Delta Certificate in Research, Teaching, and Learning
During my final year of pharmacy school, I completed a five-week rotation with the Associate Dean of Education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Dr. Susan Meyer. During the short period, I immersed myself in pedagogical literature and read books such as How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching, The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined, and Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. At that point in my career, I considered myself a "professional student," having spent almost 20 years in the classroom, but I couldn't articulate what made one class "just okay" and another class "fantastic." I found some answers in the books I was reading, but I was hungry to uncover more about effective teaching and learning practices, especially as they pertained to Schools of Pharmacy. As a future professor, I wanted to learn skills to successfully engage and foster growth in my students.
Before starting graduate school, Dr. Meyer introduced me to her colleague Dr. Beth Martin, the Assistant Dean for Teaching & Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over lunch, Dr. Martin suggested that I "check out" the courses offered by the Delta Program as great resources for evidence based practices and the scholarship of teaching and learning. I "checked out" the courses and more...
I was one of the first students in the Health Services Research in Pharmacy graduate program to enroll in Delta Program courses, and foraged my own path to earn a Delta Certificate in Research, Teaching, and Learning! This certificate is the culmination of years of coursework, experience, discussions, and reflections surrounding the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Teaching Professional Development Coursework
Teaching in Science and Engineering: The College Classroom Spring 2018
The main purpose of the College Classroom course is to provide foundational knowledge of a wide range of pedagogical theories, ideas, and practices. An emphasis on learner-centered classroom provides participants with a perspective that highlights the interconnected cycle of teaching, learning, and assessment. Together, we will become more reflective practitioners, viewing classrooms as sites for ongoing research in teaching and learning.
Writing Across the Curriculum Spring 2018
Research has shown that, when students write more in a course, they learn course content more effectively. At UW–Madison, many faculty and instructors across the disciplines have taken up this approach by making writing central to their courses. This “Expeditions in Learning” course allows participants to consider the opportunities and challenges of this Writing Across the Curriculum pedagogy. Through expeditions (or mini field trips), as well as readings and discussions, participants will deepen their theoretical and practical foundations for helping students learn with writing in a range disciplines.
Effective Teaching in an Internationally Diverse College Classroom Fall 2018
In this course, you will learn the core skills of effective and savvy teachers who can use global perspectives, varied modes of instruction, and differences in students' expectations as tools to increase the learning of every student in their classes. In essence, this course focuses on the challenges posed by teaching an increasingly diverse student population. The course is not as much about studying cultural, racial and social views as it is to learn how to take advantage of the unique perspectives of each student in our classes to engage them fully in the course content. Emphasis will be placed on fostering authentic and powerful instructor-to-students and students-to-students interactions when different nationalities are involved.
Research Mentor Training Spring 2019
Seminar participants will work with a community of peers develop and improve their mentoring skills. By the end of the sessions participants should be able to clearly articulate a personal mentoring philosophy to anyone inside or outside their discipline, and have multiple strategies for dealing with mentoring challenges.
Exploring Practices in the Classroom: Remote Teaching & Learning Spring 2021
Seminar participants will work with a community of peers to develop, improve, and reflect on their skills as teaching assistants and/or instructors. By the end of the seminar, participants will have a broad familiarity with effective teaching approaches in the context of their own discipline, and have strategies for dealing with teaching challenges.
Delta Internship
As part of my Delta Certificate, I completed the Delta Internship Program. I developed and implemented a teaching-as-research project: identified a learning challenge, investigated evidence based teaching principles, designed and evaluated the potential solution. I leveraged connections with my primary research advisor to implement my internship in Fall 2018 as part of the Pharmacy 726-608: Safety and Quality in the Medication Use System course.
You can read more about my project, "Impact of a Case Based Learning Discussion Session for 3rd Year Pharmacy Students" by clicking the button below!
About the Delta Program
The Delta Program in Research, Teaching, and Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison fosters the development of future faculty members through the use three core pillars: teaching-as-research, learning communities, and learning through diversity.
The Delta Program is a member of the Center for Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) - a network of 38 research universities across the United States and Canada - using graduate education at the "leverage point" for implementing and advancing effective teaching practices.
After completing my Delta Certificate, I am confident in my abilities to engage students and foster the next generation of professionals in pharmacy, research and beyond. I adopt active and inclusive learning teaching strategies, critically reflect on my own practices, and identify and adapt to new resources over time as an evidence-based-practitioner. Most importantly, through Delta I have established a network of peers spanning multiple disciplines who also value scholarship in teaching and learning. These colleagues, now friends, have made the Delta Certificate an invaluable experience.
Self Reflection on the 3 Delta Pillars
Teaching-As-Research
Teaching-as-Research requires applying rigorous and scientific methods to the process of teaching. A teaching-as-research project is one that is grounded in the literature and uses evidence based practices to test a hypothesis regarding student learning. My DELTA teaching-as-research project and internship required me to reflect upon how important thoughtful teaching practices are, as well as how difficult and challenging they can be to create. In the future, as a thoughtful practitioner of education-based-research, I will ground my teaching in these evidence based practices and promote life-long learning in the discipline of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Learning Communities
Learning Communities encompass the ideas of cooperative learning and refers to the synergistic idea that the sum of the whole is greater than the individual parts. Learning communities require creating a class climate and environment that promotes the sharing of ideas—making sure all feel welcome and safe in the space—while also providing the tools to utilize each other with collaborative tasks and activities. I will utilize learning communities to improve learning by supporting group work and the ways in which we can learn with and from each other--much like my teaching-as-research project. Whether through group , partner work, carefully structured discussion boards, or fostering a safe environment for thoughtful discussion, I strive to encourage individuals to come together in the classroom. Throughout my Delta experience, I participated in several Learning Communities: an internship cohort, a certificate cohort, research mentor training, and most recently as part of a group of fellow-teaching assistants. I valued the opportunity to learn from colleagues and to grow (and sometimes cry) together. I immensely appreciate having a group of peers to ask questions, request feedback, and celebrate success. I recognize the importance of not only establishing these opportunities for my students, but also to continue to participate in them myself as a life-long learner. In the future, I will seek a community of peers where I can continue to learn--whether at an institution, region, or national level--and continue to foster my connections with community members and friends.
Learning-through-Diversity
Learning-through-diversity means to leverage individual differences to learn and enhance the experience of all students. Learning-through-Diversity may include differences in: race, gender, age, ability, country of origin, language, previous experience, socio-economic status, and more. The concepts of universal learning apply to learning-through-diversity and the idea that when you structure a classroom to be inclusive, all students benefit. By incorporating Learning-through-Diversity into my evidence based practices and future work, I hope to provide enriching opportunities for students to learn from each other in ways that minimally diverse situations cannot. I will critically engage and leverage differences as an asset to student learning --asking students to be cognizant of their positionality, welcoming all to share their experiences, and utilizing a variety of cultural and social examples in the classroom. I strive to be inclusive to all and to recognize my assumptions about diversity throughout the entire backwards design process of teaching and curriculum development.