Facilitating Student Learning: A Primer for New Faculty Members
Friday, May 16, 2008 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Included in this program: Lunch, program handouts and reference materials, The Best of The Teaching Professor book, and a certificate of participation.
This full-day pre-conference session has been designed as a primer in teaching and learning for graduate students and new teachers. During the course of the day a mixture of relevant educational theories will be combined with practical suggestions for the classroom. The session will begin with all participants filling out a "Teaching Goals Inventory" followed by a short presentation regarding the definition of learner-centered teaching. A collection of syllabi will then be used to explore the construction of a useful syllabus. Small group breakout sessions will form around several themes: lectures, group work, discussion in the classroom, writing to learn, and technology. The afternoon session will begin with a detailed discussion about grading. Considerable time will also be spent dealing with student evaluations, a potentially treacherous subject for all teachers. The final component of the day will focus on the growth and development of teachers across a career. The session is recommended for anyone who has teaching as part of his or her job but is not certain how to best facilitate student learning. The facilitator is a full-time faculty member and part-time faculty developer who works with new faculty at Penn State University and who has written widely about various aspects of teaching. He brings a learner-centered approach and teaches the session using many of the activities he recommends for implementation in the classroom.
Presenter: Ike Shibley, associate professor, Penn State-Berks; chair, 2008 Teaching Professor Conference
Cost: $250

Structuring Courses to Maximize Deep Learning
Friday, May 16, 2008 9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
The international research on deep learning complements research by John Bransford and others on "How People Learn." Familiarity with some key learning principles in these areas—and their practical application—enable faculty and curriculum designers to create courses that foster inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, written and oral communication, and teamwork and problem solving. Faculty and administrators will become familiar with these key learning principles and learn practical ways to sequence out-of-class assignments with in-class activities that challenge students to learn deeply, not superficially. This interactive workshop/discussion will focus on intellectual and practical skills that are research based.
Participants will:

• Become familiar with some teaching/learning related research on deep learning, how people learn, and cooperative learning;
• Appreciate the convergence of this research and its relationship to "best practices" in the classroom;
• Experience some specific classroom techniques, predicated on classroom assessment activities, cooperative learning, and writing-across the curriculum;
• Gain insights—through modeled practices—into classroom management approaches that will enable faculty members to smoothly initiate or integrate these interactive techniques into their current classrooms;
• Reflect on their own approaches to teaching and learning, including applications for distance education.

Presenter: Barbara Millis, director, Excellence in Teaching Program, University of Nevada
Cost: $150

Using Informal and Formal Writing to Enhance Student Learning
Friday, May 16, 2008 1:00 p.m.– 4:30 p.m.
Many faculty across the disciplines believe they should incorporate more writing into their teaching, but hesitate out of fear that their time will be usurped by marking and grading endless stacks of student papers. This interactive workshop shows how to avoid the pitfalls of ineffective practices while at the same time maximizing student learning. Topics addressed include using the continuum of informal to formal writing; creating assignments that foster learning and forestall plagiarism; marking and grading student writing; and balancing correctness and content. Participants are asked to bring four copies of a writing assignment in progress. Participants will leave with practical advice and handouts to reinforce workshop content.

Presenter: Martha Townsend, associate professor of English, University of Missouri
Cost: $150