The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning has been extremely busy and productive in the past year. My long absence from the blog is not representative of the quantity and quality of the programming in the FCTL. Beginning with this blog post, I will commit to blog every few weeks to bring to the attention of the instructional community the many exciting opportunities and changes related to pedagogy, assessment, instructional design, classroom technologies, and distance education. In addition, by exploring our website, you will get a feel for all of the changes that have taken place in the past year.
In this blog post, I would like to focus on teaching and learning best practices. In the Spring 2010, we conducted a book discussion on What the Best College Teachers Do, authored by Ken Bain. Over 30 faculty members regularly participated in this book discussion. This past June, I took 3 faculty members with me to the Best College Teachers summer institute. It was, without a doubt, one of the best conferences that I ever attended. It was engaging, inspiring, powerful, and most importantly gave us some practical suggestions for improving teaching practices and ultimately student learning. These experiences led to a Showcase Presentation at the 24th Showcase on Teaching and Learning this past month, as well as the creation of a best practice document compiling sixteen best teaching and learning practices from the Ken Bain book. You will find those best practices on our website at the following link http://www.missouristate.edu/fctl/89072.htm. Our Showcase Presentation can also be accessed on the FCTL website at the following link http://www.missouristate.edu/fctl/88665.htm.
In the next few months, we will begin a series of workshops focused on best practices for teaching and learning. The workshops will be interactive and engaging. In each workshop you will learn about practical strategies and tools that you can use to improve teaching and foster student learning in your classroom. For your convenience, our events are advertised in the Provost’s Communiqué, in the University calendar, and on the main page of the FCTL website
