The
Program
| Past
Participants |
| If you have attended the Institute in the past,
be assured that the 28th Annual Institute will be equally valuable and enjoyable
(more so, we hope!). New speakers at each Institute provide unique and current
information to assist you in improving your teaching effectiveness. Continued
participation in the Institute will keep you abreast of new developments
in textbook publishing and educational computer software, as well as lecture
content and classroom techniques. |
The 28th Annual National Institute on the Teaching of
Psychology is sponsored by the University of South Florida and the American
Psychological Society. It is designed for teachers of psychology at universities,
two- and four-year colleges, and high schools, who wish to enhance and broaden
their teaching skills. The Institute has achieved an international reputation
for its commitment to excellence in the teaching of psychology. The Program
Committee for the 28th Institute (Doug Bernstein, Chair, Bill Buskist, Robert
Hendersen, Sandra Goss Lucas, and Jane Halonen) has created a program which
spans a wide range of course content areas, and is designed to meet the needs
expressed by past participants and psychology faculty in general. Presentation
formats are diverse and provide an atmosphere that supports individual involvement
and group interaction. Presentations by 40 distinguished faculty (see biographical
sketches at 
)
will include two-hour and three-hour workshops, one-hour concurrent lectures
on various content and technique topics (which will be presented twice to ease
the dilemma of choosing among them), and general sessions on topics of interest
to all participants. Opportunities for sharing ideas with both Institute faculty
and other participants will include three poster sessions, three participant
idea exchanges, and informal discussions at meals and evening social hours.
In order to assure that all participants can select a personal agenda that meets
their professional development needs, enrollment in the Institute will be limited
to 350 participants. The program begins on Monday, January 2, with registration
and a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and six morning workshops beginning
at 8:00 a.m. It ends on Thursday, January 5, at 12:30 p.m., after
the closing session and the announcement of poster awards.
Workshops
on Monday
| Psi Beta (Psi Chi's sister organization): A Springboard
for Early Student Professionalism, Community Service, Academic Recognition,
and Retention ·
Alberta Johnson and James Braun ·
Data suggest that student participation in college (non-Greek) organizations
is linked to higher student retention rates and greater student satisfaction
with the college experience. One organization associated with such positive
outcomes is Psi Beta, the national honor society in psychology for community
and junior colleges. In addition to recognizing excellence in scholarship,
this affiliate of APA and APS promotes and encourages leadership, research,
and community service. The presenters represent both local chapter and national
perspectives. They will provide a brief overview of Psi Beta and its benefits
to students, and information about professional development opportunities
for Psi Beta faculty advisors at state, regional, and national levels. Workshop
participants will learn the "nuts and bolts" of organizing and
advising a Psi Beta chapter, including suggestions for chapter activities,
community service, fundraising, and educational projects. Presenters will
be prepared to guide, advise, and support any participants who might wish
to start a Psi Beta chapter at their own institutions. |
| Annual STP Workshop: From Laboratory to Lecture
Hall: Using Behavior Analysis to Improve Your Teaching ·
Bryan Saville ·
Behavior-analytic principles have been studied extensively in the laboratory
and applied successfully in numerous settings. However, psychology teachers
typically have not taken advantage of these powerful and well-established
pedagogical tools in their classrooms. In this workshop, I will be discussing
ways that psychology teachers can use basic behavior-analytic principles
as means for enhancing student learning. In addition, we will be discussing
inter-teaching, a new pedagogical method based on behavior-analytic principles,
which has been shown to be more effective than traditional methods of instruction.
Finally, participants will discuss other ways in which they can use these
principles to improve their teaching. |
| Annual Introductory Psychology Forum: Spicing
Up the Introductory Course for You and Your Students ·
Robert Hendersen, Sandra Goss Lucas, and Dana Dunn ·
The Introductory Psychology Forum is a continuing feature of NITOP.
Each year the Forum addresses a topic suggested by participants in the previous
year's workshop. Each of the three forum facilitators briefly discusses
an approach to the topic, and this is followed by an open discussion wherein
all participants are encouraged and expected to contribute. In this year's
forum, Dana Dunn will discuss tools and techniques for teaching (instead
of avoiding) unfamiliar topics, some of which are inevitably far beyond
the instructor's areas of interest or expertise. Sandra Goss Lucas will
discuss ways to change a course, including how to decide what to change
and how to use changes to enhance active learning. Robert Hendersen will
discuss ways in which instructors can stay fresh and engaged when they teach
the introductory course repeatedly. The discussion that follows will provide
participants with the opportunity to share the ways in which they "spice
up" their own courses. |
| Beyond Teaching Tips: Using Psychology to Teach
Introductory Psychology in High School and Undergraduate Classrooms ·
Amy Fineburg and Stephen Chew ·
Psychology teachers know more about how people learn than teachers
in any other discipline, yet we often fail to use what we know to improve
student learning. This disconnection between what we know and how we teach
is most apparent at the point at which students first encounter psychology
at the high school or undergraduate level. To advance the teaching of psychology,
psychology teachers must move beyond simple teaching tips to a scholarship
of teaching psychology in which innovative acts of teaching are considered
scholarship if they are documented, peer reviewed, and form the basis of
further advancements. This workshop is designed to help participants base
their courses on scholarship in the teaching of psychology, to incorporate
relevant cognitive research into teaching practice, and to use their classroom
as a laboratory for continually evaluating and improving their teaching.
|
| Enhancing Your Enjoyment of Teaching and Life:
Coping with the Slings and Arrows of Academe ·
Barry Perlman and Lee McCann ·
The slings and arrows of academe are increasing in frequency and intensity
and can inflict real damage. Teachers who do not take care of themselves
find work is no longer fun. They lose creativity, and their teaching suffers.
This workshop is designed to help faculty explore how to identify and solve
work-related problems and to maintain or recover vitality in their teaching
and their lives by using new teaching approaches, taking advantage of new
opportunities, taking better care of themselves, improving their personal
environments, and minimizing such negative experiences as isolation and
helplessness. We will offer a step-by-step process for defining and assessing
problems and for evaluating solutions to those problems. Participants will
then be asked to apply this process in small group discussions. We hope
that all participants will come away from the workshop with a number of
ideas on how they might increase their enjoyment of their jobs and their
lives-and have some fun in the process! |
|
Undergraduate Psychology Major Competencies:
Start to Finish and Everything In-Between ·
Patricia Puccio ·
In 2002, the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Undergraduate
Psychology Major Competencies outlined goals and suggested learning outcomes
for the psychology major across educational contexts. Building on the
work of this task force, workshop participants will discuss competencies
that can serve as benchmarks of success as students move along the path
from their first course through degree attainment. Sample models will
be presented for participants to build upon in this interactive session.
Models for teaching, learning, and assessment will also be discussed.
|
Poster
Sessions
| Poster Awards |
| The Frank Costin Memorial Award for Excellence
(a certificate, a check for $250, and one
complimentary registration for a future NITOP conference) will be given
to the author(s) of the poster presentation judged by Institute faculty
as best promoting quality teaching methods. At the 27th Annual NITOP (January
2005), this award was presented to Guy A. Boysen for his poster entitled
"A Library Field Trip Activity to Achieve McKeachie's First Day of
Class Goals." |
| The Society for the Teaching of Psychology Award
(a certificate, a check for $250, and a free one-year membership in STP)
will be given to the author(s) of the poster presentation judged by Institute
faculty as best incorporating new or innovative content into psychology
courses. This award was presented at the 27th Annual NITOP (January 2005)
to Michael R. Hulsizer and Linda M. Woolf for their poster entitled "Incorporating
Online Hate Sites into Social Psychology Classes." |
| The Doug Bernstein Award (a certificate,
a check for $250, and one complimentary registration for a future NITOP
conference) will be given to the author(s) of the poster presentation judged
by Institute faculty as the most humorous, creative, or original poster.
The First Annual Doug Bernstein Award was presented at the 27th Annual NITOP
(January 2005) to Brian L. Burke for his poster entitled "'PoPS' Art:
Paintings of Piaget's Stages." |
| The NITOP 2006 poster award winners will be announced
at the closing session. |
|
For more information on past award recipients,
see  .
|
Three poster sessions will allow for presentations by
Institute participants on topics related to the teaching of psychology. These
sessions provide the opportunity for informal exchange among participants and
the valuable sharing of teaching ideas that has been acclaimed by past participants
in the Institute. The schedule for poster presentations will be posted at 
prior to the Institute. For information on submitting a poster proposal, click
on 
.
Participant
Idea Exchanges
Three participant idea exchanges will offer participants
the opportunity to share teaching ideas in a roundtable format. During these
sessions, participants who submit various teaching-related topics will lead
informal discussion of those topics at specifically designated large round tables.
The list of titles will be posted at
prior to the Institute and will appear in the conference program, so participants
may select those of special interest in advance; you may join or leave the discussion
at each location as the spirit moves you. For information on submitting a participant
idea exchange proposal, click on .
Software and Book Displays
Learn how to use instructional computing in your psychology
classes and explore software packages that will make it possible for you to
easily implement these techniques following the Institute. The software displays
and demonstrations will be held in conjunction with the poster sessions, so
you may evaluate these resources without missing any formal presentations. We
also encourage you to explore software during any of your personal breaks, and
to speak directly with program developers about incorporating computer technology
into your courses. During the poster sessions and at other times throughout
the Institute, representatives from the following sponsoring publishers will
be on hand to acquaint you with the latest textbooks, software, and other materials
relating to a variety of psychology courses:
|
Allyn & Bacon Longman Publishing Company
|
|
American Psychological Association
|
| American Psychological Society |
|
Blackwell Publishing Company
|
|
Houghton Mifflin Company
|
|
Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers
|
|
McGraw-Hill Higher Education
|
|
Prentice Hall Publishing Company
|
|
Wadsworth Publishing Company
|
| John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
|
Worth Publishing Company
|
| Employment
Opportunities |
| A bulletin board will be available for posting employment
opportunities near the registration desk. Please bring your announcement
to the Institute. An interview room will be available which may be used
by employers and applicants during the conference. |
Registration
Your registration fee includes admission to all conference
events, three buffet breakfasts, two buffet luncheons, the reception on Monday
evening, and refreshments at all coffee breaks and poster sessions. In addition,
the conference proceedings will include approximately 200 pages of handouts
provided by invited speakers, to assist you in implementing new techniques and
teaching ideas in your own courses following the conference. More information
on registration is available at 
.
Local Attractions
For participants and families who wish to visit local
attractions while in the area, we recommend the following (visit their websites
for details): (1) Salvador
Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, (2) MOSI
(Museum of Science & Industry) in Tampa, (3) Clearwater
Marine Aquarium, and (4) Florida
Aquarium in Tampa. Attractions less than 90 minutes away include Busch
Gardens in Tampa and Disney
World, Sea World,
and Universal
Studios in Orlando.