Preconference Workshops
Being There: Establishing and Maintaining Teaching Online Presence
Friday, June 1, 2012
8:00 a.m. – Noon
Cost: $175
Presenters: Larry Ragan, Penn State University and Kim Eke, North Carolina, Chapel Hill
A critical issue for retaining the learner in the online classroom is helping them feel “connected” to their peers, the institution and most importantly, to their instructor. The role of the online instructor is crucial as the primary bond between the learner and their learning system. Establishing and maintaining a teaching presence serves to create both an instructional and personal connection that can greatly facilitate student completion of the online class.
This interactive workshop will engage participants in identifying various dimensions of “teaching presence” and generate strategies towards methods and techniques for creating and maintaining both instructional and personal presence in the online classroom. Technologies such as software tools and social networking applications will be reviewed as support mechanisms that can be used to reduce the barrier of time and location in the online classroom.
Keywords: teaching presence, community of inquiry, teacher engagement, faculty development
Ideas and Strategies for Developing Life Long Learning Skills in the College Classroom
Friday, June 1, 2012
8:00 a.m. – Noon
Cost: $175
Presenters: Jerry Kobylski, Hilary Fletcher, Lee Evans, Kristin Arney, United States Military Academy at West Point
The student learning goals of many collegiate academic programs include producing graduates who have developed life-long learning skills. These graduates are effective communicators, confident and competent problem solvers, and possess the habits of mind to persevere when faced with a complex problem that has no immediate answer. The content of this workshop will focus on methods for developing life-long learning skills in our students. In this interactive session participants will:
• Define and understand the idea of “life-long learning skills.”
• Define and understand problem solving and habits of mind as these concepts relate to the participant’s discipline.
• Develop effective course-specific activities to promote and assess students’ problem solving skills and habits of mind.
• Discuss the relationship between life-long learning skills, habits of mind, and problem solving.
Participants should be prepared for an engaging workshop that will inspire them to implement some of the discussed ideas and strategies.
SOLD OUT How to Infuse Active Learning into the Classroom while Maximizing Student Learning and Satisfaction
Friday, June 1, 2012
1:00-4:30 p.m.
Cost: $175
Presenter: Keith J. Whittington, Rochester Institute of Technology
This workshop will demonstrate how to engage students and maximize their learning with active learning techniques. Successful infusion of active learning into the classroom requires more than just handing out materials and telling the students to talk. Attendees will participate in a variety of easy-to-use, exercises designed to demonstrate how to effectively conduct activities, manage students, and synthesize active learning with lectures. These activities are also highly adaptable for all classrooms and subject matter.
Every activity and ensuing discussions will include the following:
- Attendees will assume the role of a student in the classroom.
- The presenter will model the classroom management techniques and strategies that help ensure the success of these activities in any classroom.
- Discussion on the pedagogical foundation and the cognitive benefits supported by the activities.
One critical aspect for the success of active learning is the management of the classroom. During the implementation of an NSF grant that supported the presenter’s work, a learning model emerged that proved to be effective at increasing student learning and minimizing the time to conduct the activities. This learning model will be discussed and demonstrated throughout the workshop.
The participants will also design and develop a new activity targeted for their discipline and classroom.
Keywords: active learning, cooperative learning, classroom management, pedagogy
Teaching Professor Conference.
Multimedia: A Multi-Modal Approach to Teaching and Learning
Friday, June 1, 2012
1:00-4:30 p.m.
Cost: $175
Presenter: Dave Yearwood, University of North Dakota
If faculty are expected to be the designers of learning experiences, then a need exists for them to create environment(s) that stimulate multiple human senses—the gateway to knowledge and understanding. Multimedia can be used to encourage and motivate students while challenging them to think in critical and analytical ways. Medina in his book Brain Rules, suggests that “those in multisensory environments always do better than those in unisensory environments.”
For this to be possible, however, faculty will need to gain proficiency in using selected media to design instruction in a way that connect, engage, and stimulate multiple areas of the brain. Therefore, an educator’s work with students should be multidimensional: stretch but not overwhelm students; encourage active participation; and educators may need to teach students how to critically examine, sort and organize information—the key to constructing knowledge and understanding.
Faculty attending this workshop will understand how to:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of multimedia modules including those they create.
- Use 21st century technologies to develop engaging activities designed to involve students in their own learning inside and outside the classroom.
- Create instructional modules that stimulate multiple senses for use on computers, iPads, iTouch, Smartphones or other portable audio/video players.
