LEARN Center Workshops 2011-2012
Upcoming Workshops
Guided Inquiry: An Active Learning Strategy
Date: Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: UC 259A
Presented by:
Jo Ellen Burkholder, Associate Professor of Women's Studies, Coordinator for Anthropology
RSVP by March 23rd
This workshop will introduce you to guided inquiry learning in a variety of settings and explore the idea of a "process orientation" to teaching and learning.
Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning or POGIL is an active learning pedagogy originally developed for the natural sciences. It is, however, applicable across a wide range of disciplines from the humanities to business and economics. Initial assessment data links POGIL to increased student retention, increased subject matter retention between semesters, and improved assessment performance. The method is particularly effective for reaching students of opportunity and relevant to obtaining inclusive excellence goals. The emphasis on student inquiry also aids obtainment of LEAP student learning outcomes.
Lunch will be provided.
Relevant and Retooled Workshop
Date: Friday, April 13th, 2012
Time: 8:30 am - 2:00 pm
Location: Esker Dining Hall 118
Presented by:
Rovy Branon, UW-Extension Associate Dean for online learning and technology will challenge you to examine current trends in educational innovation and show how you can use state-of-the-art technology to reach adult learners.
RSVP by April 6th
Lunch & a Video
Date: Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: UC 259A
This month's video, back by popular demand, is:
"Dynamic Lecturing"
Watch a 30 minute video on an important topic relevant to the best practices in teaching and learning. Before and after the video we will have a discussion led by Greg Valde.Come and enjoy a free lunch!
RSVP by April 10th
Past Workshops
Improving Students' Writing Skills
Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: UC 68
Presented by:
Lajuan Davis, Ph.D; Dr.L.Roger Yin
RSVP by March 7th
Managing Difficult Discussions
Dates: Friday, March 9, 2012
Time: Noon - 2:00 pm
Location: UC 69
Dates: Friday, April 27, 2012
Time: Noon - 2:00 pm
Location: UC 264
Dates: Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
Time: Noon - 2:00 pm
Location: UC 264
Presented by:
For More Information Contact: Barbara Beaver (beaverb@uww.edu) or Carolyn Morgan (morganc@uww.edu)
RSVP by Friday, February 24th
Going Global In The Classroom
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm
Location: UC 275A
Presented by:
Katrina Liu, Seth Meisel, and Carol Scovotii
RSVP by Tuesday, February 14th
Dynamic Lecturing
Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Time: Noon-1pm
Location: UC 068
Presented by:
Greg Valde, Associate Professor, Education Foundations
RSVP by February 1st
Breaking Down Silos & Sharing Our Passions
Date: Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Time: 10:00-11:30am
Location: UC 275
We have a noble purpose and share many passions as we strive to provide our students with an academic experience that is truly transformational. Hear from one of our alums, Nan Bolar as she describes her journey and how UW-Whitewater made a real difference in her life. Join Drs. Tom Rios and Brent Bilodeau, Office of Student Affairs as they encourage us to interrupt our way of being. And find out from Sara Kuhl how Marketing and Media Relations can help you tell your story - the many wonderful stories of student success, faculty distinction, alumni contributions. We all make a difference and we all are ambassadors for our University. Let's come together to celebrate our accomplishments, reflect on our continuing challenges, and meet our new colleagues.All faculty and staff will be welcomed to the beginning of a new academic year and new faculty and staff will be introduced.Please join the Provost and your colleagues at 9:30 a.m. for coffee/tea, conversation and networking prior to the workshop.
Presented by:
Provost Beverly Kopper
Hook Them on the Way In:
How The Liberal Learning Outcomes of General Education Can Engage Students and Why They Must
Date: Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Time: 1:00-3:00pm
Location: UC 275
Few would deny that we need more college graduates. The things we value as a nation -- our standard of living, full participation in civic life, upward mobility, and social justice -- begin with broad access to college. No one is better positioned to deliver that education than public universities like those in Wisconsin. Yet around half of the students who enroll in public universities fail to graduate within six years. Numbers are even worse for students of color, the economically disadvantaged, and those whose parents don't have a degree. Why? And how can we improve our track record, especially with those who most stand to benefit? Highly engaging educational practices are part of the answer: emerging evidence suggests that by using High Impact Practices to illustrate the relevance and value of education, we give our students a reason to succeed.Ken O'Donnell works in Academic Affairs at the Office of the Chancellor of the California State University. In 2008 he was named by the Executive Vice Chancellor as state liaison to the AAC&U's national project Give Students a Compass, which seeks to infuse high-impact educational practice into the lower-division college curriculum. He has addressed numerous conferences and workshops around the country on general education, and the role of public state systems in educational reform.
Presented by:
Ken O'Donnell
Critical Thinking in UWW Students
Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Time: 9:00-10:30am
Location: UC 259A
The development of critical thinking skills is increasingly emphasized as a primary goal of many college majors, as well as being one of LEAP's Essential Learning Outcomes and an important goal of UW-W's General Education Program. This session will present data from Spring and Fall 2010 on the critical thinking skills of a representative sample of UWW students. Join our discussion of how critical thinking was assessed, our students' strengths and challenges, and how we can help UWW students improve these important skills. Please bring a classroom activity you'd like to examine and revise to incorporate critical thinking goals.
Presented by:
Joan Littlefield Cook, Chris Neddenriep & Barbara Beaver (Department of Psychology)
Tips for Teaching Returning Adult Students
Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Time: 10:30-Noon
Location: UC 264
This workshop will look at ways that instructors can better serve adult nontraditional students in their classes. A panel of nontraditional students and instructors will share practices that help or hinder the adult student's success in the classroom. Students will also share some of their experiences they've had on campus.
Presented by:
Joan Littlefield Cook, Chris Neddenriep & Barbara Beaver (Department of Psychology)
Student Panelists:
Rochelle Day, Cory Tracy & Robin VanEyll
Faculty:
Andrew Ciganek (ITBE), Hien Nguyen (MCS) & Jim Winship (Social Work)
Using Technology to Engage Students and Ease The Assessment Process
Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Time: 10:30-Noon
Location: UC 259B
Discover tools, techniques and strategies for managing the process of assessing student work in a variety of course formats (e.g., face-to-face, blended, and online). Learn ways to engage your students though interactive assessments and explore methods for streamlining grading and feedback. Topics include D2L Rubrics, student response system "clickers," Flashbased activities and games, creative quizzing, and D2L gradebook tips. Bring your assessment challenge and leave with a solution!
Presented by:
Renee Pfeifer-Luckett, Director of UW-W Learning Technology Center & Karen Skibba, Instructional Design Specialist, UW-W Learning Technology Center
Toward Excellence in the Evaluation of Teaching: Peer Review, Student Evaluations and More
Date: Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Time: Noon-2:30pm
Location: UC 259B
If effective teaching is the top priority for university educators, as we say it is, then it is critical that we have robust, thorough methods for the evaluation of teaching. Most faculty members do not have strong backgrounds in educational principles, which often results in development of less effective teaching evaluation systems than those for scholarly activity.Two work groups sponsored by the UW Eau Claire Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning have studied best practices in teaching evaluation as seen in the literature and compared it to current practices on our campus. In this talk, Dr. Eierman will describe the findings of the groups and some of the changes that have happened in teaching evaluation at UWEC as a result of their work, with a particular emphasis on peer evaluation of teaching.
Presented by:
Dr. Robert Eierman is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at UW-Eau Claire. He was a faculty member in the UWEC Chemistry Department for 25 years, and during the last fifteen years his scholarly work focused on a wide range of science education issues at the K-12 and university levels.
RSVP by September 21st
INSTRUCTORS' IMAGINATIONS IGNITED,
SECOND LIFE AT UW-WHITEWATER
Date: Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Time: Noon-1:00pm
Location: UC 275A
Hear about the innovative use of Second Life in higher education and learn about the work of a yearlong, cross-disciplinary learning community of UW-Whitewater instructors focused on leveraging Second Life in their courses. During this LEARN Center session, instructors involved in the Second Life Learning Community will discuss how they experimented with instructional strategies to leverage the use of Second Life in their coursework. Examples of actual course activities will be showcased and key success factors learned, ideas, strategies, and tools used by the learning community will also be shared. The learning community work was made possible through a UW System Curricular Redesign Grant administered through the Learning Technology Development Council.
Presented by:
- Chris Calvert-Minor, Assistant Professor, Philosophy & Religious Studies
- Kelly Delaney-Klinger, Assistant Professor, Management
- Megan Matthews, Lecturer, Theatre/Dance
- Andrew Kapp, Associate Professor, Occupational & Environmental Safety and Health
- Renee Pfeifer-Luckett, Director, Learning Technology Center
- David Reinhart, Lecturer, Philosophy and Religious Studies
- Karen Skibba, Instructional Design Specialist, Learning Technology Center
RSVP by October 5th
Getting Started in Community Based Learning
Date: Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Time: Noon-1:00pm
Location: UC 259A
Dr. Tess Arenas will discuss best practices in incorporating community based learning in the classroom. Some of the themes she will address are how best to establish effective community partnerships and the impact that service learning can have on student's civic engagement. Dr. Arenas has been director of the Office of Service Learning and Community Based Research since 2005. Prior to this appointment, she worked in the UW System Administration and was the author of the UW System's Plan 2008: Educational Excellence through Race/Ethnic Diversity.
Presented by:
Tess Arenas, Director of Service Learning at UW-Madison
RSVP by October 12th
SPOTLIGHT ON: Promoting Academic Honesty at UWW
Date: Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Time: Noon-1:30pm
Location: UC 261
Internationally recognized academic ethics expert, Gary Pavela, will discuss academic integrity and student moral development. The keynote speaker will present live, via video conferencing (WebEx), and invites your questions. Join our faculty and staff for lunch as we address the topic of academic integrity on our campus.
Find Out How Instructors Can:
- Give students a critical role in protecting and promoting academic integrity.
- Make the connection between academic integrity and engagement in learning.
- Help students understand why academic dishonesty is self-defeating.
Panel Discussion With:
- Mary Beth Mackin- Dean of Students (Moderator & Panelist)
- Lajuan Davis- Associate Professor, Information Technology & Business Education Department
- Anthony Gulig- Chairperson and Associate Professor, History Department, College of Letters & Sciences
- Kyle Na- Reference & Instruction Librarian, Andersen Library
- Renee Pfeifer-Luckett- Director, Learning Technology Center, iCIT
- Carol Scovotti- Associate Professor, Marketing Department, College of Business & Economics
Panel Topics:
- Strategies for preventing academic misconduct
- Ways to talk with students about academic integrity
- What assistance you can expect from the Dean of Students Office
Presented by:
Gary Pavela is the Director of Academic Integrity at Syracuse University and serves on the Board of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Gary was also a consultant to the Governor's Task Force on Campus Safety for the state of Wisconsin (2007). Gary has appeared on the CNN, FOX, PBS, and CNBC networks and his work has been cited in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the National Law Journal, Business Week, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. and News and World Report, among many others.
RSVP by October 26th
From Combat to Classroom: Transitions of Modern Warriors
Date: Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Time: 12:30-1:30pm
Location: UC 259A
Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan attending college bring a variety of life experiences that can both enhance and hinder their success in institutions of higher learning. This presentation aims to educate faculty and staff about issues unique to these student veterans and to provide a forum for discussion about what it is like to go from combat to a classroom.Cari Myles received her Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. She is licensed as an independent clinical social worker (LCSW) by the State of Wisconsin and is certified as a Brain Injury specialist by the Academy of Certified Brain Injury Specialists (ACBIS). She provides PTSD treatment and is a member of the Polytrauma Treatment and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) clinics at the hospital. Prior to coming to the VA, Ms. Myles worked as a civilian social worker on US military installations in Turkey, Germany and Okinawa, Japan.
Presented by:
Cari MylesRSVP by November 3rd
The Pluses and Minuses of Grading at UW Whitewater
Date: Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Time: 12:30-1:30pm
Location: UC 259B
This interactive workshop will examine the apparent effects on undergraduate GPAs of changing from a traditional grading system (e.g., whole letter grades) to a grading system that uses pluses and minuses.The reasons for the change will be briefly revisited before examining GPAs for the four semesters before the change and the four semesters after the change. Comparative data will be presented by semester and by course level (e.g., 100-level, 200-level, etc.).Time will be set aside for discussion of related topics and issues
Presented by:
Robert Gruber, Accounting Dept. and Jodi Hare-Paynter, Registrar
RSVP by December 1st