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Apple Tree Society cultivates teaching skillsby Dick PetersonPublic Relations Those Golden Apple awards that recognize exceptional teaching at MUSC grow on trees cultivated, appropriately enough, by MUSC's Apple Tree Society. The society, germinated from an idea about 12 years ago by William Stillway, Ph.D., seeks to propagate the scholarship of teaching on campus, said Amy Blue, Ph.D., assistant dean for curriculum evaluation in the College of Medicine. Annual retreats to help faculty members hone their teaching skills became the Apple Tree Society. The society aims to make teaching a public, scholarly pursuit with its own body of knowledge built on discovery, public discussion and peer review. “That first retreat in 1986 followed a Harvard workshop I attended,” Stillway said. “I thought that something similar would be good here. We’re all trained as scientists and clinicians; we’re not trained in good communication.” Stillway said that annual retreat participants soon started meeting monthly, picked the name “Apple Tree Society,” and formed steering committees to plan activities and hold workshops. Quoting from an abstract by recent MUSC convocation speaker Charles E. Glassick, interim president of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Blue explained that “the scholarship of teaching recognizes that the work of the scholar becomes consequential only as it is shared by others.” She said that in the summer of 1999, Stillway contacted Frank Medio, Ph.D., John Cormier, Pharm,D., and herself about signing on with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. “We formed a steering committee with representatives from all the (MUSC) colleges and from the general faculty,” Blue said. From there working groups within the colleges were formed with their own goals and objectives within their topic areas. “This is not some secret society for special faculty members,” Blue said. “It’s a grassroots faculty effort, supported by the MUSC administration, but not led by the administration.” “If you’re faculty, you’re already a member,” Stillway said. He and other long-time Apple Tree Society participants encourage a broader faculty involvement, especially among newer faculty. The Apple Tree Society has been sponsoring regular Brown Bag sessions
for faculty to share and exchange teaching ideas. The next Brown Bag session
will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, in room 405 of the Library
Administration building. This topic: The Virtual Classroom, A Discussion
on the Use of the Internet for Teaching and Learning. Presenters: Richard
Hernandez, Dr.Ph., Thierry Bacro, Ph.D., and Alexander Chessman, M.D.
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