching of biostatistics and epidemiology throughout 40 years of faculty life. Dr. Kleinbaum is the recipient of the 2005 ASPH/Pfizer Award for Teaching Excellence Award and has been praised by students and faculty for his ability to communicate and engage students. He’ll show how one can meld audio, video and animation into a single PowerPoint presentation! I have heard fabulous things about David’s teaching and interactions with students.