Big Switch 2: Education to make courses more clinically based

Coming soon to clevelandstater.com:

In the past year, almost every department in Cleveland State University has had to revise its curriculum from the ground up. In a series this semester, the Stater will look at some of the changes.

This week, we’re going to look at the College of Education and Human Services. According to the dean, Sajit Zachariah, the school was looking at changing its curriculum even before Cleveland State decided to switch to a three-credit model.

Zachariah said there have been some changes to the accreditation requirements for training teachers. He said the push in the field is to make classes more clinically based, which means that education students will spend more time in actual classrooms.

“We can put them into classrooms more, so they’ll get a feel for the work,” he said.
The first class that students will take to put them in the field, according to Zachariah, will be called Rotation and Seminar 1. The students will take it along with some co-requisites, to give them things to work on in the classroom. After that, students will move on to Rotation and Seminar 2 in their next semester.

Zachariah said that making the change to fit the new requirements while also changing from four-to-three credits took a lot of heavy lifting from the faculty. But he said that he’s happy with the new curriculum.

“Students may learn about technology or classroom management and then try it directly,” Zachariah said,

Zachariah also said that, with students spending more time in the field early on, they can decide early on if they really want a career in education.

“One of the saddest things for me is when a student completes a lot of the degree work, and then realizes he or she doesn’t want to be a teacher,” he said.

Zachariah said that they haven’t decided on specific schools yet, but he knows that the program will work with MC2STEM and the Campus International School. He said that he’s happy with the way things have turned out.

“Faculty and administration have come together to make sure that students are not negatively impacted,” he said. “My hope is that this will go smoothly. This is not going to be perfect, but the curriculum process is never perfect.”

Zachariah said that departments at Cleveland State will have to keep refining their curriculums.

“We have to learn from what we put in place, and take that feedback, and improve it even further,” he said. “I think we need to keep in mind that this is not the end product.”

Wrestling team loses, score 4-39

Coming soon to clevelandstater.com:

The Cleveland State University wrestling team lost a meet at home with the Edinboro University Fighting Scots last Friday, with a score of 4-39.

A few of the Vikings put up good fights Friday, but some of us just got beat. Coach Ben Stehura said that Edinboro is the strongest team in the Eastern Wrestling League.

“You look at this match, these guys are the best in EWL,” Stehura said. “So we got them out of the way first.”

The Vikings’ one win came from freshman Nick Montgomery, who put us on the board with a 9-1 major decision over Edinboro’s Jeff Miller.

The closest bout of the night was the heavyweight match between the Vikings’ Riley Shaw and the Fighting Scots’ Ernest James. Shaw was neck-and-neck with his opponent. At the end of his first overtime, when it looked like he’d be pinned, he slipped out and managed to reset.

Shaw fought his way out of more than one impossible-looking situation in that bout, but in the end he would lose 3-4 in double overtime. 

Stehura said, “[The heavyweight match] is going to be the match to go to nationals, just like it was last year. He beat us in the regular season, and we beat him in the tournament when it mattered.”

Stehura said that he thinks the wrestling team, currently struggling with a season record of 1-6, has a lot of matches coming up that they can win.

“We’re looking to win some matches and have a winning record in the EWL,” Stehura said.

How are courses changing?

Coming soon to clevelandstater.com:

In the past year, almost every department at Cleveland State University has had to revise its curriculum from the ground up.

This semester, the Cleveland Stater will take an in-depth look at the ways that some of the departments at Cleveland State are changing to fit the 3-credit model. In our first issue, we're going to take a look at the School of Communication.

According to Director George Ray, last fall the School submitted revised degree tracks for all its majors.

Ray said that the Journalism and Promotional Communication track and the general Communication track have been approved. Film and Digital Media and Communication Management are still waiting for news.

Professor Gary Pettey, director of JPC, said that professors had to readjust the entire JPC program to keep getting students the same information.

"Last summer, we cut one credit from every class," Pettey said. "That's 25 percent of the class material."

In JPC, the new curriculum will combine PR and advertising into one sequence, called Promotional Communication. Pettey said that most companies are no longer ad agencies or PR agencies — instead, modern companies combine the two.

One of the most notable changes is in the class COM 425, currently Editing and Graphics. In the past, students in this class have put together the School of Communication newsletter, Multichannels, or another School of Communication publication like Compass.
Now students will make Multichannels in COM 447, a capstone for the new Promotional Communication track.

The department has also added a number of new classes — most notably COM 335, Multimedia Presentations, which aims to teach JPC students how to use multimedia. Students will learn how to capture video and take pictures with cell phones, and edit their presentations on the computer.

"Even some of the classes with a similar name and number have been changed," Pettey said.

He said that the School hopes to open up lab space for Promotional Communication students — to make a lab similar to the Cleveland Stater office which Journalism students use now.

Pettey said that JPC students caught in the shift from 4 credits to 3 credits should come and meet with him to plan for graduation. Pettey's email address, to make an appointment, is g.pettey@csuohio.edu.

In the Communication Management track, Ray said, the classes will mostly stay the same as before. However, the professors have submitted a proposal to reduce the track's required credit hours from 40 to 36--not to 39, as many departments are choosing.

Professor Jill Rudd, advisor for the general Communication and Communication Management tracks, said that that general communication hasn't changed much. But like Pettey, she said that Communication students caught in the middle of the change should make certain to see an advisor.

According to Evan Lieberman, the director of Film and Digital Media, FDM will be phasing out the media studies track and combining Digital Media with Film, and that will be called Film, Television and Interactive Media.

"We wanted to reflect the convergence that's happening within the field," Lieberman said. "The field is no longer separated the way it once was. It's much more integrated, much more complex."

Lieberman said that he is excited about the new curriculum. The Film, Television and Interactive Media track will be 45 credit hours.

"We're going bigger," Lieberman said, "but it's going to be a much better major. I'm very, very enthusiastic about these changes."

CSU Faculty: if you want to talk about the ways your department is changing, email the reporter at j.cuturic@csuohio.edu.

Final issue of vol.15

The Cleveland Stater newsroom.

"GONE FISHING" (after finals week).

Look for more updates after Winter Break. See you around.

From,
John Cuturic

Volleyball ends season in Milwaukee

The Cleveland State University volleyball team ended their season Nov. 23, falling in the Horizon League semifinals to the UW Milwaukee Panthers.

The team’s semifinal performance finishes off a 16-13 season, where the Vikings saw both a 5-game winning streak and a 6-game losing streak.

The Vikings ended the regular season by beating Milwaukee 3-2, with double-doubles for senior Kerry Winchester and junior Maggie Hannon. But the Vikings fell a few kills short in their playoff match. The scores of the first three sets: Milwaukee 25-23, Milwaukee 25-21 and Cleveland State 25-23. 

A big story for the volleyball team is the loss of star outside hitter Kara Koch, who graduated after last season. The team had 1,558 kills last season, and 1,487 this time around. Koch scored 500 in her senior year.

The Vikings’ offensive leader this year was freshman Grace Kauth with 305 kills. Hannon took 297 and made the All-Horizon-League Team. Winchester scored 233 kills--along with Annie Djukic, she played her last season this year.

Going forward, the Vikings’ offensive hopes have a lot to do with Kauth, who made the Horizon League All-Freshman team this season, and sophomore Christina Toth. Toth scored 231 kills this season.

On the defensive side, sophomore Nikki Holmes posted a team-high 495 digs, good for about 4 and a half per set.

The team will lose Djukic and Winchester next season, but fans saw some strong performances from underclassmen this time out.

“Next season promises to be an exciting one as we return the majority of our team,” said Vikings coach Chuck Voss. “Everyone is excited for the future.”

Who knows if we’ll get back to 23-7 next year -- but we’re definitely going to have a team to look forward to.

Former Vikings goalie Brad Stuver drafted to pros

The Columbus Crew, a major-league soccer team, has selected former Cleveland State University goalkeeper Brad Stuver in the 2013 MLS Waiver Draft.

Stuver, a Cleveland State graduate from Twinsburg Ohio, spent the 2013 season as a pool goalkeeper. This means that an MLS team in “extreme hardship” which had lost some of its goalkeepers could call Stuver up as a replacement. Stuver was on the gameday roster for four different teams last season, but he hasn’t yet made his MLS debut.

The Montreal Impact drafted Stuver in the second round of the 2013 MLS Super Draft, but because of the Waiver Draft he wound up on the Columbus Crew, where he will join Matt Lampson and Daniel Withrow at goalkeeper.

As a goalie at Cleveland State University, Stuver got a 33-27-7 record. In his senior year, the Vikings’ record was 11-6-3, with Stuver as starting goalkeeper. Stuver allowed, on average, about 0.86 goals (or about 86 hundredths of a goal) per game. He saved about 80 percent of the shots that came at him.

The Vikings won that year’s Horizon League championship. Stuver was Horizon League MVP, and made the All-League team. That season also saw the Vikings’ first return to the NCAA tournament since 1980.

Cleveland State’s Tumblr page quotes Stuver as saying, “To play at the next level would be awesome. I’ve been playing soccer almost my whole life.”

The coach of the Vikings soccer team, Ali Kazemaini, said, "For us to continue to build [the CSU] program, we need to recruit players that can advance to the professional ranks. Of course, it's great to see that happening now with Brad and Josh Williams."

Coach Kazemaini said the team wishes Stuver the best."[He's] just a local kid that loves his hometown," Kazemaini said. "He has great tools, and he's just realizing how good he can be."

Supporters come from out of town to cheer away teams

Coming soon on clevelandstater.com:

Go to any Cleveland State University sporting event, and you can hear the crowd cheering for the home team.

You can also hear a loud minority in the crowd cheering for the away team.

It’s easy to tell them apart -- they’re wearing school colors, cheering for the wrong team, and typically very loud and passionate. In fact, I noticed this semester it’s not that uncommon for the “away team” fans to out-cheer Cleveland State fans at home games.

These people are parents, friends, and former coaches who are traveling with the team. I talked with some of them to find out where they came from.

Denise Podolsky came from Canfield, Ohio, a city near Youngstown, to a Cleveland State women’s soccer game. She came to support Youngstown State University. Podolsky sat in the stands at Krenzler Field in a bright red jacket, cheering, “Let’s go, Youngstown!”

She had come to the game to support her daughter Jackie, a junior who plays goalie for Youngstown State. Podolsky said she’s gone to every game Jackie has played in since her freshman year.

“It helps [athletes] a lot, knowing they have family there to support them,” Podolsky said. “It also helps the other girls on the team, knowing they have people there to support them.”
Podolsky said she would go to Milwaukee for Youngstown State’s final game of the season -- about a 7-hour drive from Youngstown. She said that’s the farthest that she’ll have to go this season.

There is some science behind the idea that social support can help athletes perform better. Tim Rees, a professor in the Sport and Health Sciences program at the University of Exeter, worked with some other Exeter professors to research how social support affected high-level golfers. They found that receiving support increased an athlete’s performance.

“In this study, received social support aided performance, regardless of the amount of stress,” Rees wrote.

Of course, that has to do with more than just cheering -- in fact, as professor Kimberly Epting at Eton University found when studying the effects of cheers and boos on sports performance, in sports like golf where athletes are used to silence, cheers can harm their swing just as much as boos.

Still, athletes who receive more support from people in their social networks -- such as the friends and family members who drive out to away games to watch them -- tend to do better.

Clay Schultz and Debbie Schultz, another married couple, came out to Woodling Gym to watch their daughter Sierra play for the Oakland University volleyball team. They came to Ohio from Highland, Mich. to watch the game.

Clay Schultz said that he recognized a lot of faces that he saw, going around watching Sierra play.

“It’s a lot of fun to watch her play people she used to play in club, when she was in high school,” he said.

In fact, he said that a player on the Vikings team, Maggie Hannon, played on the same club team as Sierra in high school. Debbie Schultz said that she hoped to get a picture of Sierra and Maggie Hannon together after the game.

Also at the Youngstown State University soccer game were Chuck and Judy Riese, a married couple who came to watch their granddaughter, Macey Riese. They said that they come out to all the games they can make it to -- they came to Ohio that day, even though they live in Wisconsin.

But Judy Riese said that they didn’t have a hard drive up.

“We’re so used to doing it that it’s like the car is on automatic pilot,” she said.

The Rieses have watched their granddaughter play soccer since she was a child. They saw her in high school, and now in college. Judy Riese said that they have gone as far as Buffalo, N.Y. to watch their granddaughter play.

“We’re really happy for her, that all her hard work paid off,” Judy Riese said.