2010-2011 Events

2nd Annual University
Learning and Teaching Showcase
May 4, 2011

Showcase Sessions and Descriptions

Click here to open the full abstract description of each session (.PDF)

Featuring Keynote Speaker Dudley Herschbach, Professor Emeritus, Chemistry at Harvard University; Nobel Prize for Chemistry recipient, 1986. Professor Herschbach will be the keynote speaker and lead conversationalist for the 2nd Annual University Learning and Teaching Showcase..
When: 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM
Where: University Hall Room 1070

Description: Dr. Herschbach will lead discussions and respond to audience questions on a variety of topics, with the focus being on fostering creative approaches in the classroom across disciplines, drawing from his 50+ years as an educator. Dr. Herschbach will discuss his own evolution as an science educator, and his efforts to bring creative and engaging methods to his classroom, often by recognizing that teachers and students are partners traveling along the same path to conceptual understanding.Dr. Herschbach has had an outstanding career as a researcher, winning the Nobel Prize in his discipline (1986), but he has also taken a strong interest in quality teaching and learning. He will explore how he kept that balance.

This year’s theme will be “Fostering Creativity Across the Campus”. This event is dedicated to exploring evidence-based practices used to understand and improve learning and teaching across disciplinary boundaries. We hope that this Showcase will provide local scholars with the opportunity to share their projects, acknowledge each other’s accomplishments and hold cross-disciplinary conversations to build upon each other’s findings in the hopes of establishing future collaborations.

The Showcase is intended to be an interactive event; one held to recognize and appreciate the richness and complexity of the participating institutions, some of which include Montclair State University, Bryn Mawr College, and Haverford College. The Creative Research Center, directed by Neil Baldwin, will serve as a rapporteur for this year's Teaching and Learning Showcase.

**UPDATE** For highlights of the 2nd Annual University Learning and Teaching Showcase, please follow the link here...

Provost's Series on Univeristy Teaching and Learning

April 6, 2011
• Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University and Area Dean of Applied Physics. Dr. Mazur is founder of the Mazur Group, a physics and education research center.
  
  Title: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer
  Description: I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has improved my students' performance significantly. For more information, visit them at http://mazur.harvard.edu/search-talks.php?function=display&rowid=1731"
  When: 2:30pm
  Where: University Hall Room 1070