Faculty Focus: What’s Happening at USA?

New PETAL Roundtable Discussions Get Off to Great Start

This semester, PETAL changed the format of our Roundtable Discussions, and it seems to have been an excellent decision.  The new format is simple: a topic is announced beforehand, and then a group of faculty come together to discuss that topic.  There is no presenter or facilitator, just an open and free-flowing sharing of ideas that is difficult to bring to an close at the end of the hour.

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Teaching and Learning in the Literature

New Additions to the PETAL Collection

by PETAL's assistant (and first-year adjunct Language Arts Instructor) Susan Hales

Win them Over: Dynamic Techniques for College Adjuncts and New Faculty (LB 1738.L56 2007) is one I wish I had read before I taught my first freshman class last Fall. Written by Patricia Linehan, it is full of lively, well organized lists, charts and illustrations that keep the reader mindful of the professor’s perspective as well as the student’s.

Another new title, Using Experiential Learning in the Classroom: Practical Ideas for All Educators, (LB 1027.23.W87 2005) by Scott D. Wording, gives an in-depth approach to various types of experiential learning, what it is, why it works, how to assess it and some barriers to overcome. It offers innovative ideas to achieve results in the classroom and outside it.

The PETAL collection is available for checkout to all faculty and students. Come browse our shelves anytime.

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