Aug

UWS Leadership Site for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Threshold Concepts and Diversity

Proposal Deadline: August 1, 2009 

For proposal materials click here.

The UWS Leadership Site is interested in SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) research projects that investigate threshold concepts and diversity. 

In brief, threshold concepts are ideas students need to learn if they are to get any further in a particular subject area; not because someone says they have to learn them, but because the subject itself demands it. Students have to fully understand these concepts. They have to “get” them. If students get a threshold concept, other parts of the subject or topic make much more sense. So TCs are often where students get stuck. But if we leave them stuck there, and just plow on regardless, the most they will ever do is to mimic or fake understanding.

Collaborative proposals to study one or several learning questions involving threshold concepts concerning the teaching and learning of diversity across multiple campuses, disciplines, sections of the same course, or within the same program, are also encouraged.

Proposed projects must

• Pose questions and gather information about teaching and student learning around the idea of threshold concepts and diversity (from a disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective)

• Design methods for investigating one or more threshold concepts and their connections to teaching and learning about diversity

• Carry out an investigation (research project) of threshold concept(s), diversity, and student learning

• Produce results and implications for teaching and learning in a form that can be readily communicated and built upon by colleagues (presentation, publication, website, etc.)

Participation in this initiative will also involve:

• A face-to-face meeting in Fall 09 (October) to discuss research projects. 

• Additional meetings and/or conference calls over the course of the initiative as needed.  The initiative will have a two-year timeframe.

Timelines and Selection Process

Proposals must be submitted to Renee Meyers by AUGUST 1, 2009.  Please submit your proposal electronically (meyers@uwm.edu).  Proposal questions are at the end of this document. Proposers will be notified by SEPTEMBER 1, 2009.

Suggested reading:
A set of readings and videos on threshold concepts by James Atherton:
http://www.bedspce.org.uk/threshold_3.htm

How to recognise a Threshold Concept

Sep

Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices
March 25-27, 2010
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Deadline for submission of proposals: September 8, 2009

AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal invites proposals that explore the faculty's use of high-impact practices (such as learning communities, writing-intensive courses, and capstone projects) to foster student learning of essential outcomes. The conference seeks proposals highlighting models of these high-impact practices and those that address issues of faculty rewards, promotion and tenure, cost-effectiveness, and more.

This conference will highlight the new and expanding roles that faculty are playing in developing and using high-impact practices—in courses, majors, general education, and in partnership with student affairs—along with discussion of their impact on both faculty and students.

The conference is designed for faculty members seeking innovative, robust, and practical designs for learning and teaching; assessment approaches proven to deepen student engagement; and a network of engaged colleagues. It is also geared toward administrators and others on campus looking to support and partner with faculty to advance the use of high-impact practices for more students, more intentionally, across multiple points in time.

Submit your proposals online by filling in each field of the submission form as directed. For more information, please call 202-387-3760 or write to network@aacu.org.

Oct

Call for Presenters
14th Annual Faculty Development Conference : Problem-Focused Learning
UW-Green Bay
January 21, 2010

Deadline for proposal: October 23, 2009

Proposal form

You are invited to submit a proposal to the 14th Annual Faculty Development Conference on the UW-Green Bay campus.  The theme of the conference this year is “Problem-Focused Learning.”  If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please  submit the form to the UW-Green Bay Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (catl@uwgb.edu or fax to 920-465-2430) no later than October 23, 2009.  Presentations will be selected based on the strength of the abstract, the relationship to the conference theme, and the need to provide a well-balanced conference which includes a variety of topics.  Presenters will be notified early in November.

Presentation Topics:

Assessment of Problem-Focused Learning
Scholarship on Problem-Focused Learning
Strategies for Teaching with a Problem-Focus
Promoting Problem-Focused Learning through a Common Theme
Promoting Problem-Focused Learning in General Education Courses
Promoting Problem-Focused Learning with First Year Students
Promoting Problem-Focused Learning through International Education
Promoting Problem-Focused Learning in the Major
Promoting Problem-Focused Learning with On-Line or Web Technologies
Problem-Focused Learning in Practica, Service Learning and Internships
Other

Leadership and Collaboration in Shaping the Future:  The Intersections of Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Sexuality - The 34th annual interdisciplinary Wisconsin Women’s Studies and 5th annual UW System LGBTQ Conference
April 16-17, 2010
UW-Whitewater

Proposals due October 23, 2009

Bringing together academics, teachers, students, community leaders, activists, and others, the gathering is co-sponsored by the UW-Whitewater Women's Studies Program and three UW System offices: the Women’s Studies Consortium; the Institute on Race and Ethnicity; and the Inclusivity Initiative.

The conference organizers seek proposals addressing research, scholarship, program development, pedagogy, curriculum, and/or community activism in the fields of Women’s, Racial/Ethnic, and LGBTQ Studies. A general focus on intersecting diversity issues and identities, as well as emerging and effective educational and organizational practices/processes, is encouraged. Best practices and case studies suitable for replication (or to be avoided) are especially welcome, especially as they relate to the educational advancement of our students and to the fields of Women’s Studies, Racial/Ethnic Studies, LGBTQ and/or Sexuality Studies and Disability Studies. Presentations that represent approaches to topics which are collaborative, cooperative, diverse, interdisciplinary, and inter-generational are encouraged.

For more information or to submit a proposal, click:  http://www.uww.edu/conteduc/camps/wsc/form.php

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Nov

The University of Wisconsin System 2010 President’s Summit on Excellence in Teaching and Learning
April 29-May 1, 2010

Proposals due November 4, 2009

http://www.uwsa.edu/vpacad/summit/

UW System faculty and staff are invited to submit proposals for the President’s Summit on Excellence in Teaching and Learning, a conference to be held April 29-May 1, 2010, at the Madison Concourse Hotel in Madison, WI.  The Summit is being co-sponsored by the Office of Professional and Instructional Development (OPID), PK-16 Teacher Quality Initiative, Institute on Race and Ethnicity (IRE), Women & Science Program, Learning Technology Development Council (LTDC), Women’s Studies Consortium (WSC), and the UW System Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The President’s Summit will bring together over 200 faculty and staff across disciplines to demonstrate the UW System’s commitment to excellence in higher education during tough economic times.  Replacing or expanding upon several smaller annual spring conferences, the Summit will provide a forum in which to recognize, acknowledge, and share the expertise of faculty and academic staff who excel at teaching, value learning, and are committed to sharing their experience, knowledge, practice, and scholarship.  The intentional relationships among teaching, learning, and making excellence inclusive will be highlighted throughout this event. 

In addition to keynote addresses by UW System President Kevin Reilly and others, the Summit will feature plenary and concurrent sessions on:  curricular transformation and the scholarship of teaching and learning across the disciplines in the Arts, Humanities, Global and International Education, Interdisciplinary Studies, Professional Studies, Social Sciences and STEM areas.  Designed to advance Inclusive Excellence, the UW System’s planning process for greater diversity, equity and inclusion, the Summit will showcase presentations focused on:  Inclusive Pedagogies in disability studies, race and ethnic studies, women, gender and sexuality studies, and socioeconomic status across the curriculum; Emerging and Effective Technologies in the classroom; and High Impact Practices, those educationally effective practices that include collaborative assignments and projects, writing-intensive courses, first-year seminars, undergraduate student-faculty research, learning communities, international studies, community-based and  service learning, internships, and capstone courses and projects.

Proposals in all these areas are invited from UW System faculty, instructional staff, and students with faculty/staff sponsorship.  Presentation formats will include papers, panels, caf-style and round table-discussions, workshops, and poster sessions.   In addition, the Summit will provide opportunities for working and constituent groups from throughout the UW System to convene, including, for example, the IRE Advisory Committee, SAGLA, Compass Teams, the Women & Science Program, and others. 

Please submit your proposal to present or to convene a working group by November 4th, 2009, to:    http://www.uwsa.edu/vpacad/summit/

Confirmations regarding accepted proposals will be sent by mid-December, 2009.

The Planning Committee for the 2010 President’s Summit on Teaching and Learning looks forward to an exciting systemwide conference focusing attention on the outstanding accomplishments and commitment of faculty and instructional staff throughout the University of Wisconsin System.

Dec