West honored for commitment to innovative teaching

6/12/2014 Andrea Hupman, Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education, College of Engineering

Associate Professor Matthew West was named a University Distinguished Teacher-Scholar for 2014-2015 in the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3), a program in the College of Engineering.

Written by Andrea Hupman, Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education, College of Engineering

Matt West
Matt West
Associate Professor Matthew West was named a University Distinguished Teacher-Scholar for 2014-2015 in the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3), a program in the College of Engineering. This honor is the university’s premier recognition for excellence in teaching, contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning, and a commitment to activities that enhance student learning at Illinois.

In the coming year, West will continue his efforts to bring project-based learning to the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM) series of 200-level courses that are required for many engineering students. Project-based learning provides students with more authentic and engaging learning opportunities as well as the chance to apply creativity and critical thinking in an engineering context.

“The inspiration for this project was a trip conducted by Dean Cangellaris to Olin College in March of this year,” explains West. “At Olin we saw the impact that project-based classes can have on encouraging engaged and passionate learners in undergraduate engineering, which motivated me to implement these ideas at Illinois. The key challenge for us is scaling the project-learning methods to work with the very large classes that we have on campus.” The TAM 200-level sequence in which West teaches has more than 2,500 students per year.

Several tactics West and his team utilize include i-clickers, four-person group learning, team or co-teaching, an interactive web portal for real-time student-student and student-instructor communication, and weekly meetings among the faculty and TAs. Their efforts so far have garnered very positive feedback from students.

West embarks on this project with a wealth of experience in implementing innovative course instruction. He is the principal investigator (PI) on a Strategic Instructional Initiatives Program (SIIP) grant titled “Adaptive Learning via Big Data: The Future of Student-focused Instruction.” Through SIIP, West has built a team of faculty, lecturers, and teaching assistants to bring active learning to the TAM series and to increase student engagement in the course. West is also co-PI on an NSF WIDER grant involving faculty from 10 departments in engineering and LAS. They will focus on implementing evidence-based instructional reforms and studying long-term success of the teaching methods.

West’s selection as a Distinguished Teacher-Scholar was also based on his record of excellence in teaching. He has been named to the University of Illinois’ List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students for every course he has taught at Illinois since 2010, both in TAM and ME. He is also one of only four faculty named a Fellow for Educational Innovation with AE3 for the 2014-2015 school year.

More information on the Distinguished Teacher-Scholar program can be found on the Provost’s website.


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This story was published June 12, 2014.