ACUE Focus: Leslie O’Malley

More than 153 UA - Pulaski Technical College faculty have improved their teaching practices through a program with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). This rigorous, evidence based, 25-week course engages instructors with independently validated research to improve student achievement and close equity gaps. ACUE Focus is a question and answer series where faculty share their experiences with ACUE.

Leslie O’Malley
Assistant Teaching Professor of English, Department of Languages and Communication
Education: M.A. University of Tennessee, B.A. Texas Christian University

1. What ACUE Cohort were you a part of?

UA-PTC ACUE Cohort Fall 2020 - Spring 2021

2. What do you teach and how do you think you benefited from the ACUE course?

I teach composition and literature courses. ACUE has made my instruction (both face-to-face and online) more productive. It helped me see the connection between class activities and assignments and course objectives.

3. Best thing you learned from ACUE?

Writing classes involve a lot of feedback. Through ACUE, I have developed a variety of methods for giving suggestions and comments, and my feedback is more focused. I also give my students more opportunities for peer review. With guidance they are capable of providing quality feedback to each other.

4. Do you think your students benefited from you taking the ACUE course and if so, how?

Yes, especially the online students. ACUE encouraged me to incorporate more video instruction and better class interaction through the discussion boards. The online students seem more engaged now.

5. What was your favorite module in ACUE?

 I liked all the modules on improving class discussion through questioning techniques, particularly the scaffolding of questions to encourage higher order thinking.