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StudCo selecting students for Cavalier Education program

Chosen students will teach course of their design next semester

<p>Although the program is primarily run by students, student teachers receive faculty input from an advisor of their choosing who are responsible for grading class assignments and awarding the final credit.</p>

Although the program is primarily run by students, student teachers receive faculty input from an advisor of their choosing who are responsible for grading class assignments and awarding the final credit.

Student Council’s Academic Affairs committee is currently in the process of selecting eight undergraduate students — or groups of up to four students — who will be able to teach a course of their own design next semester. Students are able to do this through the Cavalier Education program, which has existed for at least eight years.

Co-Chair of Academic Affairs Shelbey Keegan, a fourth-year College student, is one of the students who runs the program.

“It's really one of the biggest examples of student self-governance,” Keegan said. “You’re having students vetting a student application process to teach other students, so it really makes the process come full circle.”

Although the program is primarily run by students, student teachers receive faculty input from an advisor of their choosing who is responsible for grading class assignments and awarding the final credit, or lack thereof, for the class. In order to apply, students must first take a one credit pedagogy seminar currently taught by Assoc. Prof. Michael Palmer, managing director of the Center for Teaching Excellence.

The program’s primary faculty sponsor is Assoc. Prof. and Assistant Dean Mark Hadley.

“While our committee vets a lot of the applicants through the application process and the newly introduced interview process, which was just introduced last semester, Dean Hadley has the final say on all classes,” Keegan said.

The interviews were introduced due to an excess of qualified students, Keegan said. The interviews help committee members determine the quality of the applicants’ presentational skills, although the detail and quality of their syllabus is one of the most important factors in the decision. Students also turn in a written application, resume and faculty recommendation letter.

“While we want a peer to peer type of relationship within these student-led classes, we also want some aspect of professionalism,” Keegan said. "It's really more about how they present and whether they're thorough and seem passionate versus the topic.”

The courses offered this semester span multiple disciplines — among them are Superheroes in Society, taught by fourth-year College student Ravynn Stringfield, and UN Security Council, taught by fourth-year Engineering student Zuhayr Ahmed.

Fourth-year College student Alesha Cooper currently teaches Musical Literary Narratives in Hip Hop, a three-credit class which blends her passions for English and African American studies.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for students to realize what a professor has to go through before they give a lecture,” Cooper said. “It’s been hard work, but it’s been very rewarding.”

Cooper teaches six students, and said while the pedagogy seminar was helpful to learn teaching strategies, she primarily crafted the course.

Cooper said the biggest challenge for her was concisely summarizing her knowledge of the subject.

“[It’s hard] to try to condense everything that you know into two hours and thirty minutes, and try to link up all the knowledge across the semester,” Cooper said.

In the future, Keegan said she hopes the committee can publicize the program more and expand it to give opportunities to even more qualified students, including graduate students.

“We usually get so many stellar applicants that … [it just comes down to] really minute details that shouldn't matter, but we end up having to look at that because we only have so many spots,” Keegan said.

However, she said expansion may take a few years due to a lack of funding and administrative concerns.

“Some administration might not necessarily be happy about students teaching classes,” Keegan said.

The program costs Student Council $2600 per year in payment for the pedagogy seminar and classroom fees, Keegan said. There are also administrative costs associated with coordinating course logistics.

Nonetheless, Keegan said she believes the program is sustainable and hopes it will grow in the foreseeable future.

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