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A fundamental aspect of teaching, on any topic, is the continual pursuit of telling a story. Although technology and advances in teaching methods may facilitate new and exciting forms of presenting course materials, they do not, by themselves, build the context for the content of a course. Every lecture, activity, homework assignment, project, quiz, and examination can be regarded as chapters that build, over the duration of a course, a compelling and engaging story in which students take part. The aim of this talk is to encourage development of speech science courses that weave together history, theory, technology, visual and auditory experience, assessment, and, importantly, the instructor’s own research to spin a good tale. [Work supported by NIH R01-DC011275 and NSF BCS-1145011.]

Teaching as a science: As part of the endless pursuit of teaching excellence faculty develop and each year modify course materials in an attempt to help students learn as much science as possible in a semester. The goals include teaching the content as well as an appreciation for the science and how it connects to our everyday lives. At the same time we expect our students to learn what it is to do science and be a scientist. How can we measure the effectiveness of our teaching methods and compare them from year to year and from university to university? Since the mid-90's physics instructors have been using the FCI (Force Concept Inventory) to measure something, conceptual understanding maybe, in first semester introductory physics. Many other conceptual inventories have followed. In 2005 the CLASS was developed to measure student's perceptions and beliefs about learning physics. Quite often faculty are surprised and disappointed in the outcomes of these measures. As a colleague so eloquently stated, “St...

This paper traces the Newman Award Fund programs from the first student medals awarded in 1986 to 13 recent awards in “for merit in the study of Architectural Acoustics” bringing the total to 225 medals awarded to students at over 55 schools of architecture, architectural engineering, and music to date. Any degree granting institution offering a basic course in architectural acoustics and opportunities for students to apply their knowledge in student theses, senior design projects, or research may nominate one graduating student for the Newman Medal from that school each year. In addition, every 2 or 3 years the Fund awards Theodore Schultz Grants to teachers and researchers in architectural acoustics for merit in the development of course materials, innovative course programs, or new texts. A third leg of the Fund program is the Wenger Prizes awarded to student teams for meritorious design in competitions sponsored each year by the ASA Technical Committee on Architectural Acoustics. This paper brings the perspectives and experiences of a charter member of the Newman Fund Advisory Committee as well as those of a more recent member of the Committee, who is a past Newman medalist in her own right. For Newman Fund updates visit www.newmanfund.org.

For nearly 20 years Penn State’s Graduate Program in Acoustics has offered a graduate distance education program, established in response to Department of Defense needs. Using satellite technology, courses provided synchronous classes incorporating one‐way video and two‐way audio. Advancements in technology allowed more sophisticated delivery systems to be considered and courses to be offered to employees of industry. Current technology utilizes real time video‐streaming and archived lectures to enable individuals anywhere to access course materials. The evolution of technology, expansion of the geographic market and changing needs of the student, among other issues, require a new paradigm. This paradigm must consider issues such as faculty acceptance and questions facing all institutions with regard to blurring the distinction between residence and distance education. Who will be the students? What will be the purpose of education? Will it be to provide professional and/or research degrees? How will the Acoustics Program ensure it remains attractive to all students, while working within the boundaries and constraints of a major research university? This is a look at current practice and issues with an emphasis on those relevant to constructing the Acoustics Programs distance education strategy for the future.

Some of the author's experiences during 18 years of teaching acoustics courses of a non‐technical nature are described. Laboratory instruction is considered to be a most desirable feature of such courses. Some favorite laboratory and demonstration experiments are described, as well as course materials.