Tags: instruction

Active learning is an instructional approach that involves engaging students with the learning process through group work, case studies, class discussions and other methods. This type of approach places a greater degree of responsibility on the learner. Students with disabilities may have unique experiences in active-learning STEM courses because most active-learning practices were designed with limited input from students with disabilities.…

Shortly after the close of the Spring semester, the University of Georgia gave the final approval to create the School of Computing, a new academic unit to be jointly administered by the Franklin College and the College of Engineering. In response to rising student enrollment and the growing role of computing in a range of fields, the University of Georgia has elevated its longstanding department of computer science to a School of Computing. Its…

The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of mathematics has received the 2022 Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award for Department or Program from the University System of Georgia. The award showcases an outstanding department or program—selected from among all 26 institutions within the university system—that promotes, supports and recognizes excellence in teaching and service to students. The University System of…

The Excellence-in-Teaching Award was established by the Graduate School to recognize those students who have demonstrated superior teaching skills and have contributed to teaching beyond their own classroom responsibilities, making a significant contribution to the instructional mission of the university. Three of the five 2022 Graduate Student Excellence-in-Teaching awards went to Franklin College students: Elise Robinson is a Ph.D. candidate…

Three UGA faculty members – two from the Franklin College – have been named recipients of the Russell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, which recognize outstanding instruction by faculty members early in their academic careers. “This year’s Russell Award recipients demonstrate how innovative, evidence-based instruction enhances student learning,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and…

Eric Ferreira’s own early fascination with solving puzzles helps him inspire students to piece together the logic behind organic chemistry. “I was always interested in logic puzzles and things of that nature that as a kid,” said Ferreira, an associate professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ chemistry department. “As a sophomore in college, my first semester organic chemistry professor really illustrated the logic behind it, and…

The UGA Teaching Academy program brings together promising instructional faculty with experienced mentors across campus to promote excellence in the classroom. The Teaching Academy launched its 10th cohort of early-career fellows program in August: In addition to workshops with campus leaders, fellows participate monthly in small group sessions, led by mentors from the Teaching Academy, throughout the academic year. The Teaching Academy Fellows…

Franklin College faculty members are leading efforts of UGA faculty, staff and administrators to increase faculty diversity and the use of inclusive teaching practices in STEM fields: Among their first steps is a survey of the university’s STEM faculty to gather input and assess current efforts to recruit and retain diverse faculty. “We want to accurately assess our past efforts in our quest to recruit and retain a diverse STEM faculty and use…

Professor of dance in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Lisa Fusillo loves seeing students thrive and excel, and witnessing their successes as artists and as individuals, is her greatest joy: My favorite courses are dance history, ballet technique, pointe and First-Year Odyssey seminars. These topics encompass everything that I love to teach! My teaching is greatly informed by my professional experience and training in classical ballet…

  Richard Morrison, associate professor in the department of chemistry, is one of five University of Georgia faculty members named Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professors for 2020, the university’s highest recognition for instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels: As director of Organic Chemistry Instruction in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of chemistry, Richard Morrison oversees all aspects of undergraduate…

A significant redesign of two foundational UGA mathematics courses has led to remarkable gains in student success, including an increase from 65% to 85% of students who pass precalculus: While the DFW (grade of D, grade of F or Withdrawal) rate for students taking precalculus averages 27% nationally, according to the Mathematical Association of America, the DFW rate at UGA has dropped from 35% six years ago to approximately 15% last fall.…

Funded by a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the Department and Leadership Teams for Action program, or DeLTA, will engage more than 100 University of Georgia faculty across multiple departments to transform STEM education at institutions of higher education nationwide. Principal investigator Paula Lemons, an associate professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, explained that she and her colleagues…

First-Year Odyssey Seminars are some of the most important early academic experiences students can have at UGA. Broadly-themed courses taught by senior faculty feed a sense of discovery in students about knowledge, about the world, and importantly, about themselves as students begin to learn and cultivate their own interests. Four UGA faculty members, two from the Franklin College have received a 2019 First-Year Odyssey Teaching Award in…

Our colleagues in the UGA College of Education share a story about the new ways students study science and also, appropriately enough, about football: As it turns out, laws of physics that apply to gases are a difficult topic—students in the university’s General Chemistry class often find themselves fumbling the topic. But in the past year, students in the College of Education and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences have tackled these…

Awards season is always a time of celebration for the Franklin College, and we congratulate our colleagues (and students) on recent recognition, grants and professorships: Half of the six recipients of UGA’s highest recognition for excellence in instruction are from Franklin faculty members – Christine Alright from the department of Classics received the Russell Award for Excellence in Teaching – Athens CEO, UGA Today. Professor of sociology and…

Not the feedback loop, but fact-checking media reports. In perhaps the next iteration of evaluating climate news and data, how trustworthy is the science you read about? A new group will track the accuracy of climate news to evaluate what's out there: Last week, Climate Feedback announced the Scientific Trust Tracker, a feature that will track news outlets’ accuracy on climate change, one scientist-reviewed story at a time. Right now, the Trust…

Compelling new research from the department of psychology on how brain structure in people differs according to how trusting people are of others: The research may have implications for future treatments of psychological conditions such as autism, said the study's lead author Brian Haas, an assistant professor in the department of psychology. Each autism diagnosis is on a spectrum and varies, but some diagnosed with the condition exhibit…

Connecting the arts and humanities to a democratic revivial in the United States is more than an intriguing idea - the future of the cultural and political ideals of a diverse nation hangs in the balance. And while that may sound like hyperbole, consider the headwinds of violence, apathy, low-voter turnout, politcal disillusionment and eroding trust in institutions into which American society has turned in recent years. As much as that 'decision…