Evidence of Commitment to Fostering the Intellectual Development of Students

An important illustration of my philosophy and approach to teaching is evidenced in my scaffolding and mentoring strategies and type of assignments, papers, exams, and projects, which require students to "think through" and apply concepts and illustrate relationships among theories and practices. I have included representative examples of the types of critical thinking and learning experiences, which challenge students in my courses. These experiences include:

• A comprehensive, real-world, end of the course project that challenges students to work collaboratively in small groups and with real clients to examine instructional design theories and principles and to prepare a major product and several reports. In addition to the challenge of preparing a quality product and report, students learn to work with a group of people, respond to a client's needs and are expected to assess their own leadership and team building skills throughout the project. (Please see Binder # 1 MIT 500 Instructional Systems Design: Theory & Research, MIT 510 Design & Development of Instructional Technology, MIT 522 Organizational & Management of Instructional Technology, Projects).
• Problem solving assignments that detail the expectations and standards of excellence required of students. (Please see Binder # 1 "Problem Solving Activities"-MIT 500 Instructional Systems Design: Theory & Research, MIT 510 Design & Development of Instructional Technology, and MIT 522 Organizational & Management of Instructional Technology).
• A comprehensive project that challenges students to work individually or collaboratively to design and develop a course, a unit of instruction, and a sample lesson (Please see Binder # 1, "Instructional Development Project" for EDN 520 Instructional Development and EDN 301 Instructional Design and Classroom Evaluation).
• A team presentation and peer review or peer-assessment task that challenges students to "extend the experience" by examining how instructional technology projects are planned and evaluated in a particular organization. (Please see Binder # 1, "Technology Plan" MIT 522 Organizational & Management of Instructional Technology).
• Practice exams and self-assessment quizzes that allow students to practice and assess their own knowledge and understand the nature of their challenge in analyzing and applying theory. (See Binder # 1 for examples of MIT 500 Instructional Systems Design: Theory & Research, EDN 520 Instructional Development, EDN 301 Instructional Design and Classroom Evaluation, Self-Assessment Quizzes and Practice Exam Questions).
  Essay exams that require students to compare and contrast instructional design theories and apply them to their practice (see MIT 500 Instructional Systems Design: Theory & Research, EDN 301 Instructional Design and Classroom Evaluation).
• Essay exams that ask students to apply systems theories to realistic cases (see MIT 510 Design & Development of Instructional Technology, EDN 301 Instructional Design and Classroom Evaluation).
  Opportunities to rewrite curriculum design as a progressive process for learning how to design and develop a course or an instructional program (See Student Feedback, Binder # 1).
• Personal-professional notes to classes encouraging students to continue to strive for excellence in their work (See Student Feedback, Binder # 1).
  Detailed feedback (both an on going feedback and end of the semester feedback) and analysis of student progress to develop systematic, and research-based instruction, well-developed curriculum (see Student Feedback, Binder # 1) and a detailed analysis of student product (See Student Feedback, Binder # 1).