The Teaching Professor Conference - Kissimmee, FL

Having attended my first Teaching Professor Conference in May really made me think...

Why didn't I know about this conference before now?

This conference was extremely interesting and helpful in so many ways. First, let me start by saying that the hotel - The Gaylord Palms - was extraordinary! The rooms were spacious, the decor was breathtaking and the service was first-class. The only problem I encountered was that it was a resort hotel. Being a resort hotel, it was in a fairly remote section of Kissimmee. If you wanted to save the $26.00 for the buffet dinner by grabbing something quick, you couldn't unless you wanted to catch a cab to the nearest grocery store.

Getting past the high prices for the food and shopping, we move to the conference.

The conference itself was very well organized. The conference staff was couteous, kind, obedient, cheerful...almost like Boy Scouts.
I attended a session on Friday titled "Saving Time in the Grading Process." I thought, "Hmmm...this should be interesting." It was facilitated by Dr. Barbara Walvoord - the same Dr. Walvoord that will be here at Ol 'SU in August. She talked about how to handle assignments students turn in and how to quickly return those assignments so the students receive timely feedback. She really confirmed many of the practices that I use in my classes.

On Saturday, I attended a few sessions. One was titled "Youtube and Facebook in the Classroom." Once again I thought, "Hmmm...this should be interesting." It was facilitated by Kathy Yamachita. More than anything, she explained terms to us that many of the participants were not that familiar with such as: Web 2.0, Metatagging, Viral Video, etc. Her presentation was very well organized, but did not seem to speak to using youtube or facebook across other disciplines. She gave us tips on how she uses youtube in her Art courses, but just using that example made it difficult to see how my colleagues could use the same technology in English, Landscaping, Engineering, Chemistry, etc.

The next session was titled "Integrating Technology to Engage the Student." If you can't see it by now, I am all about the use of technology for effective teaching. Upon reading the title of this session, I thought...well, you know what I thought. The facilitators were Kristina Drumheller and Gregg Lawler from West Texas A&M University. The bulk of this session focused on the use of a software called "Camtasia." This recording software allows instructors to teach in more of a virtual setting. Instructors can demonstrate how to apply certain concepts by recording the actions on the computer (along with voice) and even highlighting or creating tips for the students as they are watching. The information was good, but the session title was a little misleading.

The final session I attended that day was "Increasing Student Participation." This was yet another session that dealt with the use of technology in the classroom. The session was facilitated by Dr. Ken Alford of the National Defense University. The bulk of this presentation focused on another piece of software called "QuizShow." This is a Jeopardy-style application that allows instructors to hold review sessions, do concept quizzing, and invoke class participation by making a game of it. The class got a chance to participate and it was very entertaining. This was by far the most beneficial to me as I visualized how I could used this in my classes.

I was returning to Winston-Salem on Sunday, so I did not attend any sessions Sunday morning. Overall, the conference is something that I would recommend that many professors/instructors attend. It may seem as though the conference is for teachers who have not yet defined their teaching philosophy/strategies or that it is for teachers who seek guidance in their careers, but it is not that. If anything, it acts as reinforcement for beliefs and strategies you already employ. Particpants of this conference have the opportunity to get away from the stress of work, learn some new tricks, and be able to overly utilize the phrase "Hmmm...this should be interesting."

DMCureton
English & Foreign Languages

Online Teaching

This was my first TLC conference. On the up side, many intersting topics. On the down side, too many concurrent sessions -which meant I couldn't attend everything I was interest in.

The sessions I did attend included Teaching and Engaging Underprepared Sttudents, Supporting Online Learners, Top 10 Tips For First-Time Online Teacing, Classroom For Clickers, Using Card-Sort Activities, and Simple Movements To Revitalize Teaching And Learning.

The sessions about online teaching will be helpful when I develop my first online course this fall. The session on clickers has motivated me to incorporate the use of our clickers into at least 2 of my classes. I have requested templates from the Card-Sort presenter and believe there may be an application in some of my classes. The Revitalizing session presented several simple exercises that actually improve focus and attention.

As a first TLC experience, it was enjoyable and informative. I hope to fit more of these into my schedule.

Managing difficult dialogues and confrontational moments in classrooms

Last month, I had an opportunity to attend The Teaching Professors conference at Kissimmee, FL, USA (May 16-18, 2008). Conference (http://www.teachingprofessor.com/) was organized in the beautiful settings of Gaylord Palm Resort (http://www.gaylordhotels.com/ ). The conference was very well organized and provided opportunities to choose sessions of your choice from various concurrent sessions. A few presentations such as Preventing and Managing Challenging Class Room Situations, Saving time in the Grading Process, and No More sage on the Stage: Strategies for Active Learning in Blended Face-to Face and On Line Courses were very informative.
I took a liking for the presentation “WARNING-This Material is Intended for Mature Audiences: Managing Difficult Dialogues in the Large Lecture Classroom” by W. Mick Charney, PhD from Kansas State University. Dr. Charney dealt with issues of religious, cultural and social sentiments of students on controversial subjects or topics in his classroom. His discussion on “Why do challenging materials create difficult moments in the classroom” was thought provoking. The nature of strong stimuli, disrupted code deciphering skills, unrefined analytical tools and non-monolithic student populations were put forward as reasons for creating difficult moments. He provided a few tips as strategies to effectively manage such confrontational moments. For our reader’s benefit I am representing a few of those tips. They were;
1. Anticipate the types of negative reactions
2. Embed touchstone concepts or recurrent themes
3. Issue warnings and disclaimers
4. Open up clear lines of communication with administrators
5. Use clear and precise language
Overall conference was very enjoyable and provided opportunities to learn a new or reinforce our own concepts in effective teaching.

Dinesh K. Singh, DVM, PhD
Department of Life Sciences, WSSU (6/2/08)