Animal Sciences; Social Science GE, 2nd Writing…and Impact

Over the holidays, my teammates and I were informed that we had been awarded a Learning Technology Impact Grant for 2012 to fund our project in Animal Sciences. Immediately, I went to a place of excitement that we would be working with the folks in Learning Technology to meet our primary goal of enhancing student learning in the “Animals in Society” course, and of trepidation that now we had to do what we said we would! So far, our experience has been great – we have met twice with Rob Griffiths and others from Learning Technology and have had the opportunity to brainstorm and put some definition around the project.

The first phase of the project is putting together our project plan. This is an iterative process, with stimulating discussion generating more concrete goals, plans and processes. We are moving from vague ideas of what might be that reside primarily in my head, to asking what could be in the context of the university and student needs. Our goal is to develop a guide for this year that will lead to successful implementation of an enhanced course during Autumn semester 2012. We have a lot of work to do with this phase of the project, but it is worth the time and effort. I am certain that taking the time now to question, discuss and ask “what if” will result in a solid plan that will make this project a success and benefit students and the Department.