Cte Fellows

David Dayton, PhDAssistant
My project has two parts. The first is to provide CTE student assistants with design and usability advice on the website. The goal is to keep the site updated, useful, and easy to use. The second goal of my project is to develop a website where non-profit organizations can solicit student help on writing and commnication design projects. The web's database would list and describe projects that SPSU writing and information design faculty could assign as service learning projects in their courses.   David Dayton, PhDAssistant Professor of Technical Communication Southern Polytechnic State University 678-915-7203 | ddayton@spsu.edu
Timothy W. Zeigler, PE
Ethics Across the Curriculum Workshop I propose to facilitate a two session workshop for 12 to 15 faculty members of the School of Architecture , Civil Engineering Technology, and Construction. My objective is to show the faculty how ethics instruction can be incorporated in their discipline courses without disturbing the discipline course content. In fact the ethics instruction will compliment course content and enhance learning. Participants will learn how to develop an ethics assignment for their favorite course and be given the opportunity to present it to all workshop participants. A comment and discussion session will follow each presentation. The two sessions will be held in Spring 05 and scheduled one-week apart. Participants are certain to enjoy the workshop and apply what they have learned in their classroom. A comprehensive website of ethics material in a variety of disciplines is available to workshop participants and the SPSU Community. Please see http://asce.spsu.edu/ethics_resources.htm Timothy W. Zeigler, PE Professor and Chair Civil Engineering Technology Department Southern Polytechnic State University 1100 S. Marietta Parkway Marietta, GA 30060 PH 678-915- 5495 FAX 678-915- 5455
Nancy Reichert
Universal Design: Opening the Doors of Learning to Everyone In the world of disability, architects and product designers are beginning to explore the ways in which to make projects, communications, and environments more usable for everyone. The goal is to design a world that is accessible for all without having to make as many special accommodations. Handicap doors are one example of a design that works for all: people with their hands full of packages benefit just as fully as people who are in wheelchairs or who are using other assistive devices. I would like to see the idea of universal design applied to classroom pedagogy. Currently we make special accommodations for students with learning disabilities and physical disabilities. I want to explore what changes could be made to curriculum so that the need for special accommodations for learning disabilities especially declines. The course curriculum would be accessible to all, and just like handicap doors, it would benefit those without "special needs" as much as it would benefit those with them. Nancy Reichert Director of the University Honors Program Southern Polytechnic State University Marietta , Georgia
Briana Morrison
The Assessment Series Assessment is a big buzzword now in academics; ranging from assessment of student work to assessment of courses to assessment of entire programs for accreditation purposes.  But just how does one go about assessment?  In the School of Computing and Software Engineering, two of the departments are currently preparing for accreditation visits.  The Assessment Series plans to share what the Computer Science Department is doing to assess its courses and its programs along with the tools we are using.  The series will present three aspects of Assessment:  1)  Assessing a Course -- how do you know you are meeting your course outcomes?  Using a Faculty Course Assessment Report (FCAR) to document your findings  2)  Assessing a Program -- how do you know you are accomplishing your program outcomes?  How do the individual courses fit into the overall program?  Is there a way to continuously improve what you're teaching?  3)  Assessing Group Projects -- a summary of the practices used at SPSU for assessing group work from all disciplines. Briana Morrison Assistant Professor Computer Science Department School of Computing & Software Engineering Southern Polytechnic State University 1100 S. Marietta Parkway Marietta , GA   30060
Dr. Julie R. Newell, Associate Professor
The Teaching Partners Program is designed to give any faculty member teaching at least one course at SPSU during the current term access to formative rather than summative evaluation of their teaching. That is, the program provides faculty an opportunity to work with one another to exchange classroom visits and receive feedback on their teaching solely for the purpose of improving teaching. The program is entirely separate from the system of evaluation (including evaluation of teaching) used for annual evaluation and promotion and tenure decisions. At the conclusion of Spring semester 2005 (the third term of the program), a report describing the program, its successes and failures, and the evaluative responses of the participants will be prepared and submitted to the director of the CTE. This report may be the basis for a brief published paper. Dr. Julie R. Newell, Associate Professor Science, Technology, and Society Coordinator Social and International Studies Department Southern Polytechnic State University 1100 S. Marietta Parkway Marietta, GA 30060 voice: 678-915-7481 fax: 678-915-4949http://www2.spsu.edu/cteacad/newell
Lance Crimm and Sandra Vasa-Sideris
Using Focus Groups to Learn Ways to Improve Retention at SPSU Faculty Researchers: Lance Crimm and Sandra Vasa-Sideris Retention rates of undergraduate students at SPSU are low and need to be increased. While it is possible to count the numbers of students who stay or leave SPSU, we would benefit from understanding what factors contribute to the students' decisions. Through the use of focus groups, we hope to identify factors that may contribute to a student's decision to stay or leave SPSU. The students' overall experience at SPSU as well as individual factors will be examined in the study. Design: Gather data about actual retention rates at SPSU and the retention study that was completed in 200x. Review publications on student retention and success stories to identify “best practices”. Conduct informal interviews with current and previous SPSU students to learn about some of the issues that may be important to study. Develop an interview guide for use in the focus groups. Use some elements of the brand contact audit study. Conduct a practice interview to test the questions. Refine the questions as appropriate. Recruit individuals to participate in the focus group. For this study, we will focus on students in the Electrical Engineering Technology degree program, ideally a group that started together. A group of graduates (or students who are making significant progress toward their degree) will be identified as well along with a group of students who left SPSU. Compile results into a report. Highlight findings that may help SPSU.
Scott Tippens PhD
My project is to investigate the things most people wished they had known when they began teaching. I want to provide teaching resources - not heavily theory but more like a quick start guide for teaching with pointers to more in depth exploration. I want these new faculty to become part of a teaching community and discuss teaching ideas among themselves and with more experience teachers. The work on this project will culminate in an extended workshop for new teachers. If all goes well, this program can be used as a guide for future new faculty.