Dr. Carol Thompson
Dr. Carol Thompson arrived at UALR in 1988 to serve as professor in the Department of Speech Communication. Dr. Thompson recently received a Fulbright Scholars Grant to teach in Pecs, Hungary for six months. Prior to teaching in Hungary, she served as department chair for four years, and as Director of the Basic Program for six years. Before beginning her tenure as Speech Communication’s Chair, she served for one year as the initial director of Learning Communities at UALR.
Many of Dr. Thompson’s research interests have focused on exploring paths to teaching excellence. She presented at over 22 national and international conferences and has over 20 publications on teaching excellence and student learning. In addition, Dr. Thompson won several grants to travel abroad to explore teaching styles and other academic issues. During her 20 some years at UALR, Dr. Thompson has received several awards, including the UALR Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, and the teaching award in her college twice. One of her papers in health communication received a Top Three award for the Southern States Communication Association. She also received faculty research awards and faculty contribution awards.
Thoughts on ATLE
A university exists because of students. All else is secondary. Research, while important, is secondary, and service, important too, is secondary as well. Students are the core of the university. Without students we have no classes; we have no university. It follows, then, that the faculty member’s most important function is to teach students. A faculty member must also teach so that students learn. Rather than focus on the instructor as the star of the classroom, students and their learning must be paramount. As instructors we ask ourselves the perennial question: how can we instill learning and the love of learning in our students? So the mental shift here is from “I teach”, which is teacher-centered, to “My students learn”, which is student-centered. To promote learning, an instructor may choose to lecture a bit, or prompt the class to discuss content; may design experiential activities that really teach; focus on case studies or semester-long projects. The most important thing a professor can do, however, is allowing students to co-construct learning. As co-constructors, students become seminal to every classroom activity as they are allowed to own their learning. Research tells us that people who are involved with and have responsibility for any design, activity, event, or process tend to be more involved, more interested, more creative–and they learn more. This implies that the instructor manages content and facilitates the environment where learning can occur: the classroom.