Our Center for Teaching and Learning here at Cedarville just completed an intense two-week faculty Teaching and Learning Conference. During the two-week conference, we had over 60 faculty attend over 300 sessions on a wide variety of topics from the technological to the pedagogical and everything in between. Faculty got the chance to see new technology, discuss innovative teaching practices and eat donuts every morning from 9-10. Overall, for our first ever faculty development offering, it was a smashing success. More to come.
As I reflect on the conference, something interesting comes to mind. When it comes to new teaching technology, we’ll never have any trouble getting the early adopters and the techno-curious to attend the sessions; but if you want diverse participation, offer sessions that focus on teaching practice and the role of the professor as teacher. There appears to be a great hunger at Cedarville for discussion/advice/sharing/confrontation about the practice of teaching. I believe this bodes well for the future of the Center for Teaching and Learning and our role of helping our faculty become reflective teachers.
What does it take to become a reflective teacher? Most definitely, a willingness to try things you’ve never tried before, including new technology, new approaches to delivering content, new methods of determining how/if course objectives are met. Reflective teaching requires curiosity and humility – dedication to the notion that teaching is an “evolutionary” practice and that no one ever fully “gets it” no matter how long he or she has been managing the learning environment. Finally, reflective teaching requires an atmosphere and organization that rewards the exemplar teacher alongside the accomplished researcher and expert in a field.
I look forward to more opportunities to foster reflective teaching at Cedarville.
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