Innovative Teaching Initiatives
(This program is not currently funded)

These one-time grants are awarded in the form of a course release to teachers wishing to invent or reinvent a course. The nature of the innovation itself varies according to the field and purposes of the instructors themselves. A goal of this program is to encourage teachers in many different areas to rethink their courses. A course release allows more time for evaluating teaching and learning effectiveness. ITIs were funded by a one-time gift in the Easter 2004 semester and by the Dean of the College's fund for academic initiatives for the Advent 2004 semester.

In the 2003-2004 year, the following faculty members were given ITI grants:

Jennifer Michael --the Humanities sequence from students' perspectives

Pradip Malde --re-working ART103 - Introduction to Lens and Time-based Media, to incorporate the fundamental theoretical, technical and aesthetic principles  of working with photography, video, digital and interactive art.

Jim Peterman --re-working the Medical Ethics class, examining how people die in Tennessee and barriers to dying well, in order to assess the need for local public education on end of life issues.

Pamela Macfie --retooling Shakespeare courses as "page and stage"

Helen Bateman --use of technology in Human Development course

Peggy Bonds --use of Smart Board and polling techniques in one experimental section of Spanish 203/comparison with another section using traditional teaching methods