Marc: You might consider evaluating your current program using the rubric describe by Dunn, McCarthy, et al. in the October 2007 American Psychologist (Quality Benchmarks in Undergraduate Psychology Programs) and then ask your faculty to have a conversation about perceived strengths and weaknesses of your program and agreements and disagreements with the definition of quality used in the rubric. Might be a great start for an interesting conversation that will allow your faculty to build a quality program based on best principles rather than shopping for a program model that looks good on the web site. Not that cruising web sites isn't a bad idea for new ideas, but you'll need to connect these with an underlying rationale. The rubric in the American Psychologist might be a good mechanism for structuring the discussion (or evaluating those web sites!)
Have fun. You are embarked on a noble adventure! Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director, Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Associate Professor, Psychology University of West Florida Pensacola, FL 32514 - 5751 Phone: (850) 857-6355 or 473-7435 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/cutla/ Personal Web Pages: http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm -----Original Message----- From: Marc Carter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 12:35 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Cool Undergraduate Programs I'm sorry: "Cool" in the sense of doing the very best undergraduate education in the science of psych that we can. Cool as in high positive student engagement and high scores on measures of outcomes. It could mean new courses, it could mean new programs (programs for undergrad research), it could mean travel (although I'm sort of at a loss about travel other than for research), it could mean internships, it could mean anything that's been shown to do a superior job with undergraduate education in psychology. Does that make sense? I want challenges for them that we can help them meet, I want them excited about studying psych, and most important, I want them well-grounded in the science. I don't know what we'll eventually be able to do, but while we're thinking, we're shooting the moon and are going to think big. m --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
