The Teaching Professor: 8th Annual Conference

The Teaching Professor will be holding a three day conference in Atlanta, Georgia from May 20 – 22.  Faculty from across the country will gather to explore the newest ideas in teaching and learning, hear the latest research, and discuss the state of today’s changing classroom.

Over 800 faculty attended last year’s conference in Cambridge.  The 2011 Conference will also feature a cross-disciplinary flavor and attendees will be able to choose from over 50 workshops and luncheon sessions.  Past conferences included such positive feedback: “This was one of the best organized, [most] informative conferences I have ever attended.  Each session, each activity was rich in content and well worth the time.”  Check out The Teaching Professor’s brochure to view more testimonials and event description including pricing.

Leading speakers will touch on topics like:

Student performance	Mentoring
Academic integrity	Faculty development
Technology	Group work
Self-assessments	Rubrics
Motivating students	And many, many more

Guests will be housed in the luxurious Sheraton Atlanta Hotel – recently redesigned and now including complimentary wireless internet service throughout the conference.  Register before April 29, 2011.

Professors can register online at www.teachingprofessor.com or call 800-206-4805.

December issue of The Teaching Professor

Here’s a look back to the December 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter, which is available through their online archives.  Information about accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CTL website.

Among the December articles is “Word Sort: An Active Learning, Critical-Thinking Strategy.” The “word sort” strategy introduces students to key terms before they encounter them in reading or lecture.  Groups of students are given slips of paper with key terms written on them.  Students then discuss what they think the terms mean and sort them into different relational categories.

This sort of “priming” activity prepares students to better understand and retain the meaning of the terms when they learn about them in the context of the course.

November issue of The Teaching Professor

This is a slightly tardy post about the November 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter, which is available through their online archives.  Information about accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CTL website.

The November issue offers a good reminder for the beginning of the semester: “Don’t Waste the First Day.” In it Kevin Brown (Lee University) argues that the first day should not just be a throw-away for reviewing the syllabus.  Instead, he devotes significant time on the first day to teaching course content and lets students do most of the work reviewing the syllabus on their own.

January issue of The Teaching Professor

The January 2010 issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter is now available online.  Information about accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CTL website.

This month’s issue starts off with some suggestions for syllabus design, with an emphasis on how a syllabus can serve as “Contract, Culture, and Compass.”

October issue of The Teaching Professor

The October 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter is now available online.  Information about accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CLT website.

This month find articles on:

• Psychological Perspectives on Managing Classroom Conflict
• Modeling Stupidity
• Teaching Risk-Taking in College Classrooms
• Five Tips to Help Guest Lecturers Succeed
• Drill and Practice
• Writing Comments That Lead to Learning

March Issue of Teaching Professor

The March 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter is now available online.  Information about accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CLT website.

• “Individual Ability and Group Work” looks at two studies that investigate whether student groups are best formed among students of similar or varied ability levels;
• “Preparing Teaching Philosophy Statements” presents some strategies for getting started writing a teaching statement; 
• “Six Causes of Resistance to Learning” summarizes Stephen Brookfield’s discussion of student resistance in The Skillful Teacher;
• “Avoiding Mediocre Lab Reports with Creative Assignments” reports on how geology professor, Robert Badger, incorporates creative writing into his lab projects in order to better engage students and improve their writing; and
• “No Time for Revision?” offers suggestions for building in opportunities for students to receive feedback on drafts without creating a lot more work for the instructor.

Also in the March issue:

• “Learning Communities: Benefits Across the Board?”
• “Going Global by Using Local”
• “Using Personal Essay Assignments to Encourage Substantive Discussion of Course Content”
• “A Blog, a Physics Course, and a Change in Student Attitudes”

Teaching Professor newsletter now available

The February 2009 issue of The Teaching Professor is now available online.  Information about accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CTL website (this link might not work until later today — just check back in a couple hours).

This month a professor at University of Western Ontario recounts “The Things I Did Badly: Looking Back on My First Five Years of Teaching.” Among the mistakes he now tries to avoid are:

1. Not taking advantage of research on pedagogy,
2. Chastising the whole class,
3. Being defensive about student complaints,
4. Answering student email at all hours, and
5. Egotism.

Teaching Professor: April and May now available

Having let April slip by without posting on the latest issue of The Teaching Professor, I’m now playing catch up. So here’s an overview of both the April and May editions. Information on accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CTL website.

Echoing our recent discussions of “engaged reading” at Academic Development Day, three faculty at University of Central Arkansas share their ideas for “Revving Up the Reluctant Reader” in the May edition. Some strategies they employ are:

• Response cards,
• Reciprocal questioning with prompt cards,
• Jigsaw cooperative learning, and
• Ticket out of class.

March Teaching Professor now available

The March issue of The Teaching Professor is now available online. Information on accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CTL website.

If you’ve ever incorporated community-based learning or some other “experiential” component into a course, you may have struggled with how to get your students to reflect critically and meaningfully about their experiences. Guiding Student Reflection summarizes an article by three nursing faculty who discuss the “guide for reflection” they developed to provide structure for students as they critically reflect on their experiences.

February Teaching Professor now available

The February issue of The Teaching Professor is now available online. Information on accessing the newsletter from off-campus can be found on the CTL website.

This month Peter Kakela of Michigan State writes about the many years he spent acting more like a police officer than a professor: “Nobody was going to steal a grade in my courses. I was the police officer, and I made my students the criminals.” He has since shifted his focus away from “catching” problem students and instead devotes his energy to the students who are there to learn.