Adjunct instructor Dirk Burruss earns inaugural SPCS Innovations in Teaching award

June 6, 2016

Dirk Burruss, adjunct instructor of information systems, earned the inaugural SPCS Innovations in Teaching Award for 2016, awarded during the spring faculty meeting of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies.

The SPCS Innovations in Teaching Award recognizes members of the SPCS adjunct faculty who demonstrate excellence in teaching in 14 dimensions defined in the SPCS Innovations in Teaching guidelines. The 14 dimensions of innovation and excellence are as follows:

  1. Demonstrate the highest level of ethics and integrity
  2. Honor principles of the future of learning
  3. Know what’s going on in the community and the world
  4. Research to maintain current knowledge in your field(s)
  5. Understand student needs
  6. Teach real world application
  7. Use effective facilitation skills
  8. Actively engage students
  9. Take accountability for student success
  10. Demonstrate flexibility/adaptability
  11. Collaborate
  12. Use technology to enhance engagement
  13. Organize teaching
  14. Participate in professional development regularly

Nominations for awards are solicited from SPCS adjunct faculty, staff, and students. Nomination criteria for SPCS adjunct faculty are as follows:

  • Exhibits high level of innovation in the classroom
  • Generates impact on student learning
  • Role model for other faculty
  • Exhibits creativity in the classroom

Burruss’ letter of nomination identifies innovations he introduced in shifting from locally hosted paradigm to a cloud paradigm for the information systems program and students. The full letter appears below.

Professor Burruss demonstrated tremendous vision, motivation and hard work in developing an increasingly complex transition from a locally hosted, to a cloud paradigm for SPCS Information Systems program and students. He systematically increased his knowledge and expertise in working with cloud resources, expertly introducing cloud resources into the classroom. Starting with his cohort of independent study students during his Spring 2015 cloud computing course, followed by his summer 2015 local area networks course and fall 2015 cloud visualization course, Professor Burruss developed a plan to use and implement cloud computing, learned the technology, implemented the paradigm, and used it to teach students how to use the technology. To implement a technology, learn to use it, use it to teach traditional topics and to share the new paradigm and educate students and faculty in its use is such a tremendous accomplishment, that words do not do it justice.

Professor Burruss enriched the lives of SPCS students by sharing his passion for learning and assimilating emerging technologies, by helping students see how theses emerging technologies are transforming the IT world and the classroom, by making a personal investment in the success and learning of students and by taking pains to ensure that they assimilated rapidly changing course materials.

Professor Burruss enhanced student’s careers by facilitating their development of cloud computing as a core competence and by skillfully imparting his knowledge and competence to students, leading to significantly increased marketability and professional value. His infectious enthusiasm and vision helped fellow faculty members assimilate and move to the cloud paradigm.

Burruss received the award during the spring 2016 SPCS adjunct faculty meeting. He is pictured with members of the Adjunct Faculty Advisory Committee and Dean Jamelle Wilson.