Highlights of Lilly 2009

I presented a summary of my Action Research Project as part of a panel of faculty from WSSU at the recent Lilly Conference on College & University Teaching in Greensboro, NC. The title of the conference, Millennial Learning: Teaching in the 21^st Century, was truly reflected in the variety of sessions available to attend. After my presentation, I attended several sessions on Friday and Saturday.

Two sessions that I attended were presented by faculty in Criminal Justice programs at two different universities. Both also used role play as the main learning activity. One faculty used role play to help future police officers adhere to required legal procedures in responding to citizen complaints. The attendees at the session actually participated in the role plays as students might do. Discussion of the entire experience was extremely helpful to gain insight into the participants’ perspectives. Applying this type of role play for activities in some of the courses I teach will enhance the learning outcomes. The framework within which the role play was used in the law enforcement class can be adapted for such techniques as activity modifications or communication strategies in the WSSU Therapeutic Recreation classes.

The other session led by a faculty who teaches hostage negotiation used role play as a culminating activity for the semester. This eight hour role play activity involved outside participants as well as the students. It was carried out beyond the regular class meeting time and incorporated intense planning along with careful scripting and organization. The role play was presented through video and still photos with description by the presenter. Each attendee shared ways that this type of role play could be used in various classes such as nursing or sociology. Aspects of this activity that I found especially helpful are the intentional application of theory and knowledge. Another positive benefit to the activity presented is the reflective components. Students have several hours to debrief, process the entire experience, and receive feedback. Even though I may not be teaching hostage negotiation and have this much time for role play in one class, this session provided many ways for me to include experiential learning in classroom learning strategies.

There were other sessions I attended on use of blogs, flip video and peer feedback techniques. The final element that I want to share is the poster session. A new technique for the posters involved use of flip cameras. Volunteers were solicited to use the flip cameras available to record short interviews with designated poster presenters. This is an interesting strategy. It helps to share the session with persons who did not get to attend the poster session as the clips are to be posted on the Lilly conference site. This interviewing activity also focused the interaction with the poster presenter. As the chair of a poster session for my professional organization’s upcoming conference, I will consider using this technique. All in all, I think the Lilly Conference has the potential to be a very rich source of learning for instructor and the support team for college educators. I recommend participating if given the opportunity.