Six faculty members were awarded this year’s Master Teacher Class by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. To receive the award, the professors must show a use of technology in the classroom, said Steve Rodermel, associate dean of the College of LAS. Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said he was excited to receive the award. “I was shocked,” he said. “I didn’t even know I’d been nominated, so it was a double surprise.” Schmidt has been a professor at Iowa State since 1970 and said he uses instruments such as laptops with Power Point and video clips to keep students interested during his lectures. “I think technology can be a big thing in the classroom if it is used smartly, and I hope Iowa State will continue to invest more in general technology support so we can stay on target with everyone else in our technology use,” he said. Doug Yarger, professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, said he has taught at Iowa State for 33 years and enjoys using technology to make class more engaging for his students. “Technology allows us to do things we couldn’t normally do [in a classroom]. We like to make it more interesting for students, so they’re not just sitting there taking notes,” he said. “In my classroom, we allow students to do things meteorologists do, such as forecasts, that couldn’t be done any other way.” Thomas Ingebritsen, associate professor of zoology and genetics, said with his work, technology is the classroom. “What I do is help faculty develop courses offered on the Internet.” he said. “Every year, I teach two courses online with Project Bio.” Rebecca Burnett, professor of English, has taught at Iowa State since 1991 and said this year’s Master Teacher Class can give some interesting ideas for using technology. “I think the teachers they selected will be good at modeling various ways for incorporating technology in the classroom,” she said. Robert Stephenson, university professor of statistics, and David Stuart, associate professor of music, are also recipients of the annual award. Rodermel said this year’s Master Teachers use technology in a wide variety of ways. “Professor Ingebritsen has developed Internet courses called Project Bio for on- and off-campus biology students and Professor Schmidt and colleagues in the political science department created a virtual American government course,” Rodermel said. Professor Stephenson has taught a distance learning course in statistics, and Professor Yarger utilizes several computer programs developed at Iowa State that allow meteorology students to forecast the weather. Professors Burnett and Stuart also use a variety of technological applications in their classrooms.”