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.

Lydia Fettig:

Before teaching at UMUC, I taught for several years at American University, George Mason University, and also as a teacher of creative writing at Episcopal High School in Virginia. I was doing this all at once and it got to be exhausting. So, I decided to take a break and applied for and got a job at UMUC as an academic advisor. I did this for a year and realized that I really missed the classroom. I had fallen in love with the adult student population and so teaching at UMUC became a dream and finally a reality.

This question makes me want to laugh aloud, if only because my time is so limited. My husband is in the military (active duty) and, as such, his schedule is very hectic and unpredictable. Since we have a three- year-old son, and I teach four classes a term—well, I am grateful simply to stay on top of my teaching responsibilities. That said, I do have a few hobbies like drinking fine red wines (in moderation, I promise!), cooking vegetarian meals for my husband and son, and watching—and this is embarrassing—a few reality television shows like "So You Think You Can Dance?" and "American Idol."

I had a major heart operation when I was two years old. Sometime in the next few years I will need to have my pulmonary valve replaced. As such, much of my life has felt like a miracle and I have often felt that I have had to fight against odds. In some ways, this parallels what many UMUC students are up against when they decide to begin or complete a college education. They must shift and juggle their responsibilities (not to mention their busy schedules!) to realize their dream. They have to believe in themselves and their abilities above all else in order to succeed. I admire this considerably and I relate to it.

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

I try to be as student-centered as possible. I view my main role as one of assisting my students accomplish their personal, professional, and academic goals. As my students soon learn, and as some already know, critical thinking skills are important within every academic and professional discipline. By critical thinking skills, I am referring to the analytic skills that students build when taking writing and literature courses. However, these skills are important in ways that extend far beyond the classroom; strong critical thinking skills make us more dynamic as individuals. 

A potential irony is that I myself never enjoyed school very much. Some of it felt irrelevant while other parts may have been too easy or too challenging and my response was simply to tune out. It was not until my junior year of college that I really began to enjoy my classes. I think the shift I experienced was related, in part, to better teachers and courses. It was also related to the fact that I had greater control over my education as the courses got more advanced. As a teacher, I strive to give my students a considerable amount of flexibility and autonomy regardless of the level of the course. As such, I allow students to choose their essay topics, for instance, and I encourage group work and peer review. 

In regard to what people have influenced me, I would have to list my immediate family, all of whom value the arts and have made art a major part of their lives if not their careers. However, it is perhaps my favorite writers that have encouraged me the most. Writers like Kurt Vonnegut, J. D. Salinger, David Sedaris, Lorrie Moore, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Raymond Carver have helped to define and shape my own writing and also how I view human relationships and the world.

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

In my face-to-face classes, I use a variety of teaching aids to compliment the many learning styles that students bring with them when they enter the classroom. I provide video and audio excerpts. I show PowerPoint presentations and use the blackboard as much as possible. I have also encouraged students to make diagrams, to draw and chart their ideas and thinking processes. I stray away from lecture based discussions and I encourage student interaction with group activities and peer review projects.

In my online classrooms, I provide students with links to resources that provide information in a variety of formats: visual, audio, etc. I also use photos, cartoons, and a variety of text colors and sizes to liven up the WebTycho classroom. Recently, for my online students, I have begun providing essay comments in audio format. Finally, I use almost every area of the WebTycho classroom. Subsequently, students must actively move around the classroom. It is my theory that with each "move" a student makes within the classroom, his or her concentration, energy, and interest refreshes.

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

I have a sense of humor. I am able to laugh at myself and I share a lot about myself when teaching. I also encourage students to do the same. Indeed, it seems that many adult students thrive and learn the most when they can apply and understand what they are doing in the classroom to their lives outside of the 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.

Lydia Fettig:

I teach both. I try to teach two face-to-face and two online classes per term, but this is not always how it works out. For instance, this past fall I taught four online classes while my husband was away on a temporary duty assignment. Then, for the spring term, I taught three face-to-face classes and one online class.

I prefer teaching in the face-to-face classroom as I feel I get to know my students better this way. Also, I find it is a bit less time consuming! Time management is a large concern since I teach four classes a term. Ultimately, professors and students write more when the course is an online course. Why? Because we must type all that we would say in verbal discussions. For most of us, typing takes much longer than talking—especially since issues of grammar, punctuation, citation, etc., all become relevant. Don't forget about organization! It is fairly easy to ramble quite competently aloud, but rambling doesn't quite work as well in an online conference post!

In regard to the increased writing required within online classes, here's the good news: I have no doubt that online students finish courses and degrees with improved writing skills. I would guess that online graduates have better writing skills than graduates from more traditional programs. Seeing as most employers, law schools, and business schools say the #1 quality they are looking for in an applicant is strong writing skills, well, all that writing is likely to pay off!

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?

Lydia Fettig:

I don't know that I chose writing and literature as much as it chose me. Even as a child, I really enjoyed reading and, in particular, poetry and short stories. My father used to create elaborate tales for my sister and me at bedtime and perhaps this was an inspiration. I also think that people pursue what they are good at; positive reinforcement is a brilliant motivator. After years of study, what I like now about writing and literature is how diverse it can be not only in theme and subject matter, but also in presentation, form, and style.

As a fiction writer, I have participated in a few local readings. In addition, I have been the faculty coordinator for the Constellation Reading Series, which is sponsored by UMUC's Office of Diversity and the English Department. I also served as a guest editor for the 2007-2008 edition of UMUC's literary magazine Constellation: An International Literary Review. Finally, to stay current within the courses I teach, I reread the required texts each term as a way of gaining something new. I also revise my course assignments quite a bit.

I like the flexibility and support. Many of the literature courses I teach use anthologies as course texts, which means that I have a lot of control over the readings and can structure my course content in ways that make sense to me and thus my students. I enjoy teaching writing courses because students tend to write about themselves and about issues for which they have passionate ideas and feelings; as a result, these courses often develop a very beautiful intimacy. As far as support is concerned, I have found my academic department—especially, Dr. Matthew Prineas, the Director of UMUC's literature and creative writing courses—to be exceptionally encouraging and fair. This has enabled me to focus on teaching, which I believe is my main 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?

Lydia Fettig:

One challenge I have faced involves the amount of time I devote to my students and my courses. As UMUC faculty and students know, online courses take place twenty four hours a day, and it is easy to become overwhelmed and overworked. Managing e-mail is the same way; I often find myself checking my e-mail very, very frequently. Ultimately, I have had to work at taking breaks. One day a week, I take a "vacation" during which I do not check my e-mail and I do not log into WebTycho. This is in my best interest. I find that when I return to my work and to my students, I am far more refreshed and insightful.

Another challenge I often experience involves keeping up with assessment. Over the last few terms, I have begun working with grading rubrics. I have found that rubrics help students to see how course assignments align with course goals. In addition, rubrics can take the mystery some students feel out of the grades they receive. Because I often collect as many as sixty student papers in one week, rubrics and a strict grading schedule are very important to my teaching success. Some professors limit the amount of work they assign so that they may limit the amount of work they must grade. Within reason, this can be an adequate strategy. However, this approach is not appropriate for composition and literature courses. Rather, students improve their skills with each writing assignment they complete.

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

In many ways, the online platform is the best place to learn how to write; as I stated earlier, the increased writing requirements of the online classroom (particularly the online conferences) leads to improved writing skills. It's as simple as the more you do something, the more you improve at it.

At the same time, all of that writing (and thus reading) can be a lot to keep up with—not only for students, but also for professors. As an example, I have worked very hard to find the appropriate balance between too much work and not enough coverage of course materials within my online conference assignments.

There have been academic terms and courses for which I had difficulty keeping up with the student discussions, and this has made me think quite a bit about whether I assigned too much work! Ultimately, the best teachers are those that are self-reflective; they are able to take critical feedback and make changes when it is fitting. So, I have recently changed the structure of my conference assignments by requiring that students respond to fewer main topics but to more of their peers' posts.

My hope is that this sort of conference discussion is more similar to what happens in face-to-face class discussions. I have also found that it makes perfect sense for me to interject only when important points have not been made or realized, as I would in the face-to-face classroom. After a given conference deadline has passed, as a means of letting students know that I did indeed review their work, I have started posting "Response to All Students" posts in which I quote and synthesize the best contributions while also adding a few insights of my own. This has worked quite well.

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

Read as often as possible. It's the best way to improve your critical thinking skills and your own writing, whether that writing be creative works written simply for yourself or more formal works written for work or for school. Also, it's a myth that those who major or minor in English don't make any money! First of all, how much money you make has little bearing on how happy you are, which is far more important. Secondly, pursuing an English major will make you a stronger writer and advanced writing skills are very lucrative (I bring this up in case my comment about money not bringing happiness did not convince you!).

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

In my opinion, unlike other schools that offer courses and degrees in the online format, UMUC also offers credibility. Along with that credibility comes challenging courses, dedicated professors, and, eventually, a degree that is "marketable."

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

I have enjoyed the flexibility I have been given and also the autonomy. Being able to develop a teaching schedule that meets some of my personal schedule needs has also been very helpful! Many UMUC students are self-directed and thus willing and excited to learn, which makes teaching them an absolute delight.

Interviewer:

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

Lydia Fettig:

Work with a faculty mentor and take as many CTL (Center for Teaching and Learning) workshops as possible. I highly recommend "Time Management," "Understanding the Needs of the Adult Learner," and "The Art of Feedback." Finally, enjoy your students for the authentic and individual people that they are and present yourself in an open and supportive way. The best teachers are interested in forming relationships—relationships with their students and relationships between their students and the course material.