SELF EVALUATION, Karen Goodlad, Assistant Professor, 2018
My work this year lead me to great achievements in scholarly growth, teaching, and service. Below you will learn about my scholarly growth as shown by two nationally published papers, and manuscripts in progress and presentations in both a leading organization for general education as well as local presentations that will lead to more highly noted areas of expression in the future. In my teaching I continue to collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner seeking to engage students in a variety of teaching practices. Finally, I continue my service by leading change throughout the college seeking to expand initiatives to improve student retention and persistence.
Scholarly Growth
Reaching farther afield with my scholarship during this year, was among my greatest accomplishments. Each scholarly work showed my growth over the last five years and contributed to the nationwide discussion of general education, learning communities and place-based learning.
General Education: AAC&U, General Education and Assessment Conference
Not only is the annual AAC&U General Education and Assessment conference among the leading forums of general education and assessment in the country, I had the opportunity to collaborate with leaders across CUNY on the import subject of general education at CUNY. The presentation, One Gen Ed Framework, 19 Colleges, 4 Approaches: Strategies for Effective General Education, shared how Pathways is practiced on each of four campuses. It was an honor to present with Dr. Raymond Patton, Director of General Education and Educational Partnerships at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Angela Francis, Associate Director for Academic Affairs at the School of Professional Studies; and Dr. Christopher Vickery, Director of General Education and Professor at Queens College.
With more than 250,000 undergraduate student, it is important to share how we examined the methods for implementing an effective general education curriculum across the different campuses including the challenges, benefits and struggles to adapt the shared curricular structure. The acceptance rate for this conference was just under 50% and the conference was attended by approximately 2500 higher education professionals.
First Year Learning Communities, College Teaching
The publication of “Comparing Faculty and Student Perception of Academic Performance, Classroom Behavior, and Social Interactions in Learning Communities” in College Teaching was authored by myself, Laura Westengard and Jean Hillstorm. Our research shows a different side of learning communities than what is typically published. Stepping away from the more established research of the impact of learning communities on GPA, retention and persistence, our research examines and compares perception in the three areas listed in the title. Of note, we identified areas in which faculty and students have similar and differing perceptions and suggest means in which to approach these similarities and differences to make the learning community experience better for both faculty and students.
First Year Learning Communities, CUE Conference
Yes, our proposal to share our dynamic strategies in learning communities was accepted to the 2018 CUE Conference hosted by Medgar Evers College. But it was so well received that we were offered the opportunity to present as the pre-conference speakers; an honor. Well attended, the presentation explored how we initiated significant organizational changes. Focusing on the dynamic strategies for faculty engagement in the areas of awareness of student transition into college, open pedagogical strategies on the OpenLab, and development of learning community scholarship among faculty. Presented as a panel discussion, the participants included myself, Lauri Aguirre, Sandra Cheng, Julia Jordan, Jennifer Sears and a student leader, Mariah Rajah.
First Year Learning Communities, Research and Publications in Development
Finding value in the collaborative experience of learning communities for both faculty and students. I have two projects in the works. A manuscript addressing a shared project has been submitted, revised and I await the results of the most recent revisions.
Based on the material presented at the CUE Conference, a manuscript is being writen to further share the dynamic strategies employed in engaging faculty in developing their learning communities.
Place-based Learning: Insight
Considering the lack of published research about place-based learning at the collegiate level, this paper is surely the first of many I hope to publish. Working with Anne Leonard of the Library, we gathered our experiences with the Living Lab General Education Fellowship, asked questions of our colleagues and presented findings that demonstrate that after participating in the Living Lab General Education fellowship, participants perceived that place-based learning effectively met the general education learning outcomes of their course “resulting in deeper engagement with the course material than through more traditional classroom approaches”.
We are currently seeking venues to present our findings.
Wine Education and Place-based Learning: Brooklyn Waterfront Research Center Breakfast Talk
The project, Blending Community, Philanthropy and Education embodies the theory that place-based learning is among the most effective teaching and learning practices. This blend is unique and engages students in a manner that would never be captured in a traditional “chalk and talk” environment. Sharing the stage with students and Christopher Nicolson of Red Hook Winery provided the perfect platform to introduce my innovative teaching practices to a broader audience but to also introduce students to the power of a professional presentation on a panel in a formal academic manner to guests from the general public.
The innovative teaching practices used in this course caught the attention of Brooklyn Business News: The Bridge, a local publisher who trailed my students and wrote about their learning experience. Sharing our work outside the college community provided great recognition for the program and the college. Here is a link to the article: “The College Where Students Get to Taste Their Work”
Teaching
Fulfilling a goal of the department to work in an interdisciplinary manner, I continue to not only teach a First Year Learning Community course but also lead the initiative. Working in an interdisciplinary manner is important to our students’ success as they transition to college and create the foundation for continued success.
Returning to the HMGT 2305, Dining Room Operation, allowed for me to teach yet another writing intensive course. I had many of these same students as freshman and then again as sophomores. Engaging with them two semesters later provided a view into their development as writers and it was an opportunity to refine mine work as well as their work in a manner that lead them to great success.
Service
Challenged to create and implement an advisement workshop with the goal of increasing student retention and persistence resulted in the development of the “Student Ready Department” pilot initiative. This initiative falls in line with the most comprehensive recommendation of our self-study for Middle States. Simultaneously, CUNY’s Academic Momentum Campaign, part of its Strategic Framework, highlights this same goal, making it even more imperative for City Tech to evaluate and change our advisement practices. Participation in the “Student Ready Department” pilot program and the changes made to the pilot department’s advisement practices, will be the goal of four departments and will take an important step towards improving student retention and graduation. Recruitment occurred in spring 2018 and the pilot workshop will be conducted in June 2018 followed by execution of advisement plans in fall 2018. The program has been designed to expand to an institution-wide effort in two years.
My service on many department and college wide projects continues and I am most often found in a leadership role. I lead the wine program, act as the department’s advisement liaison, co-chair the scholarship committee and am on the curriculum committee. Across the college I am on the steering committee for the First Year Experience Initiative, developed the Academic Basics component of the New Student Orientation and lead a team of faculty who execute the program. The responsibilities of these committees and initiatives and others not written about here are listed in the outline of this report.
