I know that I have said this before but I really feel fortunate to do what I do – I have always wanted to be in a position where my vocation and my avocation seamlessly meshed and although some aspects of one part of my world may push outside the bounds of the other, the nature of my whole being is engaged in rich and respectful conversation, collaboration, sharing, teaching, and learning. My family life, my spiritual life and my life of teaching and learning are all so very inter-meshed that each informs the other and each supports and complements the world’s the others inhabit.
I have just spent a very supportive and engaging day with some amazing educators at the 24th Annual Lilly-West Conference on College and University Teaching held at the Kellogg West Ranch at the California Polytechnic State University just outside of Los Angeles. (http://www.iats.com/conferences/lilly-conference/) In the 2 days of this conference (this is the end of day 1) there will be over 65 presentations with over 75 attendees primarily from across the US however there are a few from Canada, the UK, and Japan. Although I cannot pretend to be an expert on Lilly conferences (this is their 24th year) I know them by reputation and now having spent today being a part of this event I found it well managed and supported, richly informative, as well as being very warm, respectful, and collegial. I have had the pleasure of attending equally rich and informative conferences in the past but I think that there is an intimacy here that adds to the event and has very much allowed me to feel embraced and respected.
The introductory keynote by Terry Doyle on “how brain research findings are changing our understanding of learning” nicely set the stage for the conversations throughout the day and if nothing else was a bit of a wake up call for me as a student and learner struggling to finish my dissertation let alone the other aspects of my life. There are five things the brain needs in order to function optimally: exercise – sleep – oxygen – hydration – food (glucose). I hope I hear this message clearly enough to look after myself.
I then attended several sessions on Faculty Learning Communities (FLC). Really interesting perspectives on what can be done to support and encourage faculty in the process of teaching and learning. John Williams from Principia College, Charles Finch and Tracy Middleton from Midwestern University, and Elizabeth Predeger, Randy Magen, and Deborah Periman from University of Alaska Anchorage all presented interesting and very different perspectives on this topic. Thank you all – I have a lot to think about and some very rich examples to assist in my quest in this area. I also attended a fascinating session on “the use of social annotation to support student reading of class texts” put on by Mark Rawlinson and Stuart Johnson from the University of Leicester in the UK. This was very engaging and the possibilities exciting yet I struggle at this moment to be able to describe the process. They are using online tools such as eMargin and Digress.it to allow students to socially annotate complex material. The context was literature but the application could very well be across disciplines. The content and method of presentation was extremely engaging – thank you Mark and Stuart for this great presentation. The final presentation of the day was Jeff Loats, a physicist from Metropolitan State College of Denver introducing us to the concept of “Just in Time Teaching”, a really exciting way of getting students more engaged with the material in a course. Jeff outlined how he uses this method in his physics classes and how this has improved retention and understanding. He suggested a quick Google search on the topic would provide a wealth of resources and I found lots to work with. Jeff was an engaging presenter.
After dinner there were poster presentations, coffee and goodies. I met really fascinating people doing really exciting things in their classrooms and working with their peers to improve our craft. I really enjoyed talking with Daniel Duarte from the University of Texas in El Paso on his online work and challenges. After all these sessions and conversations I am going to rethink my slides and my presentation for tomorrow as I feel that the bar has been set sufficiently high and I hope to offer something comparable. I don’t know that I will have the time to write a concluding post after tomorrow wraps up but if it is anything like today I know I will leave feeling energized and excited to get on with my writing and my daily engagement with my students and my peers. Thanks everyone.