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 Brantmeier Photo by Heather Hill |
Following this discovery, Brantmeier conducted a study of cultural representations present in the readings typically used in such courses and of students' reactions to these representations. She concluded that foreign culture study should refute derogatory stereotypes, but in doing so, should not solely "put emphasis on the great 'masters' of the countries." She believed foreign culture study should, "instead, try to incorporate the common features of everyday life of the target culture."
Brantmeier presented her research and her pedagogical recommendations for applying it to culture courses in a paper at the 1997 North Central Conference of Latin Americanists (NCCLA), where the work won that year's Professional Teaching Award for its contribution to improving teaching of Latin American studies. Last year, she was the recipient of an NCCLA Graduate Student Research Award.
Her students often cite Brantmeier's extensive foreign living and teaching experiences as one of the advantages of taking her courses. In 1993, for example, she participated in the founding of an English/Spanish language center in Estelí, Nicaragua. Brantmeier was the center's first director and a full-time teacher there. She critically analyzed the creation of the center in an article for the Bilingual Research Journal's winter 1998 issue. She also worked at the U.S. Information Agency's Bi-National Language Center in San José, Costa Rica.
 Cadigan Photo by Heather Hill |
Phillip Saunders, an IUB economics professor, used that phrase in nominating Cadigan for the Lieber Associate Instructor Award. As evidence, Saunders cited the section-by-section breakdown of the final exam grades of students in introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics classes.
The department keeps track of scores that students earn on the common part of the final exam. In three of the five semesters that Cadigan has taught the courses, the average score earned by his students was higher than the average scores of students in any other section of the class. Another time, his students ranked second.
One technique that Cadigan uses to keep open the lines of communication with his students is to have them write "one-minute papers" at the end of each class period. In the papers, students are asked to list the point from the class they understood the best, as well as the one that they understood the least and to raise a question about the material that was covered.
Last year, Cadigan was chosen as the Outstanding Introductory Economics Associate Instructor, was selected for the Teaching Excellence Recognition Award bestowed by the Trustees of Indiana University, and received the Outstanding Teacher/Scholar Fellowship from the College of Arts and Sciences.
 Hodge Photo by Heather Hill |
Student evaluation of the course has been high, even though many students acknowledge its challenging nature. "He used real-world examples to help us understand. This was the best class I have taken in the business school," one student wrote.
Hodge's development of this course was cited when he received the 1998 Panschar Award as the outstanding associate instructor in the Kelley School of Business. "Some of our best accounting faculty used his class notes while preparing to deliver a similar course at the MBA level," said Jamie Pratt, chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems.
With fellow graduate student Nathan Stuart, Hodge has developed another course, Performance Measurement, which is not currently taught in the school, but which Pratt considers to be in the vanguard.
 Smith Photo by Heather Hill |
Generally, students are leery of such claims, especially when they are entering a statistics or research methods course. The courses are, in the words of the three sociology faculty members who nominated Smith for the Lieber Associate Instructor Award, "probably the most feared and loathed among our undergraduates," mainly because students worry that they lack the mathematical skills required to succeed.
As a result, no graduate student in recent memory had been called upon to teach that sequence of courses. But Smith's teaching ability--which previously has been recognized with both of the awards that the Department of Sociology gives to its best associate instructors, as well as with the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher/Scholar Award and the Preparing Future Faculty Award--has proven equal to the challenge.
A theme that often arises in student evaluations is how open Smith is to maintaining communication with his students. For students who are having trouble with a class and are uncomfortable meeting with an instructor, Smith also uses a peer tutoring program, pairing those students with others who are doing well in class.
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