13 M.A. students
and 1 certificate student matriculated in 08-09 (right in line with the average
over the previous four years and an improvement over 07-08.)
As of April Õ09, there were 36 students
in M.A. program and 4 in certificate program.
4 of the 36 had completed all course work
and were working, some with significant life/family interruptions, on
completing their capstone syntheses.
(Seven more are in this situation but are behind in paying program fees,
so don't show up as students.)
8 of the 36
graduate in May and 3 more plan for August degrees.
In addition, 1
M.A. student graduated in December 08 and 1 certificate student graduates in
May.
Synthesis
topics ranged from ÒSocial Action Teaching: Engaging
Middle School Students in Knowing And Doing in the Social Studies ClassroomÓ
by Alyssa Hinkell, a middle school teacher, to the teaching of Intellectual
Perseverance by Virginia L. De La Garza Sepulveda, a teacher educator from
MŽxico, to "Exploring The Teaching Mind:
Extending Participation in Lifelong Learning Through Engagement With a
Supportive Community" by Jeremy Szteiter, an adult educator.
Anticipated M.A.
matriculants for Fall Õ09 = 5-8 +
2-3 certificate students
Through regular,
online, other CCDE, and cross-listed sections and some independent studies CCT
instructors served over 220 three-credit equivalent students, made up of almost
an equal number of non-CCT and non-matriculated students as CCT students. 60% of these three-credit equivalents
were in sections taught by core CCT faculty; 40% were taught by part-timers
through CCDE.
1. Implemented a multi-year
course schedule that
ensures that, even if the CCT lectureship position is discontinued at some
point, matriculated students can still be served by regular CCT faculty and
have a maximum number of electives to choose from over a two-year cycle.[1]
2. Enhanced the coordination
with the non-licensure track of the M.Ed. program, now called "Learning, Teaching and
Educational Transformation," so as to draw more M.Ed. students into CCT
electives and to allow faculty to borrow ideas (e.g., capstone options) from
the other program.[2]
3. Addressed the main shortcoming of the CCT curriculum, namely, some students get to the capstone synthesis
course but are not well prepared to write a major paper and/or do not finish
during the synthesis semester.
The Program: a) initiated an
entrance interview and a mid-program check-in[3],
both of which draw attention to a series of measures designed to support
students through to timely completion of their degree[4];
b) explored various forms of writing support[5];
and c) regularized the scheduling of day-long intensive synthesis-completion
sessions each semester ("Marathon days").
4. Piloted the
practice of students assembling a "Reflective Practice (or MetaCognitive) Portfolio"[6]
during the course of their CCT studies.
This should help students: a)
perceive the interconnections among courses; and b) be better prepared to
synthesize their theory and practice when they get to their capstones (see #3
above).
5. Institutionalized
the CCT Network[7], a series of monthly
activities (with recordings made available as podcasts) and an online social
network site.[8]
The goals of the CCT Network
are to: a) organize, in a sustainable fashion, personal and professional
development, community building, and educational-innovation activities beyond
the formal CCT program of studies, supplementing students' education through
the involvement of alums and continuing alums' education by their involvement
in the education of students and each other; and b) stimulate visitors to apply
to join CCT based on their experience of the Network activities and of CCT
community-building.
6. Established
a new course, CrCrTh688, Reflective Practice.
This course allows students
to get credit for participation in and reflection on the CCT Network
activities, as well as providing a structure for supervision of students
outreach activities in schools, workplaces, and communities.[9]
7. Extended
the use of the CCT wiki for documenting CCT activities, tools and resources, and
enhancing course interactions.
The tools of CrCrTh 692 and
693 have been assembled using the wiki into a first draft of a book, Taking
Yourself Seriously: A Fieldbook of Processes of Research and Engagement.[10]
8. Developed
CCT's "Science in a Changing World" emphasis into a formal track[11]
in both the Certificate and M.A. Program allowing four alternative core
courses.[12]
The SICW track builds on an
area of strength for the CCT core faculty and is now bringing in associate
faculty from the Sciences. It has
the goal that "students graduate well prepared to move across the
persistent divide between sciences and humanities, to participate in
questioning and shaping the direction of science and society, and to teach and
engage others to participate in this important endeavor."
9. Continued
to build recognition in the Boston/New England area for CCT-centered work in
the SICW area.[13]
In 08-09 CCT: a) provided
some funds for the 6th annual New England Workshop on Science and
Social Change[14]; and b) offered a
cross-campus course through the Graduate Consortium of Women's Studies.[15]
10. Expanded
the Certificate partnership with Continuing Education (CCDE) to increase
enrollments, promote the SICW emphasis, initiate a CCT M.A. program starting in
August for students in China, [16]
and offer Certificate courses on Cape Cod.
11. Established
a separate CCT ESS account so that funds received from CCDE (e.g., on the basis of courses
taught) can be budgeted to support guests in CCT courses, events, publicity, a
program assistant, etc. and any unused funds can be carried over to the next
year.
12. Hosted
a visit by faculty and students from the University of Exeter pilot
partnership
in which Master's students from both universities paired up to support each
other through completion of their final syn/theses. A second pilot year has
begun.
13. Received/awarded
a number of prizes for CCT students and faculty member—
Tara Tetzlaff: Delores Gallo
Award for Creative Development and Outreach
Jeremy Szteiter: Critical and
Creative Thinking Award for Personal and Professional Development
CCT Forum (the student
group): Beacon Student Leadership award for Best Student Program, namely, the
CCT Network (see #5)
Professor Peter Taylor: 2009
Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching.
14. Efforts
to boost recruitment have had limited yield; they need assessment and a
possible shift in priorities (e.g., making greater use of the CCT Network
events and social network site to coach alums to become active in outreach and
recruitment).[17]
The core faculty under the
multi-year course schedule—see #1—could serve 15-18 M.A.
matriculants.
15. The administrative division
of labor established in the previous year places most of the administrative
burden on the Program Coordinator, and this has been even more the case this
year as he backed up and filled in for other faculty, especially on
coordinating the recruitment and admissions process.[18]
The hiring of a 50% Assistant Coordinator
as part of the expanded partnership with CCDE (see #10) was meant to alleviate
this problem, but this position is now frozen even as the China program goes
ahead (and brings with it additional administrative demands). The GCE needs to give a stable
commitment for administrative CLR for the Program Coordinator.
16. The
Writing Support efforts (see #3b) need to be extended.
The initial efforts on 08-09 did not
result in a regular support group meeting—a suitable time could not be
found when the students needing such support were prepared to attend. Copies of a well-designed writing text
were bought by the Program and borrowed by several students and two of them
have received individual tutoring by one of the two Program GAs. However, the need is greater than that
and the Program will not be allocated a second GA next year. A regular weekly meeting is planned for
the fall on the day that required classes meet; the students who need such
support have to be persuaded to participate. Ways need to be developed to understand and address the
higher frequency of students of color in the need-writing-improvement category.
17. The
significant backlog of students who have finished all
course work, but not their syntheses, remains.
[19]
Marathon days (see #3c) will
be continued and efforts (e.g., #3a, b; #4) will be continued to try to prevent
growth of the backlog in the future.
18. CCT
assessments (e.g., the exit self-assessment and Reflective Practice Portfolio)
need to be articulated or adjusted so as to meet TEAC expectations about
systematic attention to learning outcomes, i.e., how
we show our students have learned what we claim we are teaching.
19. Discussion
by the core faculty of what the Program is not doing well, with a view to
identifying and prioritizing improvements, has stalled.
Perhaps AQUAD and/or TEAC reviews will
reactivate such discussion.
20. In
order that the Program faculty can decide how to direct their not unlimited
energies in relation to CCT, any new initiative needs
to be planned, approved by consensus and evaluated by the CCT core faculty.
The guiding principles here
should be to ensure that a) we are able to do what we've already committed to,
which includes serving the students we have and doing so without adding
unagreed-on burdens on each other as colleagues; and b) new initiatives are
based on a plan with clear goals/objectives that addresses a) and includes a
chance to take-stock afterwards to learn from how well we met the goals. (This has not always been the case over
the last year or more.)
21. The
plan to bring in limited number of students into
regular classes from a distance (e.g., via wimba) did not progress further this
year—beyond that possibility being mentioned in the new Graduate
Bulletin.[20]
1.
Goals: See
#A, B, and #1-12 above.
2.
Program
development: See #1-12 above.
Possible governance actions: see footnotes 3 & 6.
3.
Faculty
Achievements related to CCT: See #7 & 13 above and footnote 13.
4.
Program
Strengths: See #1-21 above, which indicate that CCT provides a model for
pedagogical innovation, reflective practice, program documentation on the
internet, and planning that makes the most of limited resources.
5.
Weaknesses:
See #14-21 above.
6.
Collaborations:
See #2, 8, 9, 10, 12 above.
7.
Student
support outside OGS: CCDE provides funds for an hourly assistant (c. 200
hours/year); see #10 & 11 above.
8.
OGS
stipends: The two ¼-time
GAs earmarked by OGS for CCT in previous years was reduced by the GCE to one,
but one faculty member's RA (also funded by OGS) filled the gap as a second CCT
assistant.
9.
Additional
services needed from OGS:
Continuation of informative notes from GPD meetings; initiation of a
practice of minutes and/or timely informative feedback from GSC on proposals;
and negotiation with Deans to arrive at equitable CLRs for GPDs based on
workload after allowing for staff support (or lack thereof).
[1] This plan involves the required face-to-face courses being offered 1 semester in 3 and face-to-face electives being offered every 2nd year, which also ensures that CCT courses are not cancelled for low enrollment.
[2] This coordination may lead to faculty from CCT and LTET sharing advising of capstones in the two programs and program administration.
[3] Governance approval may be sought for making this check-in have teeth/consequences.
[6] http://cctrpp.wikispaces.com Governance approval may be sought for
making this Portfolio a requirement.
[11] Awaiting final approval at the University level.
[13] Related, but more in the line of individual than programmatic recognition: Carol Smith was a Visiting Researcher at TERC for a year through January. Peter Taylor was a Visiting Fellow at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition in Austria and a Visiting Theorist, Center for Drug Use and HIV Research in NYC.
[16] To make this possible, a 50% Assistant Coordinator was to have been funded by CCDE, but the hiring freeze is preventing this position being filled.
[17] The major
events, an Open House in conjunction with Community Relations, and the Graduate
Studies Open House, yielded one admit and one application in the works. Plans are being made for a publicity
table at the June Creative Problem Solving Institute
in Boston, where Nina Greenwald will also run a workshop.
[19] Note from the Program Coordinator: In the fall, I asked
faculty to talk with their ABD advisees and report back, with the hope of
eliciting concrete plans or "contracts" for completion from every
student. However, I was not able
to make time to get such plans from all my own ABDs and monitor their progress,
so I did not press the other synthesis advisors to follow through with all
their advisees. Instead, I shifted
my emphasis to "marathon days" open to all ABDs for work on synthesis
completion and to discussion among the faculty of preemptive steps for the
future.
[20] The Program now has a laptop of its own, but a reliable speakerphone attachment needs to be purchased.