Elaine Schulte selected for Davis Award

Introductory Course Manager and Lecturer Dr. Elaine Schulte has been awarded the Doug and Judy Davis Award for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics. The citation reads, “To Elaine Schulte, for improvements to the training of physics teaching assistants and for enhancements to the curricula for physics majors.”

 

Schulte joined the Illinois Physics staff during the summer of 2013, having an insider’s view of the department’s collaborative culture, teaching strengths, and the teaching assistant (TA) experience. An alumna of the department, she received her bachelor’s (1997), master’s (2001), and doctoral (2002) degrees from Illinois Physics.

 

Schulte says her biggest accomplishment since taking on the post of introductory course manager has been streamlining the organization and management of the introductory physics courses. She coordinated with the undergraduate office staff, Kate Shunk and DaShawnique Long, to develop and refine a system that efficiently and effectively manages a staff of more than 100 instructors and cares for approximately 4,500 students each semester “consistently, confidently and professionally.”

 

Schulte has also updated the curriculum of the heavily enrolled introductory physics courses.

 

Schulte outlines, “PHYS 101 and PHYS 102 are introductory physics courses for non-engineering/non-physics majors. Most of the students who take these courses are scientists-in-training in various fields—including the life sciences, chemistry, and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. We also serve students studying architecture and various other disciplines. To further develop expert analytical skills in our students, we have been re-tooling our discussion materials. We are practicing a problem-solving method called conceptual analysis. We have introduced this into straightforward physics problems. We have also deployed readily available simulations to encourage inquiry-based applications of conceptual analysis.”

 

Since 2015, Schulte has additionally worked to revise the introductory-courses electronic testing program.

 

“We have leveraged resources within the department to deliver one-hour exams to students in PHYS 101 and PHYS 102 electronically,” Schulte continues. “This method allows our students to select times to take their exams, within bounds, as their schedules permit. Our students use an interface that is familiar to them when they execute the exams. Using electronic testing reduces grade turn-around time and staffing cost.”

 

Schulte has also worked to improve the training and mentoring offered to the department’s more than 100 TAs, and this has been her favorite job responsibility. 

 

“It’s rewarding to work with our graduate students and to guide them through the early stages of their professional development,” she shares.

 

Schulte has also participated each year in the annual campus-level Graduate Academy Teaching Assistant Training, mandatory for all incoming U of I grad students holding TA appointments. She and a physics faculty member or TA partner teach a physics TA break-out session, providing an overview of best teaching practices and classroom management strategies. 

 

Among her first accomplishments, Schulte instituted a TA training program for the department in the fall of 2013. In addition to participation in the all-campus Graduate Academy each fall, seminars for TAs are incorporated into the academic semesters. Topics include teaching students with disabilities and accessing disability resources on campus, academic integrity issues in the classroom, Counseling Center resources, among other topics. In addition at the beginning of each fall semester, experienced TAs lead our incoming graduate TAs through exercises designed to help them [the incoming TAs] understand the techniques they will be expected to use during their TA experience in the department. 

 

At the college level, Schulte participated in the AE3 TA-training group from 2013 through 2015. This was a forum for lecturers who manage TA programs to discuss innovative teaching practices that could be brought into the college units. 

 

Starting this academic year, she is serving as the department’s learning outcomes assessment coordinator, working within the requirements of the Higher Learning Commission to maintain regional accreditation. This work involves developing the metrics, rubrics, and reports that identify the learning outcomes that students completing our degrees should have, as well as assessing how well we meet these outcomes.

 

More recently, working closely with Professor Brian DeMarco, Schulte has been instrumental in the development of a new applied physics undergraduate major, to be introduced in the near future. 

 

“My responsibilities have been to research the administrative procedures for proposing and guiding a new degree program through the university–Illinois State Board of Education process. I’ve also worked on the curriculum maps,” she shares.

 

Additionally, through the LAS SUCCESS Workshops program, Schulte gives a couple of workshops each semester on how students can best prepare for, take, and evaluate their performance on exams.

 

“These workshops are open to all,” explains Schulte, “but are intended to help students who are struggling with managing aspects of their courses or to provide support for useful study habits for physics courses.”

 

Schulte says she feels honored to be singled out for this award: “It’s a privilege to have the ordinary work one does recognized by the community.”