4 Professor Best in U.S.

UNITED STATES - Four people were lecturers in the United States received a bachelor's U.S. Professors of the Year 2011. Four of the owner of the title of professor is awarded the highest degree because it managed to change the approach in the methods of teaching and research guidance.

Carnegie Institution for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) and the Council for Development and Support of Education (CASE) gave the title to the professors who excel in teaching and guiding students graduate levels.

This award is the most prestigious event in America. The winner was chosen from four types of higher education that is community college, Baccalaureate college, graduate, and university research.

This year's awards were selected from 300 nominations were evaluated based on their involvement with students, their contribution to society and the profession, their support for colleagues and students, and teaching methodologies.

How does this special lecturer teaching methods? And what changes have they done? Following list is quoted from The Chronicle, Friday (18/11/2011).

Ursula Shepherd, who teaches at the University of New Mexico

Shepherd has been teaching for 15 years at the University of New Mexico. He is a professor of biology with honors. Shepherd makes the class more interactive, because it allows students to design their own experiments and create portfolios of their work. He gives undergraduate students the opportunity to conduct their own research projects. This is useful to teach them to think critically.

Shepherd began to be creative after hearing advice from his professors. "He (the professor) said, to become a great teacher, you have to be an actor, pay attention to your audience, and are willing to make mistakes and take risks to fix it," Shepherd said about the professor's advice.

Since then, he began to notice the responses of students on teaching methods and make adjustments. "Sometimes the class is not working. I had to walk to every class and say, we will change the syllabus, and we will do things differently. This usually gets the attention of students because usually people do not do it to them, "he explained.

Kathryn C. Wetzel, teacher at Amarillo College

Wetzel is the Head of the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering in Amarillo. He has been teaching for 25 years. Classes in mathematics and engineering, Wetzel taught with real-world applications. Wetzel claimed to be better, having learned to listen to students talk to each other.

"I will listen to a student who explains something to another student, and a light will live. I said, 'That is the key that I had been looking for.' "

Students learn how to process and absorb new information Wetzel's teaching style has changed significantly. Because the classes become more interactive. "I'll see if they understand and remember things based on their responses. I learned what works for them, and then apply it to the next student, "Wetzel explained.

Steven S Volk, who teaches at Oberlin College

Volk is a professor of history and head of the Division of Latin American Studies at Oberlin College. He has been teaching for 26 years. To maximize the activity in class discussions, posting videos Volk lecture material through cyberspace, so that students can see it before the lecture. Volk admitted doing this so that students can play an active role in the learning process.
"Each class is a discussion, because it is the way students construct their own understanding and knowledge, rather than me telling them what happened," he said.
In-depth discussion in the classroom makes student participation and interest for a topic, remarkable increases. "No students are not paying attention. They do not sleep in class, play up, they do not do the usual thing happened in college, because everyone must participate, "he explained.

Stephen L. Chew, who teaches at Samford University

Chew is an associate professor and head of the Department of Psychology at Samford. He strongly supports undergraduate student research. He wanted to help them gain practical experience in their respective fields. Chew refers to background psychological and cognitive research on learning to develop better teaching strategies.

"I learned how students learn and think to inform how to teach. I am more aware of how they perceive information and how they use it, "he explained.

The key is to identify the level of student understanding. "Teachers have to meet students wherever they are, understand their beliefs and misconceptions, and then brought to where they want to be (in future)," he added.

He also helps students develop better learning skills, learning to talk about the misconceptions and bad habits that undermine the learning process.

"I measure success based on what my students received from the class. I am interested to know what they can do after attending my classes, "he concluded.