Campus Life

UWF and PJC sign agreement to share observation classroom

The presidents of the University of West Florida and Pensacola Junior College officially signed an agreement in December to share a new state of the art teacher observation room at the Raymond B. and Leila Hobbs Center for Teaching Excellence on PJC's main campus.

The presidents of the University of West Florida and Pensacola Junior College officially signed an agreement in December to share a new state of the art teacher observation room at the Raymond B. and Leila Hobbs Center for Teaching Excellence on PJC’s main campus.

“This gives us, at University of West Florida, a new and enhanced opportunity to get our teachers ready to go out into the work force,” UWF President Judy Bense said. “Education has always been our strong suit. Together, our graduates provide almost 60 percent of the teachers now teaching in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. And we are both very proud of that.”

The Hobbs Center’s observation classroom is a state-of-the-art classroom paired with a smaller observation room equipped with a large one-way mirror. The setup will allow college students to practice teach in a controlled environment or to observe, for example, a science instructor in action teaching an adult education class while not disturbing the authentic classroom environment. The observation classroom will be used by both UWF and PJC education students.

Under the agreement, UWF will provide pre-service teachers from its programs for placement within the PJC Collegiate High School, assist Adult High School instructors in their own education endeavors and design and implement research regarding alternative education students.

John Platt, education professor at UWF, said the two institutions will be working together to develop programs that will prepare adolescents and young adults to compete successfully in the workplace or acquire the skills needed to move higher on the career ladder or move through PJC and then on to complete a bachelor’s degree at UWF.

Platt is director of the Professional Development School project which is a part of the UWF-PJC agreement.

“In a professional development school, faculty from the teacher training program work in close harmony with faculty at the school to provide teacher trainees with the best possible application experiences,” Platt said. “To date there are no alternative education PDS’s in the country. Therefore we have an opportunity to develop both outstanding training in a neglected area as well as develop and refine interventions.”

Besides the observation classroom, the Hobbs Center also includes the Technology Enhanced Academic Laboratory (Teal) Room. All 17 classrooms are equipped with student computers, instructor control consoles, large screen monitors, DVD/VCR capabilities and document cameras. Interactive instruction based on individual student need is the program instruction model.

The renovation of PJC’s Building 11 was made possible by a $1 million grant honoring the legacy of the Hobbs, who were long-time Santa Rosa County educators. “I heard about this and I knew it was something my grandparents would approve of and want to be a part of,” said the Hobbs’ granddaughter, Sherryl Glorioso Hobbs.

Written by Susie Forrester, University Marketing Communications