During the Faculty Fellowship, I will investigate online resources and delivery templates that can be incorporated into all of my on campus sections of Introduction to Psychology. I will implement changes in these classes and mentor my colleagues (both fulltime and adjunct) who teach the introductory course.

During my twenty years at RVCC, I have been concerned not only with the content of my discipline but also the process of learning. Throughout these years, I have consistently embraced new techniques and technologies to facilitate my students learning. This interest in the process of learning is reflected in the following:

• Writing has always been a consistent part of my curriculum.
• My students have participated in Service Learning since the program's inception.
• I have yoked one specific section of Introduction to Psychology with a section of English I in which students in English read works in psychology but also participate in Service Learning. These students write term papers in APA (American Psychological Association) style on topics connected to their service.
• I have pioneered the use of technology in psychology. My students have been doing computer simulations for over 10 years. I introduced the use of laser discs and have lecture notes on easily edited and updated PowerPoint presentations. I have used listservs in all of my classes for several years, enabling students to contact each other and me outside of class and enabling students to share their written work with each other easily.
• Currently, I am in the second semester of teaching a section of Introduction to Psychology entirely online (with 28 and 30 students respectively), including 4 students from Gloucester Community College.

I am now at a new juncture. As a result of teaching online, the advantages of the web for teaching psychology are even more abundantly clear. My online students are writing constantly which helps them develop their critical thinking skills. Their discussions are informed by web-based sources. Psychology on the web is burgeoning. This experience with my online class has lead me to re-examine my on campus Introduction to Psychology classes.

For several semesters I have given my on campus students occasional assignments using the web, e.g. going to the textbook's companion site, searching the web site of the American Psychological Association, reading articles from the New York Times (I have sent links to students using listservs or more recently posted to them through Pipeline). They have used listservs to share their writing. This semester, I am using a new edition of the psychology text that we have been using for several years. It is an excellent text, balanced, well written, with current research. Additionally, Worth Publishers has provided outstanding ancillary material for instructors. I am almost daily impressed by what is available on their web site, within their WebCT course and at links to other sites. Publisher provided software allows me to have my students take part of their exams in our Testing Center on their own time, at their own convenience (which they love!). However, at this point, there is no convenient way to deliver all that is available to my on campus students. Easy accessibility is essential to our very busy, overburdened students.

During the fellowship, I will investigate and implement changes in all of my on campus courses in Introduction to Psychology using available technology, possibly WebCT or Pipeline. Much of the work will be searching, evaluating and decision-making. The investigation includes not only examining available materials and discerning which are appropriate for in class students but also evaluating which technology will best help me accomplish my goals. I would like to integrate as many the activities, links and full text articles as I can into all my sections of Introduction to Psychology. There is always a certain tension between the text and ancillary activities. For me, it is important to keep the text the focal point of the course while offering additional opportunities that will help explicate the text. My investigation will also include an examination of possibilities for all of my current courses: the standard introductory course and the course linked with service learning, and the course linked with service learning and English I. Part of my time will be spent evaluating the best format for delivery and accessibility and the best format for a class, perhaps a type of hybrid course.

One of the primary advantages for the college is the far-reaching influence this research will have as a result of my willingness, desire and enthusiasm for sharing my outcomes with my colleagues. Many of our courses are taught by adjuncts who cannot be expected to invest the large amounts of time that are necessary to evaluate the vast range of available options on the web. The fall semester happens to represent perfect timing for such a venture for me. As I noted above, this current semester I am using a new edition of the psychology text. However, I am the only psychology professor doing so; the remaining full time and adjunct faculty will make the transition next semester. These faculty members will be most interested in learning about what is available and what can be integrated easily into their courses during their first semester of using a new text. By working with other faculty either in groups or one on one, my work will benefit most, if not all, students who take the Introduction to Psychology course. Clearly, the benefits stretch well beyond my own classes. My work may also be of interest to faculty in other disciplines who use textbooks with companion web sites.

In future semesters beyond the fellowship, I anticipate that the skills that I acquire and the decisions that I will make will enable me to easily apply this process to additional courses that I teach such as Social Psychology, the Psychology of Women and Gender and Abnormal Psychology. For all of these, there exists a wealth of web materials that could be evaluated and then integrated into classes.

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Updated 9/16/2002 by AKT