Invited Presenters

Workshops and plenary sessions provide broad, deep coverage of the following topical areas:

• Scholarship of Teaching
• Technology
• Teaching Large Classes
• Undergraduate Research
• Faculty Growth, Resilience and Change
• Learning
• The Pedagogies of Engagement

The 2007 Teaching Professor Conference Advisory Board is pleased to announce the following Presenters/Worshops:

Burnout and Beyond -- Examining Compassion, Fatigue and Other Stressors in Academic Culture
This session will examine the conditions, characteristics, contexts, and consequences of various manifestations of stress and burnout in academic culture. Participants will explore a reflective and dialogical process based in critical incidents from previous inquiry blended with experiences from the session participants themselves.
Presenters: Maureen Connolly, professor, and Lorne Adams, associate professor, Brock University
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Beyond the Bloody Red Pen: Classroom Assessment That Promotes Learning
Students and professors alike dread grading, for a host of reasons. In this session, learn how to design formative and summative assessments that will focus, not increase, your work. We will explore traditional and performance-based assessments, employing several of the strategies that we treasure most in our scholarly work. Participants should bring a copy of an assignment or test they use in their class that they would like to strengthen.
Presenter: Karen Eifler, associate professor, University of Portland
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From Adversaries to Colleagues: Changing the Relationship between Teachers and Students
The adversarial nature of college classrooms can be measured by the course syllabus, which often seems to be a legalistic document filled with detailed rules for student behavior and grades, written in a defensive and authoritarian tone. In this session, we will look at the reasons for this phenomenon and discuss techniques that instructors can use to enhance the intrinsic motivation of students and to recapture the spirit of collegiality between faculty and students that can transform the classroom into a joyous learning experience for all.
Presenter: Mano Singham, director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education, Case Western Reserve University
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Deepening the Dialogue with Students, Faculty and Administrators Alike
Although controversy often increases anxiety and decreases understanding, it doesn’t have to. This session demonstrates a process to help people move from one-sided arguing and simplistic conflict to complex sharing and negotiating of meaning. Volunteers split into pro, con, and neutral on a controversial issue, then acknowledge each other’s views, without necessarily agreeing. The ensuing active listening process, for students and faculty alike, encourages exploration of assumptions and contradictions and transformation of habits of mind. This workshop is ideal for faculty seeking methods to balance the voices and focus student discussion—and to deepen dialogue with their colleagues.
Presenter: Roben Torosyan, associate director, Center for Academic Excellence, Fairfield University
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Active Learning Techniques for Introductory Courses
Resistance to incorporating active learning in the classroom includes the time it takes to prepare materials and the time it takes away from the classroom. This session will engage the participants by having them participate in simple, low risk activities that they can easily adopt in their classrooms. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. DUE-0442987.
Presenter: Keith Whittington, assistant professor, Rochester Institute of Technology
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From Students that Click to Classes that Click: Engaging the Millennial Student
The purpose of this session is to gain an understanding of millennial students and to develop strategies that will engage these students in class. Strategies presented in the workshop will help faculty move students from procrastinators to active learners and will impact both the quality of their homework and their learning in class. This session is designed for faculty teaching in any discipline and any size class.
Presenters: Ann Singleton, associate dean, School of Education, Union University and Kina Mallard, academic dean, Gordon College
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Teaching First-Year College Students
First-year students present unique challenges to college and university faculty. This session will focus on the characteristics of first-year students as learners with an emphasis on the instructional methods, assignments, and activities that provide both academic rigor and appropriate support for first-year students.
Presenters: Bette LaSere Erickson, director, Faculty Development and Calvin Breckinridge Peters, professor, University of Rhode Island
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Practical Tips for Teaching Large Science Classes
Does an increase in class size lead to a loss of quality of education? Absolutely not! This session will focus on strategies and techniques to promote learning in large science classes. The discussion will focus on teaching philosophy and style, creative skills, methods to actively engage students, effective teaching and learning methods, relating to students in and out of the classroom, and recitation sections.
Presenter: Laurie McCorry, associate professor, Bay State College

Student Attitudes and Learning Gains in Tablet PC-Enabled Courses
The presence of tablet PCs in the classroom is providing new opportunities in technology-based instruction and raising old questions about the role of technology in improving teaching and enhancing student learning. This interactive session will be used to demonstrate the fundamentals of a one-tablet professor model involving electronic note archival, virtual office hours, and live screen capture. Several tablet PCs will be available for audience members to get hands-on experience with this technology. In addition, the presenters will share results of a student attitudinal survey on tablet instruction and discuss learning gains in a redesigned introductory chemistry course.
Presenters: James Ricky Cox, associate professor and James W. Rogers, assistant professor, Murray State University.
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Those Silent Librarians!
Librarians are at the forefront of technological innovation and change. This presentation will remind participants what kinds of things librarians can provide for them, partnering with other faculty to make information literacy an exciting part of education. The presenters will also demonstrate several examples of high-tech classes and several interactive "exercises," allowing participants to see how they might enhance their classes by including a librarian.
Presenters: Marilyn Steinberg, assistant professor, Library and Learning Resources, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences and Kari Mofford, instruction coordinator/information technology librarian, Wentworth Institute of Technology
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Using Case Method to Enliven Teaching
Rita Silverman, one of the authors of the case being featured at this year's The Teaching Professor Conference, will demonstrate case method teaching in three special conference sessions. She will use the conference case to show how cases can be used to engage and involve learners in exploring complicated and conflicting issues. This instructional method uses a variety of facilitation techniques to lead learners to a deeper understanding of issues and how they might be resolved. Dr. Silverman is a widely recognized expert in case-method teaching. Enrollment in these sessions is limited, therefore pre-registration is required. Sign up sheets will be available at the conference registration desk.
Presenter: Rita Silverman, Pace University
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“The conference was very motivating and provided useful and practical information.”
2006 Participant