Volume I Number 2
December 1994
The Advisory Board of the Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning is sponsoring this Spring semester's In-Service Day programming. A variety of workshops, demonstrations, and discussion sessions will be offered. Programs were selected based on your comments in response to the first newsletter. To help us plan appropriate space and schedules, we ask that you review the complete list of offerings on pages four and five of this Newsletter, then fill out and return to the Faculty Center the tear-off sheet on the last page. This will let us know the workshops you prefer and will help us in scheduling sessions to match your interests.
With the start of the Spring semester, we will begin moving into the second floor of the Cooper Homestead. We will invite your participation in turning the space into a comfortable area for faculty to meet on an informal basis. Our plans include gathering a collection of professional resource materials as well developing several professional development series-- some formal, and others providing opportunities for informal interaction. In time, the Center will offer faculty access to e-mail accounts as well as to more sophisticated computer-based activities. Guidance to and support for these activities will be available at the Center for those who want them.
Next semester, for the first time, two Faculty Center Facilitators will carry out special projects. Because this will be a trial period in which to develop a sense of the role of Facilitators, we accepted proposals from Advisory Board members only. We received four proposals. Through a process of blind review, Board members ranked the proposals on their merit with regard to the goals of the Center. We are proud to announce the names of our first two facilitators: Gwen Kerber (Division of the Arts) and Barbara Korb (Division of Business, Mathematics, and Information Science). They will provide details of their proposals on In-Service Day.
According to your responses to the first newsletter, most faculty members are comfortable with the formal title, The Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning, and anticipate that we will most commonly speak of "The Faculty Center."
Also, you let us know of your enthusiasm for the programming we suggested and gave us some additional promising ideas. We are trying out one of several suggested titles for the newsletter. What's your reaction? Let us know.
The Faculty Center will serve to make faculty aware of professional opportunities. If any of the following are of interest to you, please contact Maureen McCreadie (extension 8055) for further information.
Conferences
Baccalaureate Learning and the Public Interest The 81st Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). The Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, CA, January 18 - 21, 1995
A national forum on college learning: purposes, articulation, inclusion, integrity. This year's theme speaks to the roles and relationships of community colleges and four-year institutions. The meeting explores three themes that emerge across multiple reform initiatives:
- The shift from "coverage" to collaborative learning and inquiry as goals for all students, not just a few.
- The education of everyone for cultural and democratic pluralism.
- The new commitment to immerse students in complexity; contingency and the social contexts of reflective practice.
Sample Sessions:
- Identifying shared expectations in new designs for transfer
- Confronting transfer discontinuities
- Exploring diversity, identity and voice in general education courses
- Confronting challenges with innovative designs: Diversity in the curriculum at community colleges.
Chautauqua 1995: Three-Day Short Courses for College Teachers Chautauqua South Central Field Center at Christian Brothers University, Memphis, TN, Various dates, Spring; Summer 1995
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the development of the curricula presented in these short courses. The presenters helped develop these curricula. In the two-and-a-half days of concentrated work and discussion with colleagues in their fields, the participants update the subject matter content they are teaching, or improve methods for their classrooms from nationally known new curricula. Because of NSF funding, there is no tuition fee for these courses. Therefore, many courses fill quickly.
Courses:
- Calculus: A Fresh Approach - Atlanta, GA
- Retaining Minority in S. E. & M.
- Chemistry for Nonscience Majors - Memphis, TN
- Modern Microscopy
- Control of Autonomous Agents
- Creative Process in Science & Arts
- Polymers - Undergrad Curriculum
- Statistics: An Indispensable Tool
- Modern Neuroscience
- Modern Immunology -- New Orleans, LA:
- Teaching Materials of the Future: Interactive Media (For college teachers of all disciplines. Macintosh based.)
Teaching in the Active Voice: Enhancing the Learning Experience The 12th Annual Canada/U.S. Faculty Development Summer Institute. University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, August 6 - 10, 1995
The main emphasis of the Institute is to help teachers enhance the teaching-learning environment in the classroom. To accomplish this, the Institute attempts:
- to sensitize participants to the diverse needs of individual students
- to experience the modeling of group building techniques for better learning
- to explore various methods for increasing enthusiasm in the classroom
- to reinforce the need for critical skills in writing and study methods.
The program is designed for both new and experiened educators.
Calls for Papers
Integrating Critical Thinking Across the College Curriculum Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, PA, October 19 - 21, 1995
Conference planners hope to offer a wide range not only of topics but also of formats. Sessions that provide experiential/ interactive opportunities for conferees are especially welcome.
Formats include:
- panels
- papers
- demonstrations
- roundtable discussions
- Great Ideas for Teaching
Breaking Barriers: Alternative Approaches to Learning: The Sixth Annual International Conference on Problem Solving Across the Curriculum. Saint John Fisher College, Rochester, NY, June 21 - 24, 1995
Proposals will be accepted in these areas:Papers: (10 minutes/10 minute Q & A) Teaching faculty are invited to submit papers related to the theme of helping students improve critical thinking and problem solving abilities. Workshops: (1 hour) Workshops are intended to enhance the skills and broaden the perspective of the participants. They should be hands-on or participatory experiences. Demonstrations/Posters: The Hall of Innovation is a gallery display of curriculum and teaching ideas. The Hall allows presenters to demonstrate and discuss ideas with the viewers in a more leisurely atmosphere.
Sample Topics:
- cooperative learning
- problem-based learning
- distance learning
- innovative instructional strategies
- diversity influences
- implementing student-centered pedagogy
- experiential learning
- outcomes based education
- cross-cultural theories of learning
The Advisory Board will offer the following programs on In-Service Day. To let us know which two sessions you would most like to attend on that day, please fill out the form that follows the listings and return to Maureen McCreadie.
Informal Discussion on Teaching: Distance Learning
Faculty members who have been teaching distance learning courses this semester will describe their experiences, then lead discussion on implications of distance learning.
How-To Workshop: Committees and How They Work
Leaders of this session will report on the history and contractual implications of our committee structure. They will also provide guidance on the pragmatics of the committee structure, including what is appropriate to send to committee, pertinent forms and deadlines, responsibilities of the committees and their chairs, and meeting schedules.
How-To Workshop: The Grants Process
Rebecca Stevenson, Director of Grants Coordination, will introduce the grants process and explain resources available on campus.
How-To Workshop: How to Lead a Discussion Session
Would you like to try alternatives to lecturing in your classes, but feel the need for some guidance in how to approach alternative methods? Here is one possibility.
How-To Workshop: Approaching the Information On-Ramp
To avoid feeling like road-kill on the information highway, select this workshop. Two of our librarians will help you learn how to navigate the multiple routes to seeking information and will bring you up-to-date with the resources available through the library.
Faculty Showcase: Spring 1995 Facilitators' Projects
The two Faculty Center Facilitators, selected by the Advisory Board on the basis of their project proposals, will present their plans for Spring.
Brainstorming Session: Ideal Teaching/Learning Environments
This informal session will let us initiatea process for dreaming about how we envision ideal teaching/learning environments. The aims are to guide planning and budget-building and to establish a basis for external funding.
Multi-Media Demonstration
Rosa Snare, an expert in the field, will present an introduction to what we have access to in the way of multi-media applications and how these tools can be incorporated in the teaching/learning process.
Please indicate below (check) the two sessions in which you most want to participate on In-Service Day. The Advisory Board will use your responses in two ways. First, we will schedule enough space and enough sessions of a given activity to meet demand. Second, we will use your tear-off sheet to assign your individual schedule for that day.
Please return your completed form to the Faculty Center.