Faculty Excellence at UMUC

Interviewer:

Please tell us about yourself—what made you decide to teach at UMUC? What kind of work do you do when you are not teaching at UMUC? Are there any life experiences that have influenced your teaching at UMUC? If so, please share one story.

Kina D. Leitner:

I received my Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University in 1992. I began teaching and doing clinical work at that time. My interest in psychology had begun when I was a child, doing my first piece of (really bad) research when I was in high school.

I had been teaching at NYU and was one of the first faculty members to teach in the on-line program they were establishing. I enjoyed the format and it fit my current life-style, with young children, needing flexibility. I was looking for more teaching work and heard that UMUC had an excellent on-line program and looked into it. I was offered courses as an adjunct and taught in this capacity for several years and then was offered a collegiate faculty position, which I accepted. At this time I am working full-time for UMUC teaching.

I have a joint appointment at UMUC in the psychology and math/statistics departments, teaching various psychology courses and two different introductory level statistics courses. My Ph.D. was in Measurement and Applied Statistics. I find this quite humorous, as I did NOT do an undergraduate degree in psychology because I was afraid of taking statistics. My own fear of statistics, that growing sense of panic, shaking hands, hot cheeks, inability to think, have all helped me in my approach to teaching statistics. I focus on the critical thinking and problem solving aspects of statistics first and support this with the math, rather than putting a primary emphasis on the math. Most of my students come into statistics feeling they would rather walk on hot coals than spend a semester taking statistics and I hope that my own initial fear of statistics makes them feel less alone.

Interviewer:

How would you describe your teaching style or philosophy? What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy?

Kina D. Leitner:

I feel strongly that learning and education should not be painful (see below). It might hurt sometimes because new ideas are difficult to incorporate into existing knowledge. Sometimes the new knowledge requires a complete reorganization of existing knowledge and this can be hard to do and might actually make a person's brain hurt. But it's a good hurt, with lots of good results.

My dissertation sponsor had a profound impact on my teaching, but it wasn't because of the wonderful role model he set for me. His form of feedback was to say "Do this again." But there was no discussion or detail of what would make the work better. His feedback was also doled out with no enthusiasm or care. In his tutelage I felt that education was painful. I never understood why education needed to be painful. When I asked him this once he told me that his professors had made it painful, so this was the way he was going to do it. At that moment I realized that it didn't need to be painful and that I had a opportunity to teach differently.

Interviewer:

Please explain if you do something special or unique in your teaching and what made you develop this.

Kina D. Leitner:

There are several things I do in my on-line classes. The first, in my statistics courses, I recognize, acknowledge and encourage my students to talk about their anxiety about taking the course.

Second, I give assignments each week and have a deadline for the initial submission of the assignment. I don't expect them to get the right answers the first time they encounter a new subject. That's why I provide feedback to the students and encourage them to revise their work based on my feedback. If they revise their work I will reassess the number of points they earned for their work.

Third, I set up weekly conferences that contain the objectives for the week and a set of questions of questions that I ask every student to answer. Their answers are to be posted in the conference where everyone can read them. In addition to their response to my questions, they are also required to comment or question, substantively, on two classmates posts. Hopefully this simulates a classroom discussion, which is the feedback I get from students.

Finally, my comments (feedback) on each students work are posted in a single message addressed to everyone. I address each student individually in this post, but do it as a group post in hopes that everyone will read what I am saying to their classmates and learn from this, as well as from the comments directed just to them.

Interviewer:

What do you think it is about your teaching style that appeals to students?

Kina D. Leitner:

I think students appreciate the feedback and the opportunity to revise their work and learn from the comments I have made. My goal is to create a learning environment, not just a classroom.

Interviewer:

Do you teach face-to-face, online, or both? Do you have a preference between teaching face-to-face and online? If so, please explain.

Kina D. Leitner:

I teach only on-line. There are advantages to both formats. Right now I prefer the on-line environment. It provides the students with the flexibility to take courses on their own schedule. It also allows me to do my work when my schedule allows.

I also like the on-line environment because it allows for review and revision in a way that is more difficult in face-to-face courses.

Interviewer:

Please tell us about your chosen discipline-i.e., what made you interested in the area initially? What do you do to stay current in your discipline? What do you like best about teaching in your discipline?

Kina D. Leitner:

I'm a people watcher. It wasn't until I got into high school that I discovered there was a whole field of study, psychology, that was dedicated to people watching. Well, that's oversimplifying, but people watching is just another way of saying that I'm interested in how people think, feel and behave. Initially I was interested in individual people's inner lives, what they think, what they feel, what they believe, what they dream. Through the years I have become more interested in the patterns on how all people think, feel and behave. In other words, what are the commonalities that make us all human?

I read professional journals. I would like to be able to attend more professional meetings and spend more time engaged in discussion with colleagues, but for right now, this isn't possible. I recently attended a webinar (Web-based seminar) that was excellent on teaching statistics on-line.

I love getting other people excited and interested in psychology (and I include statistics in this). At the end of a statistics course when a student says they had never considered further study in statistics but are so interested now that they want to continue, I feel I have done my job.

Interviewer:

What is the most challenging to you in teaching in this area? What teaching strategy do you use when you encounter the challenge?

Kina D. Leitner:

There are two large challenges to teaching statistics, and particularly teaching statistics on-line. One of these is helping students to confront and manage their anxiety about the course. I like to tell students that avoiding something puts them in a vulnerable position and give them the analogy of learning to pump gas for yourself. Once you learn to pump your own gas you don't have to drive around with an empty tank worrying about not finding a gas station that will pump it for you. The anxiety is immediately reduced when you know you can pull into any gas station and fill 'er up. The same goes for learning statistics. Being able to sit down and intelligently read the newspaper and critically listen to the news is empowering.

The large challenge to me is the math involved in the statistics. It's not the math itself, but the posting of the math. In teaching statistics I focus more on the concepts and the application of the statistics and would do this even if there was better support for the mathematical symbols, but I would like to see more support for the math in WebTycho.

Interviewer:

Are there any special challenges in teaching this subject matter online? If yes, please explain what could be done to meet the challenges.

Kina D. Leitner:

Statistics is difficult to teach on-line because of the mathematical symbols required to post problems and solutions. WebTycho is not supportive of these symbols. I hope that in the future more will be done to make this easier. One solution would be to allow the upload of a handwritten document that would display directly in the conference, rather than being posted as an attachment. The problem with attachments is that not everyone in class has all the software that people use for their attachments and this is a problem when trying to create a common learning environment.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to students who are interested in majoring or working in your discipline?

Kina D. Leitner:

Don't be afraid to take statistics! No, in all seriousness, I would recommend that they begin doing volunteer work in the field and begin to formulate and engage in research during their undergraduate career.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the college of choice for students?

Kina D. Leitner:

The program is excellent. It offers rigorous classes and concerned and interested faculty.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the employer of choice for future faculty members?

Kina D. Leitner:

UMUC is a wonderful place to teach. The on-line environment is perfect for people who have time demands that a typical 9-5 job would not accommodate.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to new faculty who are interested in teaching in your discipline at UMUC?

Kina D. Leitner:

Get involved in faculty discussions and attend faculty meetings. The distance can be very isolating, but once you have a face to go with a name it is easier to get in touch. Also, don't be afraid to use the phone. We've all become so dependent on e-mail that we often forget the power of the human voice.