Call for Proposals:
24th Annual
Ann Ferren Conference
Friday, January 11, 2013
The Center for Teaching, Research and Learning is pleased to invite all faculty and staff to propose sessions for the 2013 Ann Ferren Conference. These may include individual or panel presentations, round-table discussions or hands-on workshops.
Proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, September 24, 2012. Sessions will be selected by the Ann Ferren Conference Planning Committee.
If you have questions about this process, please contact Anna Olsson (x6077; aolsson@american.edu) or Marilyn Goldhammer (x2068; goldhamm@american.edu).
Proposal Guidelines
Sessions are one hour and fifteen minutes long, typically feature two or more presenters, and should be as interactive as possible.
In the session proposal form, you will be asked to provide the following information:
- The names, affiliations and contact information of all presenters
- The title of your session
- The session type
- A summary of your session (consisting of up to 250 words), which should address: (1) the goal of the session; (2) who your target audience is; and (3) what you want your audience to think about, to be challenged by, and/or to do differently in their teaching and research as a result of your session.
- A short description of your session (35-45 words), as you would like it to appear in the final conference program
- Your preferred session time slot
- Your audiovisual and other session needs
CLICK HERE to submit a proposal for the 2013 Ann Ferren Conference!
Tips and Ideas for Your Proposal
Click on the links below to read session descriptions from previous conferences:
Following the 2012 Ann Ferren Conference, CTRL asked attendees what session topics they would like to see at next year's conference, and some of these suggestions are listed below. Feel free to use this list of session topic ideas as an inspiration for your own proposal:
Classroom Techniques/Practical Classroom Pedagogy:
- Civility in the classroom
- Experiential learning
- Teaching critical thinking
- Stimulating and managing classroom discussions
- How to motivate students
- Teaching classes that involve creative work
- Encouraging classroom participation
- Field Trips: useful or not?
- The role of lectures in today's classrooms
Assessment and Learning Outcomes:
- Tips on managing grading
- The use of grading rubrics and ways to tie them in to learning objectives
- Learning objectives - best practices
- How to deal with grade inflation
- Evaluating writing in the curriculum
- The grading culture at American University
Meeting diverse student needs:
- Using analytics to identify and assist struggling students
- Helping international students with their writing
- Dealing with students with a broad range of academic backgrounds
- Confronting students' perceptions of themselves as paying consumers rather than learners
- Teaching across cultures
- Dealing with decrease in students' attention span
- Teaching the non-traditionally aged student
- Working with students with psychological issues
Technology in the classroom:
- Incorporating media in the classroom
- The role of online learning at American University
- Using social media to facilitate classroom engagement
- Teaching with the iPad
- Should media skills be incorporated into General Education?
- Can technology make classroom pedagogy more efficient and effective?
Research:
- Student-faculty collaboration in research and publication
- What do do when your manuscript is rejected
Evaluation of Teaching:
- Making sense of student evaluations: mid-semester and SETs
- Beyond SETs: university initiatives
Other Topics:
- Teaching sustainability; teaching sustainably
- Effective strategies for working with Graduate Assistants
- Team teaching
- The culture of cheating in the United States
- Work-life balance
- Collegiality
- Helping adjunct and term faculty participate in the research culture
- Managing stress
- Staying productive
CLICK HERE to submit a proposal for the 2013 Ann Ferren Conference!
If you have any questions about the conference, please contact Anna Olsson at aolsson@american.edu or at extension -6077.
