2012 Presidential Task Forces

Documenting Teaching Competencies Taskforce

Chair: Aaron Richmond, arichmo3@msudenver.edu

Charge: Provide teachers of psychology with an external standard against which they can document their accomplishments using a computer-based checklist of self-reports, self-assessments, online teaching modules, etc.

Target audience: The online, self-paced, renewable certificate program of teaching competence would benefit teachers of psychology at all levels of experience—from beginning teachers who need to learn their craft, to early career professionals who need to document their teaching competence for annual evaluations, tenure and promotion, to senior professors who wish to document or confirm their continued development and commitment to teaching excellence.

Specific activities could include: expand/refine guidelines proposed by the 2011 Modeling Teaching Competencies Taskforce; develop criteria for recognizing at least two levels of teaching competence—basic and advanced; develop checklist of activities (workshops, teaching conferences, continuing education, etc.) and documents (syllabi, CE certificates, conference badges, etc.) relevant to each level of teaching competence; create self-paced, online teaching training modules; investigate, create, pilot test and implement online program on STP website for teachers of psychology to earn certificates; propose policies and procedures for program assessment and program continuation.

Suggested Pragmatic Outcome: Renewable online certificate program for documenting basic and advanced levels of teaching competence
Members:

Aaron Richmond, Chair, Metropolitan State College of Denver, arichmo3@msudenver.edu
Guy Boysen, State University of New York-Fredonia, guy.boysen@fredonia.edu
Tara Kuther, Western Connecticut State University, kuthert@wcsu.edu
Erin Paavola, National-Louis University (grad student), ejpaav@gmail.com
Vincent Prohaska, Lehman College-City University of New York, vincentp@lehman.cuny.edu
Mark Sciutto, Muhlenberg College, sciutto@muhlenberg.edu
Yvette Tazeau, Santa Clara University (adjunct faculty), ytazeau@ix.netcom.com
Marie Thomas, California State University San Marcos, mthomas@csusm.edu

Statistical Literacy Taskforce

Chair: Susan Nolan, Seton Hall University, susan.nolan@shu.edu

Charge: To invigorate our appreciation of the role statistics plays in psychology as a science by investigating the question of minimal standards of statistical literacy for students of psychology at various levels of education: high school, community college, undergraduate nonmajors, and undergraduate psychology majors (going to graduate school in psychology; not going to graduate school).

Specific activities could include: survey and report on current practices; developing definition and guidelines for minimal statistical literacy at various levels of psychology education; develop materials to assess statistical literacy at various learning levels—high school, community college, undergraduate; develop materials to incorporate statistical literacy concepts in non-statistics psychology courses; explore ways to ameliorate the disconnect that students experience between statistics and psychology as a science

Pragmatic Outcomes:

Newsletter report about current practices for teaching statistics to learners at various educational levels
Proposal for minimum standards of statistical literacy for learners at various educational levels
Teaching materials for incorporating statistical literacy concepts into non-statistics psychology courses
Teaching materials to improve transfer of learning from the statistics class to psychology content

Members:

Susan Nolan, Chair, Seton Hall University, susan.nolan@shu.edu
William Addison, Eastern Illinois University, weaddison@eiu.edu
James Freeman, University of Virginia, freeman@virginia.edu
Bonnie Green, East Stroudsburg University, bgreen@po-box.esu.edu
Alexis Grosofsky, Beloit College, grosofsk@beloit.edu
Thomas Heinzen, William Patterson Univerisity,
Brent Moore, Johnson County Community College, bmoore21@jccc.edu
Donelle (Dee) Posey, Washington State University - Tri-Cities, dposey@tricity.wsu.edu
Craig Wendorf, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Craig.Wendorf@uwsp.edu
Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, wilsong@uwgb.edu
Erik Wyner, high school teacher, ErikWyner@yahoo.com
Kosha Bramesfeld, Maryville University, kbramesfeld@maryville.edu

Documenting Department Benchmarks Taskforce

Co-Chairs:
Loretta McGregor, Arkansas State University, lmcgregor@astate.edu
Janine Buckner, Seton Hall University, Janine.Buckner@shu.edu

Charge: Provide undergraduate departments of psychology with an external means by which they can document the extent to which they have met standards articulated in the 2011 APA Principles for Quality Undergraduate Education in Psychology by using a computer-based checklist of self-reports, department self-assessments, curriculum development, needs assessment, etc.

Target Audience: Undergraduate department chairs, directors of undergraduate psychology programs, or anyone else engaged in program review and assessment

Specific activities could include: developing a bibliography of publications relevant to the psychology program review and assessment process; developing lists of concrete examples used to document program review and assessment goals; collect and make available samples of model assessment instruments, student/alumni surveys, curriculum guides, etc.