Curriculum Integration Through a 4-year Design Project and Cross-course Educational Tools
Cohort: 2017
Fellow: Matthew Balhoff
In many curricula students find it difficult to understand the common thread and themes between their courses until near graduation (or ever). Thus, students are unable to benefit from the synergistic nature of a fully integrated program. Courses are taught by different instructors with different teaching styles and nomenclature (a potentially good thing), but all too often even the instructors are unaware of the material or educational objectives taught in complementary courses.
Sustainability Teaching and Research Network
Cohort: 2017
Fellow: Lucy Atkinson
UT holds sustainability to be a core part of its mission and the Office of Sustainability is a central engine in incorporating issues of sustainability across “university policies, practices and curricula.” The university has taken important steps toward meeting these goals, yet these efforts are often isolated with little cross-campus conversation or exposure. My goal is to establish a network that serves as both an incubator and clearinghouse for sustainability-related teaching and research.
Learning To Just Do It: Get ‘Em While They’re Figs
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Dixie Stanforth
Freshmen, often overwhelmed by perceived barriers of time, motivation, and knowledge don’t remain active, leading to weight gain and associated physical and emotional issues. Regular physical activity directly and positively impacts physical and emotional well-being and transfers to better scholastic outcomes. KHE majors need practical experiences to develop skills to develop programs that match personal goals and fitness levels. This project was unique in that it meets an identified need for freshmen and KHE majors.
From Putting in Time to Meaningful Civic Engagement: Transforming Service Learning in an Undergraduate Social Work Program
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Vicki Packheiser
As a Provost’s Teaching Fellow, Vicki Packheiser is transforming Experiential Learning in Social Work’s foundational courses. This two-course sequence has long required 45 hours of service learning per course with a community agency. Social Work pre-majors contribute 10,000+ hours of service to the Austin community, serving as UT ambassadors while they gain experience that grounds their academics in future years. But the implementation has not lived up to the potential.
CREEES Fusion Room: an Interdisciplinary Digital Workshop
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Mary Neuburger
This project entailed the creation of a curricular context and physical space for collaborative interdisciplinary teaching and research for faculty and students interested in Russian, East European and Eurasian studies. This was achieved in two ways. First, I transformed the required gateway course to our major, “Introduction to Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies,” which had been a disjointed “parade of faculty” course with disconnected guest speakers.
Performance Training for Instructors
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Jen Moon
Currently, there is a lot of momentum to support instructors interested in employing evidence-based pedagogy in the classroom. However, a significant portion of the success of a course depends on the instructor’s ability to positively engage with students. Many (if not most) instructors have never been formally trained in effective communication methods that engage students and foster trust between students and faculty.
Empowering Undergraduate Entrepreneurship at UT: The Longhorn Entrepreneurship Ambassador Program
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Luis Martins
Austin is a hotbed for innovation and entrepreneurship, and yet, until recently The University of Texas at Austin provided few structured undergraduate programs focused intentionally on entrepreneurship. That realization propelled PTF Luis Martins to propose the creation of a minor in entrepreneurship as his PTF project. The Entrepreneurship Minor, offered by the McCombs School of Business and open to all undergraduate students at UT Austin, is now a reality, and began accepting applications in February.
The Collaboratory: Interdisciplinary, Arts-based Pedagogy for Use in New and Emerging Learning Environments
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Michelle Habeck
One of the top concerns from many employers is that college graduates lack the “soft skills” (collaboration, team-based skills)and professionalism they require. Collaboratory students will have the opportunity to master the latest skills in their field and develop “soft skills” like creative problem-solving problem solving and communication to help them thrive over the course of their careers.
Undergraduate Survey Research in Interpersonal Health Communication
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Erin Donovan
Each semester in CMS 330:Interpersonal Health Communication, students ask excellent questions that have not been answered yet in the academic literature. My project proposal is to give students the opportunity to collect high-quality survey data that would help students answer their questions. Students would create interpersonal health communication survey that would be administered by a research company to gather nationally representative data on important health communication topics that have currently been unexamined.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Active Learning Methods in Cell Biology
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Arturo De Lozanne
Despite ample evidence that implementing active learning methods in the classroom leads to better outcomes, most courses in Biology continue the use of traditional lecturing. Anecdotal conversations with many of my colleagues who teach upper division biology courses indicate a widespread perception that the traditional lecture is the most effective way to transmit information to students.