Welcome - Spring 2005 Conference on Teaching & Learning

8:30 - 9:00 am -- Continental Breakfast and Registration

9:00 - 9:10 am -- Welcome

9:10 - 10:45 am -- Keynote: Humor as an Instructional Defibrillator - Ronald Berk, The Johns Hopkins University

Grab those paddles. Charge 300. Clear! "Ouch!" Now how do you feel? Great!

Humor used as a systematic teaching tool in your classroom can bring students and deadly, boring course content to life. Since some students have the attention span of goat cheese, we need to find creative techniques to hook them, engage their emotions, and focus their minds and eyeballs on learning.

This session presents 10 evidence-based, "low-risk" humor methods that can be integrated into handouts, examples, case studies, discussion questions, homework problems, project outlines, tests, wedding invitations, and parking tickets.

Examples include quotations, cartoons, multiple-choice items, top 10 lists, anecdotes, skits/dramatizations with music, and "Jeopardy!" type reviews. The techniques are applicable to any course level, discipline, content area, or ice-cold beverage. This session "boldly goes where no academician has gone before," maybe!

10:45 - 11:00 am -- Break

11:00 - Noon -- Motivating the Millennials: Getting to know the new generation of college learners - Stewart Brower, MLIS Coordinator of Library Instruction, Health Sciences Library, University at Buffalo

The Millennial generation of college-age learners has been called the "most numerous, affluent, and ethnically diverse generation in American history." They can also be one of the most demanding generations to teach, with a strong sense of self-identity and entitlement that can impede more traditional teaching modalities.

Technology-savvy, goal-oriented Millennials place a premium on their college experiences, and college professors and other academic leaders are beginning to discover new ways of motivating these students.

This session will provide a generational look back at the social and historical factors that influenced this generation's development and give participants an opportunity to share their personal knowledge with others. By sharing our collective experiences about the Millennials, we will discover better ways to motivate them and, ultimately, to teach them.

Noon - 1:00 pm -- Lunch

1:00 - 2:30 pm -- How To Write A Case Study - Dr. Kipp Herreid, Distinguished Teaching Professor Academic Director, University Honors Program, Director, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo

Case study teaching is one of the fastest growing alternatives to the lecture method. Over 90% of the faculty that attend workshops on case study teaching say that students like it better and perform better on tests. Attendance improves dramatically when cases are used, because students learn in a context. In this workshop we will focus on showing you how to write a case for your own class. You should walk away from this with a great start on a case that you can use right away. Fame and fortune await!

2:30 - 2:45 pm -- Break

2:45 - 4:15 pm -- Test Wars: The Evil Empire Wants to Vaporize Multiple-Choice Tests - Ron Berk

This is the intergalactic event of the 2005 winer in Buffalo. After 75 years of research and experience with tests in this galaxy, why are there still so many complaints by students about their quality and the conditions under which they're administered? This presentation will answer your most throbbing questions about classroom assessment. It will address the following prickly topics based on evidenced-based practice:

How you can make the best use of assessment methods without resorting to medications
A "Consumer's Guide" to shopping at THE ASSESSMENT DEPOT to get a "Best Buy" on appropriate methods
Top 15 complaints by students about taking tests and strategies to resolve them
Top 10 flaws in multiple-choice test items that can clue testwise students
Alternative assessment methods to measure problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills, such as the student portfolio
How to survive classroom assessment without getting voted out by your class

These topics will be illustrated with semi-amusing items, music, and demonstrations. May the "FORCE" compel you to attend this session.

4:15 - 4:30 pm -- Evaluations and Wrap-Ups

Teaching Matters: Spring Conference on Teaching & Learning

Agenda