"As an administrator at The Citadel it is my purpose to make it possible, through both moral encouragement and tangible resources, for the faculty to improve their mastery of their disciplines and their ability to impart their knowledge to their students." - John S. Grinalds, President of The Citadel
Faculty
involved in CASTLE have benefited in many ways from this group.
Read what they have to say about their experience.
"Excellence in teaching requires one to continuously improve one's approach. CASTLE has made this process much easier. After 20 years of teaching, I was beginning to run out of ideas for new educational projects. CASTLE has given me a number of new approaches to try." -Russ Hilleke
"It has made me think about the teaching and learning going on in my classes in a much more focused way." -Alix Darden (read more)
"I was unaware of the nature of classroom research and of the opportunities it provides before becoming involved in CASTLE." -Jack Rhodes
"I really hadn't thought of the scholarship of teaching and learning at all before becoming involved in CASTLE...(now) I have discovered many journals in the area of teaching college science and specifically biology that I never knew existed." -Alix Darden (read more)
"CASTLE has provided on-going support for engaging in classroom research. It helps to hear the plans others have for their research, as well as to get feedback on my plans." -Jack Rhodes
"CASTLE has helped me to develop a classroom research plan, just as I always make a plan for laboratory research. As a result, I am becoming more organized in my research efforts in the classroom. CASTLE is also helping me to quantify/qualify my teaching innovations and thus validate them in a meaningful way." -Suzanne Mabrouk
"I had been trying to do some classroom research before becoming involved in CASTLE, but it wasn't very focused and I didn't know where to find answers to my questions...(CASTLE has helped me) be involved in more and, hopefully, more productive, classroom research." -Alix Darden (read more)
"I am involved in CASTLE because it directly addresses the question of how I can become a better teacher, and it addresses that question in a practical way." -Jack Rhodes
"For me, CASTLE is a regularly meeting forum for the exchange of ideas in the scholarship of teaching and learning with colleagues across the disciplines. Due to the varied backgrounds, experiences, ideas, and perspectives of my colleagues, I can gain much insight into the way people think and learn. I can then think more clearly about how my students learn, how they process information. This in and of itself is invaluable, just like the open exchange about teaching methodologies and areas for classroom research." -Suzanne Mabrouk
"The discussions at CASTLE meetings provide me with new ideas and different ways of looking at issues in teaching and learning - all of which keeps me fresh in the clasroom." -Alix Darden (read more)
"CASTLE energizes me. It is fun!" -Maria Lynn Kessler