Lilly Conference 2009 and the LERN Assessment Conference

I am very grateful to both Dr. Cynthia Bell and my colleagues Drs. Coco-Ripp, Bradford, and Lawrence for including me in their panel on Action Research, as well as to the CETL office for financing our participation in the 2009 Lilly Conference. Since my degree is not in education, I have been trying to take advantage of the opportunities I've had for professional development, and I feel I have benefitted a great deal from my experiences with LERN, GOAL, the Action Research project, the OK Fellows, and the new write-to-learn project. I am particularly grateful to my colleagues in this case, as I have had a pair of unusually hectic and demanding semesters, and I was not able to contribute a great deal to the panel's preparatory work, or even see much of the conference.

While my Action Research project was personally very enlightening, I was a little anxious to see how it would hold up at the conference, as the attendees were sure to have broader experience in the field and a more sophisticated understanding of the process I had studied than I did myself. Our panel was well-received, however, and my personal feedback was generally positive. I was especially happy for the opportunity to "talk shop" with my colleague in theory and aural skills at Appalachian State. She has been involved in a very interesting study using Tablet PC's for dictation tasks, and I look forward to her presentation at the end of the week at the College Music Society's Mid-Atlantic Chapter Meeting, which I'll be attending.

I had hoped also to participate in the LERN online conference on multiple assessments during the first week of March, particularly since that has been the focus of my work in the current semester. I was informed, however, the institutional membership had lapsed, and, while I tried to see about to renewing it in time for the conference, this did not turn out to be feasible. I have enjoyed the LERN conferences in the past, but I understand that financial restrictions are becoming very tight, and it would certainly not be reasonable to renew the institutional membership for just one faculty member. I hope that in better times we can not only renew the membership, but also get more faculty involved in the LERN activities. I am particularly attracted to them since they're online and asynchronous. This allows me to listen to the lectures and participate in the discussions according to my schedule, as well as to pause and replay lectures to make sure I have understood all the important points. While many of the topics are intended for distance learning programs, there is a weatlh of useful material for face-to-face classes as well.

Once again I am grateful to my colleagues and coaches for the opportunity to participate in the many professional development programs here at WSSU, and particularly for my involvement in the 2009 Lilly Conference. I was impressed by the conference, and having had a positive experience, I'll certainly be interested in attending next year.