Education experts say there can be a lot more to teaching than just lecturing to an auditorium of students. Leaders of the new College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Institute hope faculty will take advantage of ideas to make their material more meaningful to students and to expand their repertoire of teaching methods.

Kathy Dimiduk '79, formerly a senior lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of New Mexico, began Aug. 15 as the institute's new director. Dimiduk helped transform introductory-level physics at New Mexico by creating a new course and teaching style to support struggling students.

The institute is being funded partially by Mike Goguen '86, who created an endowment to support the institute, and James M. McCormick '69, who provided additional start-up funding.

An advisory group of engineering faculty and staff led the creation of the institute, in the works for the last two years. Dimiduk said she envisions the institute helping faculty with crafting more effective tests and grading procedures, designing informal mid-semester course evaluations and providing mentoring opportunities.

She hopes to support faculty in their own initiatives, rather than create new obligations for them, and she encourages them to approach her with ideas.

Some faculty say they'd like help with research grants that have outreach or educational components, she said. Others would like information on best practices for peer-to-peer evaluation. Still others are interested in experimenting with various teaching methods, such as with what Dimiduk calls "active learning."

For example: breaking a large lecture into small groups, posing a question, then directing each group to discuss and present their answer. Another method is using an electronic keypad and receiver to quickly poll a large class on a question, and afterward discuss the answers.

"The easiest way to teach is the way you were taught," Dimiduk said. "Most of us learned from lectures, so that's how we think of teaching, but there are teaching techniques, including various forms of active learning, that research shows are much more effective in promoting student learning."

The institute's launch coincides with that of the universitywide Cornell Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE). The plan is for the engineering Teaching Excellence Institute to focus mainly on engineering, but to collaborate with CTE on strategies, best practices and coordination of services.

David Gries, director of undergraduate engineering programs, said plans for such an institute have been in place since summer of 2006. Dimiduk is beginning to meet with faculty, and lectures and workshops will likely be planned throughout the year.

"Where we go depends entirely on what the faculty want," Gries said. "It should be driven by their needs."