ELON COLLEGE – Planning is under way for Elon College’s second teaching conference to be held Sept. 23-25.
Two keynote speakers, who are well-known in their fields, have been selected, as well as faculty teams which will make presentations.
James L. Ratcliff, a senior scientist at the Center for the Study of Higher Education and professor in the higher education program at Penn State University, will give the first keynote address. His topic is “The Challenge of Creating Curricular Coherence: Frameworks and Effective Practice.” A widely published writer, Ratcliff has led the National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning and Assessment since 1991.
John McDermott, a professor of philosophy and humanities and the Abell Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University, will speak on “Pedagogy as Healing: John Dewey’s Aesthetics of Education.” He has been the recipient of a number of teaching and research honors.
Faculty teams from Elon, New College of the University of South Florida in Sarasota, Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., will make presentations on the conference’ four major topics – the role of the academic major, the impact of technology on teaching and learning, the challenge of connected learning and the changing roles of students and faculty.
“This conference is important in an era in which those in higher education are being challenged to find new ways of teaching and to keep with changing technology,” said Fred Rubeck, the conference’s manager and an assistant professor of fine arts.
“The conference gives us the opportunity to learn what other schools are doing,” he said. “One of the ways this conference is unique is that we offer a variety of topics.”
A brochure seeking papers and presenters has been mailed to more 1,000 individuals. Rubeck also is encouraging Elon faculty to become actively involved in the conference.
Visit the conference site at http://www.elon.edu/c&r99
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