CATL announces Fall Teaching & Learning Grant recipients

Jen Dabrowski in the Chemistry Department will use $3,615 to purchase temperature controlled hotplates for the inorganic chemistry laboratory. The instruments are vital for modernizing the lab and ensuring that students have access to the most up-to-date equipment for experimentation and research current within the field. Additionally, the equipment purchase will broaden the scope of learning objectives for inorganic chemistry courses to include designing experiments that test temperature as a variable in inorganic chemistry reactions.

Victoria Fischer Faw, Haidee Dollak, and Tyson Hankins (Music and Performing Arts) will purchase iPads for staff accompanists and piano teachers in their two departments. The equipment provides a unique combination of learning applications, editing software, and sharing capabilities which are particularly well-suited to pianists. Piano students will benefit from the educational technologies provided, university accompanists will take advantage of convenient performance set up, and students being accompanied can more easily access and share a wealth of repertoire available to them via the iPads, $4,100.

Ketevan Kupatadze in World Languages and Cultures will use $2250 to support professional development in teaching translation studies. In addition to helping the WLC department focus curriculum and learning objectives around translation and writing, deeper examination of translation theories and pedagogies will also impact WLC students’ intercultural competence through the processes inherent in translation: connecting and constructing meaning, negotiating ideas, and clarifying ambiguities.

Jen Guy Metcalf in Performing Arts will use $4589 to participate in a training and certification program for ballet teachers hosted by the American Ballet Theatre in New York. The program will enrich her knowledge of dancing anatomy, kinesiology, history, musicality, course development, and instruction, to further her goal of developing and growing as a teacher. Further, the professional development program will also offer the opportunity to create and nurture relationships within the professional dance community for future collaborations, guest artist connections, and other opportunities for both current students and alumni.

Aunchalee Palmquist (Sociology & Anthropology) will use $4922 to develop a new course, Anthropology of Babies, to be offered for the first time during Winter Term 2016. The course addresses early human development from pregnancy through the end of infancy in cross cultural and evolutionary perspectives. It will complement the other human development courses offered here by providing insights into shared human universals alongside cross-cultural variation in pregnancy, birth, and infant development.

Srikant Vallabhajosula (Physical Therapy Education) will use $2218 to support professional development in teaching clinical gait analysis, a method of identifying and diagnosing walking impairments in individuals recovering from stroke, hip or knee surgery, etc. The biomechanical tools in the Health Sciences Biomechanics Lab are already equipped to perform clinical gait analysis, and students in both the Physical Therapy and Exercise Science programs will benefit from learning this fundamental skill through increased understanding of balance, gait, and mobility problems and how to design effective interventions for patients.

The CATL Teaching and Learning Grants program supports innovative teaching and learning projects. Grants typically range from $1,000 to $5,000, although smaller and larger proposals are considered. Grants generally support start-up and one-time expenses (materials, stipends, and so on), rather than paying for ongoing operational costs.  For more information, visit our website at http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/teaching/grants.xhtml.

This fall’s Teaching & Learning Grants review committee members were Cindy Bennett (Physician Assistant Studies), Amy Overman (Psychology), Shawn Tucker (Art), and Scott Windham (World Languages & Cultures).