I believe I did a blog along these lines about this time last year—about The Teacher Professor Conference (this year June 5-7 in Washington, D.C., info at www.teachingprofessor.com). We would love to have you join us. We work very hard to make it a great event, and so far I’ve been very proud of how these conferences have turned out. There’s a variety of sessions, all carefully selected, many of which participants tells us are over-the-top excellent. We bring some big names to the conference—people you can really learn from as well as vendors with resources on teaching and learning. It’s a short compact schedule and by most standards, it’s not an expensive conference.
Archive for April, 2009
Looking Forward to The Teaching Professor Conference
Posted Thursday, April 30th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerLectures Can be Effective
Posted Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 by Maryellen Weimer“The lecture when done well, goes far beyond covering the material. It is a carefully planned performance with student learning as its focus.” That quote by Harold B. White appears in a commentary column that is regularly included in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education.
Peer-Led Team Learning
Posted Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerOne of the points made regularly here on the blog and in the Teaching Professor newsletter is that students can learn from each other. It’s one of basic tenets of my educational philosophy, and support for it keeps growing across fields and research methodologies. I also believe that faculty regularly underestimate just has much students can learn from other students.
Learning Contracts
Posted Thursday, April 16th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerLooking for a great way to encourage students to accept responsibility for their learning? Learning contracts may accomplish that goal more effectively than almost any other instructional strategy. True, they aren’t viable when classes are large, and they aren’t likely to work well when students are very dependent learners. But for independent study projects, in small seminars and for more mature learners, they can effectively demonstrate what it means to take charge of one’s learning.
A Shift in Emphasis: From Product to Process
Posted Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerI’ve just put the May issue of the newsletter to bed, but I’m still thinking about an essay submitted by Huntly Collins, a journalism prof at La Salle University. Actually what Huntly shared was a much longer essay she’d prepared for her third-year review. I just culled a few prize paragraphs. Despite being a new college teacher, (it’s a second career after a highly successful one as a reporter), Huntly has learned some lessons that still escape others who have been teaching for years. Take this one for example.
Factors that Lead to Rapport
Posted Thursday, April 9th, 2009 by Maryellen Weimer“Rapport” is one of those words faculty frequently toss out when I ask them to describe the climate for learning in a classroom. But what is rapport? Consider this list of factors leading to good rapport generated during the course of online interviews with 40 faculty.
Concerns about Active Learning
Posted Friday, April 3rd, 2009 by Maryellen WeimerIf you read this blog, you probably don’t need to be convinced of the need to regularly engage and involve students actively in learning. But I’m also pretty certain you have colleagues who still lecture almost exclusively and who to varying degree express concerns about active learning. I thought you might find this list of common concerns and responses to them useful.