Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy to be held Feb. 3-4
Virginia Tech's third annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy will feature two days of practice, research, and poster sessions focused on higher education teaching excellence and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
The conference, which showcases innovative teaching practices and research in higher education today, will be held Feb. 3-4 at The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center. More than 700 people are expected to attend the two-day event intended to demonstrate effective instructional practice and disseminate the latest research aimed at improving the quality of higher education.
“Faculty, students, and administrators from around the nation, and around the world, will gather to discuss, demonstrate, and explore scholarly teaching, learner-centered pedagogy, and student learning,” said “Peter Doolittle, director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research. “The conference will provide continued recognition to Virginia Tech as a center for innovative, compelling, and exemplary higher education teaching.”
A total of 61 research and practice sessions will address a broad range of topics – digital storytelling, ePortfolios, integrated inquiry, inclusive pedagogy, first-year experiences, team teaching, critical thinking, classroom civility, and reflective practices – that cut across departments and disciplines. In addition, more than 140 posters will be showcased during Thursday and Friday’s poster session and mobile lunch. This time provides a venue for more informal dialog and collaborative exchanges.
Authors and presenters represent universities and colleges from both the United States and other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.
The event begins Thursday, Feb. 3 with the opening keynote address by Terry Doyle, professor of reading at Ferris State University and senior instructor for faculty development and coordinator of the New to Ferris Faculty Transition Program for the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning. He will discuss, “Learning in Harmony with Our Brains: What New Research in Neuroscience, Biology and Cognitive Psychology Has to Tell Us about Teaching and Learning.”
Following the conclusion of Thursday’s sessions, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion will host a Principles of Community Reception to encourage discussion of inclusive pedagogy.
A full program on Friday, Feb. 4, concludes with the closing keynote address by Carolin Kreber, professor of teaching and learning in higher education in the Institute of Education, Community and Society at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She will share insight on “Why We Need The ‘Scholarship of Teaching’ for Making Good Educational Judgments.”
The full conference schedule is available at the conference website.
The conference is hosted by Virginia Tech’s Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research and is supported by the Office of the Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Education. In addition, many Virginia Tech colleges, departments, and offices, as well as several corporations, provided additional sponsorship.
For more information, contact Cortney Martin, chair of the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy at (540) 230-9366.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
