Faculty Receive National Credential in Teaching Excellence

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Posted on May 23, 2019

Marketing and Communications

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Several faculty members at the University of South Alabama were honored recently for earning a nationally recognized teaching credential co-endorsed by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) and the American Council on Education (ACE). The faculty demonstrated their commitment to student success by completing a yearlong Course in Effective Teaching Practices to equip them with the instructional skills shown to promote student motivation, learning and persistence.

"The ACUE Effective Teaching course fits very nicely into the ILC's portfolio of programs to assist faculty in becoming evidence-based practitioners who take a scholarly approach to teaching,” said Dr. S. Raj Chaudhury, executive director of USA’s Innovation in Learning Center and the campus lead on the ACUE collaboration. “Faculty receiving the credential are in an excellent position to continue their work improving student learning by participating in programs like SoTL USA, our initiative to increase the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning."

To earn their Certificate in Effective College Instruction, the faculty members completed a 25-module course that required them to learn about and implement new evidence-based teaching practices in their courses and reflect on the experience. Aligned with the latest research in cognition and adult learning, ACUE’s courses address more than 200 evidence-based teaching practices, covering how to design an effective course, establish a productive learning environment, use active learning techniques, promote higher order thinking and utilize assessments to inform instruction and promote learning.

“I very much support the mission of the ILC and I very much support the goals of the ACUE program,” Dr. David Johnson, USA provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, told the faculty at the reception hosted by the ILC. “I am especially appreciative of the faculty who devoted so much time to trying to become even better teachers, and I certainly appreciate your commitment to your students. So I congratulate each and every one of you and look forward to hearing how you put to work the ideas and practices that you learned in this course into the classroom.”

The credentialed faculty members include Dr. Donna Copeland, adult health nursing; Missy Curtis, radiologic sciences; Dr. Vaughan Lee, medical education; Sara Majors, maternal-child nursing; Dr. Jennifer Miller, adult health nursing; Dr. David Weber, physiology and cell biology; Alex Whalen, philosophy; Dr. Anthony Bessios, electrical and computer engineering; Dr. John Cleary, civil, coastal, and environmental engineering; Dr. Ashley Flagge, speech pathology and audiology; Dr. Doris Frye, English; Dr. Kendrea Garand, speech pathology and audiology; Melissa Walter, communication; and Dr. Shenghua Wu, civil, coastal, and environmental engineering. 

Faculty will continue to learn about pedagogy and receive career-long support through ACUE’s Community of Professional Practice, which provides access to member forums, expert webinars, biweekly newsletters, the ‘Q’ Blog and “office hours” with leading scholars in college instruction.

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