In some ways, Dr. Alison O’Malley is always on stage when she teaches her psychology class at Butler University. The audience is usually just her students — but that’s about to change.
Dr. O’Malley, an assistant professor of psychology at Butler since 2009, is among the growing ranks of professors who ACUE is filming for our Course on Effective Teaching Practices. In addition to Butler, our academic content team filmed classes this month at The University of Arizona, University of Michigan, and West Virginia University.
Footage of effective teaching techniques, aligned to ACUE’s Effective Practice Framework, is integrated into modules that faculty observe and reflect on as part of the course. The techniques, such as the “One-Minute Essay,” are designed for faculty to put into practice right away.
“Our course-takers benefit most when they can view effective practices in action,” said ACUE’s Chief Academic Officer Penny MacCormack.
At Butler, a few of Dr. O’Malley’s biggest fans—her students—shared their excitement as the filming got underway.
How amazing is it that your professor is filmed for being an extraordinary professor. #IOPsych pic.twitter.com/qSyLyryoz1
— Allie Deno (@alliedeno) November 12, 2015
Congrats & job well done to @ALOstasis filming for @ACUE_HQ series of faculty development modules! You are inspiring pic.twitter.com/N7IfW61uru
— Lauren Murphy (@murphy_io) November 12, 2015
Being able to showcase effective instruction in real college classrooms is a cornerstone of ACUE’s approach, MacCormack said.
“We are capturing classrooms that are diverse and look like the types of classrooms that our course-takers are teaching in,” MacCormack added. “We believe that this work allows course-takers to see our videos and say, ‘You know what? That looks like my classroom and that helps me be more confident that I could do what this instructor is doing.’” Dr. O’Malley reflected on the filming experience the next day on Twitter.
Enjoyed meeting many fine folks from @ACUE_HQ. I appreciate your coaching & regard for #learning in #highered. pic.twitter.com/Q32QZQiyFU — Ali O’Malley (@ALOstasis) November 13, 2015
Our thanks also to Jay Howard, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University for helping to coordinate ACUE’s classroom filming.
