Early Spring 2020 Professional Development Opportunities

Greetings and welcome back from the holidays!

Here are a few save-the-dates and resources to get you started!

1) We had our faculty retreat yesterday in the library which was great. Time for work, time to learn, time to socialize. Here are some pics of the day

2) The Chronicle has a weekly teaching newsletter that is free and comes to your email.  This is a good way to quickly stay abreast of what’s happening in teaching.

3) Considering a teaching conference this year?

The Lilly Conference in Bethesda, MD is at end of May (28-30) and has a call for proposals open through February 14th. Get in touch if you’d like help putting together a proposal!

Lancaster Learns is another teaching-related, local, and affordable conference with good keynotes and food!  February 28th is the date.

4) Mark your calendars for upcoming workshops and teaching-related events in January and February:

A. James Lang, author of Small Teaching, will be at UP in January doing several sessions. He will also be doing a Zoom session for those who can’t travel.  Go to their January Events page for more info and to register. The online session is noon on January 30th.

B. Carla Seward is coming to campus to do a faculty workshop on Using Adobe Spark – a versatile tool that let’s you create simple web pages, edit video, or edit photos. It is a good choice for student projects where you want the focus on content and not the technology! Mark your calendars – Tuesday February 18th at noon – GISTC 108

C. Our Faculty Learning Communities are getting underway again! We have three very active and interesting groups that meet on campus and all are welcome! Get in touch with me if you are interested in joining as a new member.

i. Creativity in the Practice of Teaching – Leader: Noel Sloboda

This initiative will address traditional topics in pedagogy but from an unusual angle, with readings of poetry and non-fiction texts composed by educational professionals. Participants will not be limited to theoretical or rational analysis. Instead, they will engage their experiences as teachers on a personal level and on an emotional level. Besides sharing the work of others, participants will have opportunities to produce their own creative works, which will enable them to gain insights into, and take ownership of their teaching in ways that they might not have previously enjoyed.  Here are some highlights from the fall sessions This group meets monthly on Thursdays in SP 2020. First meeting is January 30th at noon in GISTC 107.

ii. Reading Group: Teaching in Higher Ed – Leader: Barb Eshbach

This groups meets monthly (Tuesdays) to discuss a current text on teaching in higher ed. In the fall, the group explored The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion by Sarah Rose Cavanagh. Barb built a wonderful website with synopses and resources on the topic. In spring, to group will be reading a new text. Stay tuned for details and our first meeting date.

iii. Writing Towards Publication – Leader: Jennifer Nesbitt

Weekly meetings (Fridays) in the library at Penn State York (and via Zoom remotely) provide a quiet, supportive community format for working on writing or research pursuits. Each session ends with a half-hour reporting period during which participants share goals and milestones as well as seek advice and support in navigating publication and professional life. Pictures and information on group activities can be found here. First meeting is Friday January 17th in the library conference room from 8:30 – noon (arrive as you can).

More to come as the semester unfolds!

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply