Student Resources
Another Success For Thank-A-Teacher
The UCA Instructional Development Center is proud to announce another successful round of the Thank-A-Teacher program.
An announcement was made in mid-April about the program and the form was left open for student submissions until after the close of the spring semester.
Many UCA students submitted a brief note of appreciation to various UCA faculty through the Thank-A-Teacher website.
This summer, the IDC will be sending 165 “Thank you’s” to 126 different faculty members.
This service will be available again during the last few weeks of the fall semester.
For more information, visit their website.
COE Graduate Student Turned Experiential Learning into $4,400 Grant
Dr. Jud Copeland, associate professor of Leadership Studies, is always happy to report how his students are successfully applying classroom concepts to real situations. In the Library Media (LIBM 6380) Administration of Information Programs class, students are required to remodel an existing library media center facility or to design a new one. The Facilities Design assignment requires the investigation of a current school library media center design, obtaining a copy of the blueprints, rating the current facilities, and determining if the center meets the current population’s needs (its strengths and weaknesses).
Angela Criss, who is working as the librarian at Harrisburg Middle School while pursuing her library media master degree at UCA, used her own library at the middle school to develop the library improvement design for Dr. Copeland’s class. She then used the information from the assignment to apply for a Lowe’s grant and was recently awarded $4,400 to incorporate part of those changes to the Harrisburg Middle School library media center, including an outdoor reading space.
Angela has promoted several fun and interesting activities in her library that include:
• Book fairs
• A trick-or-treat activity at Halloween where students drew titles out of a pumpkin and then located the title in the library and then read the book in question
• A “book tasting” event where she set up the library as a café so students could pass around new books and write the titles of ones they would like to read in the future on their “menu”
• Angela’s school was recently awarded an Apple grant and all students will be receiving
Electric Car Charging Stations Added To UCA Campus
Two electric car charging stations have been added to the UCA campus as a part of the HPER expansion.
Main Stage EdUCAtion Series Announced
The 51��¥ will begin a new performing arts series for K-12 students in Central Arkansas. The Main Stage EdUCAtion Series will start during the 2015-2016 academic year and reservations will be taken on a first come, first serve basis. Performances include “Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas!”, “Walk On: The Story of Rosa Parks” and “Doktor Kaboom in LIVE WIRE: The Electricity Tour!”
The series connects children, teachers and schools with performing arts in meaningful ways that complement the school curriculum while introducing the students to live theatre. Each performance is carefully selected to be entertaining while educating the audience on an academic topic.
“Exposure to the arts contributes to the overall social and cognitive development of children,” said UCA President Tom Courtway. “Performing arts provides students with a creative outlet of expression that can improve academic achievement, adapts to a wide variety of learning styles and develops diverse multicultural perspectives.”
It will also serve as an aid to local educators in their efforts to integrate arts into the school curriculum. All shows will be performed by professional, national-touring artists that will provide high quality performances.
“We are thrilled to introduce this new program that will increase access to the arts for schools in Central Arkansas,” said Reynolds Performance Hall director of public appearances Amanda Horton. “The arts can improve academic performance, enrich the lives of our students and enhance the cultural viability of a community.”
Students will be charged $5.00 per ticket and schools may apply for a limited number of ticket vouchers for low-income students. School groups will receive one free adult chaperone ticket per 10 student tickets purchased. Additional adult tickets may be purchased for only $10.00.
For more information, call Amanda Horton at 501-450-3265.