Liberal Arts Department

Academic Goals Report 2004-2005

Goal: Enhance access to students via alternative methods of course delivery

Assessment: In hopes of enhancing student access during the 2004-2005 academic year, faculty in the Liberal Arts Department:

· designed the Beginning Online Spanish I and II classes to provide web students with the opportunity to learn Spanish online without sacrificing any of the basic language learning skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing and culture

· developed and implemented Intermediate Spanish I and II as web courses

· implemented Theatre1030 as a web course

· incorporated new technology into courses by posting study guides, syllabi, and essay/Id instructions on Web CT

· proposed (and received approval of that proposal from the Instructional Development Committee) the development of a hybrid theatre course

· reorganized history courses (World Civilization I & II ) at PSTCC to fully utilize the distance learning format known as Two-Way Audio/Video (TWAV) which broadcasts from the Pellissippi Parkway campus to the Blount County Center, Division Street, and Magnolia Avenue campuses

Goal: Improve the design and delivery of instruction; Evaluate instructional processes and outcomes

Assessment: In an effort to improve the design and delivery of instruction, faculty in the Liberal Arts Department:

attended the following workshops and seminars:

"Success Strategies for the classroom"

'' Living History: The Passionate Continuum"

“Letters to and from the Front: World War II Correspondence between Soldiers and Their Families.”

“Teaching with the Brain in Mind”

“WebCT Show and Tell: Web and Web-Enhanced Best Practices”

“Offensive Women: or Women in Combat in the Red Army.”

“Innovative Teaching Techniques”.

“Keeping Students Connected Around the Globe”

continued to make Printmaking (Art 1610) user friendly to new students in art since it is a 1000 level course open to DSPR and DSPW students

converted all slides for HUM 2500 – Exploring Art and Music to a PowerPoint format for use with multi-media (879 images total) and added extensive new visual materials to the course content
created a new in-class group project dealing with the relations between the Franks and the Vikings during the Early Middle Ages to foster learning via student interaction
enrolled in an online course titled “Teaching Online” to prepare for the development of the Beginning Spanish I and II courses
incorporated more primary source materials in the Fall Semester, requiring students to read excerpts from documents such as the Nazi Nuremberg laws, the Chadwick Report on Sanitation, the Truman Doctrine, and Mill’s On Liberty, assigning them several analytical questions regarding these documents and requiring that they prepare their answers in writing
initiated plans for a meeting (held in early January, 2005) of full-time and adjunct philosophy faculty to discuss the content of Phil 1030 and possibly to develop our own textbook specifically focused on that content
ordered videos to enhance the teaching of studio art courses.
redesigned the format of MUS 1020, History of Rock, to become more interactive between student to student and student to professor by creating group projects and group based quizzes based on each required chapter of reading
spent a considerable amount of time reviewing, downloading and integrating video resources into power point presentations; the result, however, is a much richer presentation for the survey classes and the utilization of resources (such as clips from videos held at the Media Center) which I previously could not successfully integrate into my courses; students reacted very positively to these changes.
worked with McGraw-Hill to create a CD-Rom of images and maps for use in the classroom

Goal: Utilize technology in an effort to educate students about tools and skills needed to compete in the workforce

Assessment: During the 2004-2005 academic year, faculty in the Liberal Arts department utilized technology in the following ways:

assisted in choosing the visuals to be placed on the CD-ROM produced by the publisher McGraw-Hill for PSTCC Western Civilization classes
began initial training of my other full-time faculty in PowerPoint in order to prepare them for fall 2005 courses to be offered at site campuses (Blount and Division) and have downloaded all images into their respective H-drives
completed the initial conversion of all the images for both art history courses by moving the slide lectures to Power Point. This required EXTENSIVE web work to locate and duplicate images (over 1000 images and support images as well).

· incorporated new technology into courses by posting study guides, syllabi, and essay/Id instructions on Web CT

photographed slides from personal libraries to promote awareness of current themes in painting, as well as making students aware of sites on the Web that offer virtual tours of current national exhibits

Goal: Provide cultural and social opportunities for students and the local community

Assessment: In an attempt to provide cultural and social opportunities for the college and the community, faculty in the Liberal Arts department:

· developed a new course to be offered Spring, 2005 – that includes a trip to Florence and Rome, Italy, concentrating primarily on Renaissance Art. The trip is finalized and will be hosting 30 participants, 22 of which are students.

enlisted guest artists for HUM 2500, Exploring Art and Music, in the spring semester of 2004 to demonstrate ancient musical instruments and discuss their historical significance
enlisted guest lecturers for MUS 1020, History of Rock, to demonstrate guitar techniques, similarities and differences in the various styles of music covered in the class
incorporated cultural anecdotes and materials into instruction to increase understanding of cultural diversity
organized a French Film Festival to give students an opportunity to see good French film

· organized and executed the annual PSTCC Invitational Choral Festival to provide an interactive learning lab for choral groups from area two-year colleges

· organized and sponsored the Liberal Arts Lecture Series which included two standing room only sessions - History’s Unintended Consequences, Joyce Salisbury and The Middle East: What’s the Conflict All About?, Jim Harb

· scheduled guest speakers during 2004 whose fields were relevant to course content; For Art 1720, a visiting artist who is working on a current dig in Mycenae (Pre-Helladic Greek), and in Art 1730, a sculptor who works in stone to demonstrate techniques still in use from the Renaissance period

· sponsored production of “The Kentucky Cycle,” which went to competition in Birmingham. At the competition, we were selected as one of three from the Southeastern region to be considered to go to the Kennedy Center. This made us one of two community colleges nation-wide to be considered. It placed us in the top four percent of all participating colleges last year (out of some eight hundred productions nation-wide.)

· sponsored a Spring Choral Concert; a Spring Concert – Jazz Band and Guitar Ensemble; a Student Honors Recital; a Fall Choral Concert; and a Holiday Spectacular “Christmas around the World”