GLCTL :: About the Conference


The 2013 Great Lakes Conference on Teaching & Learning will begin on the evening of Wednesday, May 8 and run through lunch on Friday, May 10, 2013 at the Education and Human Services building on Central Michigan University’s campus in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Presenters will share knowledge and practices, and facilitate lively, interactive sessions. Participants are also afforded networking and learning opportunities during more informal times, such as meals and social events.

 

2013 Conference Theme:

"Inspire, Challenge and Energize: Enhancing the Faculty and Student Experience"

Are your students really connecting with their learning? Do they show you any excitement for learning? This conference looks at these key questions and others that reveal the complexity, process, and outcomes of truly educating students. Do you want your students to improve their critical thinking skills? Their ability to communicate and collaborate? Their ability to learn? How do you know if your students are truly learning? These questions form the basis for your experience at this years conference, and we'll hope you'll join us in May on a journey to push the frontiers of teaching and learning.

 

2013 Conference Tracks:

Track I Documenting Student Learning with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

In this track, we invite presentations that demonstrate the utilization of the SoTL approach, which encourages faculty to examine teaching and learning strategies,  investigate a challenge, or implement an innovation in one's teaching, and subsequently reflect upon teaching and learning in a form that is publically reviewed. We encourage faculty to share recommendations for strategies that address learning outcomes and more diverse techniques to examine the effectiveness of their strategies. In addition, we invite faculty to discuss strategies for increasing the reward for SoTL in faculty promotion and tenure policies or to present new trends and innovations in SoTL research and publication.
Track II Fueling and Reigniting Faculty

Faculty are hard-pressed to maintain the many "hats" they wear. For example, faculty are subject to increasing pressures to improve their teaching and research outcomes. Whether you are new or veteran faculty, surviving and thriving in academe takes a tremendous amount of energy. Students need your timely feedback and enthusiasm. Colleagues and committee work take energy. Administration also makes it's requests, and so exactly how do you make progress and thrive amidst such multiple pulls on faculty time?
Track III Engaging Students in Meaningful Learning Experiences

Why do some students idle through their college experiences while others ignite?  The difference may be rooted in the kinds of experiences they are having both within the classroom and outside of it.  In this track, we invite presentations that explore diverse ways of engaging students in experiences that are personally meaningful and relevant to the various communities in which they are embedded.  We also encourage presenters to think about the tools and techniques that help students reflect upon and make meaning out of those experiences.
Track IV Effective Use of Technology in Teaching & Learning

Technology can be the best friend or the worst enemy of a teaching and learning environment. Effectiveness hinges upon why and how it is being used. We encourage participants to share their stories about ways that they have successfully integrated various learning technologies into their classrooms, face-to-face and virtual alike. Desirable presentations will include c​ontent related to topics such as what problem was being addressed, the pedagogically based course design that was used to research and choose the solution, creation of course objectives and goals, applications of technology, costs, partnerships, obstacles, outcomes, and student feedback.
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