New Center Emphasizes Teaching Excellence

By Fran Rensbarger

Last May, George Mason's Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Reaccredidation Committee recommended that the university establish and support a center devoted to the study and improvement of learning. That commitment took form this summer with the opening of the Center for Teaching Excellence.

"In addition to the excellent support we offer to instructional technology, we need a center that encourages a more general discussion of teaching issues, promotion of best practices, and training of graduate students in teaching," said Provost Peter Stearns.

Laurie A. Fathe joined George Mason's faculty this summer as the center's director. "Laurie has a distinguished record in the field, particularly in the area of science instruction, and will offer a vigorous approach to the center's range of activities," Stearns said. Most recently, Fathe was director of the Los Angeles Collaborative for Teacher Excellence, a National Science Foundation-funded project to improve the science and math preparation of teachers in the greater Los Angeles area.

The mandate for the Center for Teaching Excellence comes primarily from the recommendations of the self-study report, says Fathe. Report recommendations include more faculty/ student interaction; addressing the needs of different learners; providing information and interaction in new ways; and viewing the classroom as a learning community.

"Basically my task is to work with faculty, teaching assistants, and the administration to improve education at George Mason by helping these folks learn more about teaching so they can become better practitioners of their craft," says Fathe. "I think I have the best job at the university."

Fathe's short-range goals include gathering information on all the different teaching methods George Mason faculty members already use, so the center can become a clearinghouse for good practice. "One of the barriers we face is that teaching almost always takes place behind closed doors and is not a shared experience. Thus people are continually reinventing the wheel," she says. However, "the limitations we encounter in college teaching are more a problem of the institutional structure and reward system than of individual faculty members lack of knowledge or motivation."

Fathe also plans to work with new faculty and graduate teaching assistants to help them become good teachers and use their time effectively. She plans to work with faculty members to document and publish work on their innovative and effective educational methods.

Fathe looks forward to building the center, but with only a full-time director and one half-time graduate student, the center will be limited in the amount of one-on-one interaction it has with faculty and graduate students and in its scope of programming.

Long-term plans include establishing yearly symposia to highlight the work of George Mason faculty; holding roundtables with other local universities and colleges to share and discuss teaching practices; bring in external funding to help faculty members improve courses; help faculty members establish classroom research projects and look at curricular reform in their disciplines; and design a coherent training program for new graduate teaching assistants. A certificate program focusing on teaching at the college level has been proposed, which would give graduate students a credential to take into the job market.