To: Tenure Committee Members Kay, Kim, and Donna

From: Kate
RE: Spring 2015 semester goals
Spring 2015 Semester Goals
In addition to continuing to work on last semesters goals, my main goal for the
spring semester is a reevaluation of my English 122 practices. I have revised my
course plan and have moved to a hybrid format, so significant revisions are timely
and necessary. These changes pose challenges but will ultimately make my 122
courses better. Here are some of the changes I plan to make in particular:

Reduce the weekly course load and standardize the small

assignments. This will ensure that I place an appropriate emphasis on major
assignments while also encouraging participation in the hybrid part of the
course by offering points for completing small assignments.
Flip many in-seat classes. English 122 is by-and-large an application class,
so flipping classrooms will put the onus on students to demonstrate their
learning. The course material lends itself well to flipped lessons, so this is an
exciting goal that I am looking forward to implementing.
Continue to implement knowledge of blended learning structure and
technology tools to ensure Moodle portions of hybrid are easy-tofollow, appropriate, and engaging. ION classes have helped me
understand how to structure online lessons, and I will continue to take ION
classes and use what I learn to improve my Moodle lessons.

An additional goal I will work on this semester is building my Mass Communication

courses. Journalism is changing in the fall, so I plan to take some time to revise the
existing courses into more relevant and up-to-date courses. Here are some things I
plan to work on in particular:

Move to an online-only publication platform. There is already a

Chronicle website and software in place, but it will take careful planning to
transition students and myself to the online-only platform. In particular, I will
need to learn the software and make decisions about how often stories will be
published.
Choose textbooks and build a separate MCOM 231 (News Writing)
class. This course will be an individual course starting in the fall, so much
preparation will be required during the spring and summer to make a
schedule, align assignments with course objectives, etc.

These goals, while more basic and course-focused than past goals, are essential to
my teaching in the next 2 semesters. Achieving these goals is paramount to the
success of my hybrid sections and the new Mass Comm. courses.