Clifford A. Shaffer, professor in the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering, and Ann Stevens, professor of microbiology in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science, are the 2017 recipients of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award recognizes faculty members who demonstrate ongoing commitment to scholarship addressing teaching and learning in higher education. The Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research presents the award annually to a maximum of two faculty members.

CIDER honored Shaffer and Stevens at its 2017 Recognition of Teaching Excellence Reception on April 26, 2017.

Clifford A. Shaffer

Shaffer joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1987. He is the W.S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education and a 2017 recipient of the XCaliber Award for his contributions to technology-enriched teaching and learning.

Shaffer’s work in the scholarship of teaching and learning has benefitted a variety of disciplines, including geography and statistics. His OpenDSA project allows instructors to create course textbooks from selected materials through an open source e-textbook platform. He has shared his work related to the scholarship of teaching and learning in numerous publications and conference presentations.

“Even in the early years of my career as a professor at Virginia Tech, I was drawn to the possibilities that computers held for improving education,” Shaffer said. “I am increasingly interested in pedagogy and frameworks that impact my entire educational community.”

Shaffer earned his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Ann Stevens

Stevens joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1997. She is the recipient of multiple awards for her teaching and mentoring, including the Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching, and is a member of the Academy of Teaching Excellence.

Most recently, Stevens’s scholarship of teaching and learning has focused on three main areas: faculty development, assessment of student learning, and the development of assessment tools. As a member of a learning community with Virginia Tech and University of Maryland faculty members and of a special task force for the American Society for Microbiology, she has collaboratively developed concept inventories to better examine microbiology students’ understanding of key concepts. She has shared this work in a variety of publications and conference presentations.

“I believe that scholarship of teaching and learning research affords the opportunity to both educate and support STEM research faculty so that they may, in turn, improve the educational experiences of their students,” Stevens said.

Stevens earned her bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and her master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

All Virginia Tech, instructional and research faculty and graduate students are eligible for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. For more information about the award and the nomination process, contact the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research

Written by Tiffany Shoop.

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