The
Program
| Past
Participants |
| If you have attended the Institute in the past,
be assured that the 29th 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 29th Annual National Institute on the Teaching of
Psychology is sponsored by the University of South Florida and the Association
for Psychological Science. 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 29th Institute (Doug Bernstein, Chair, Bill Buskist, Robert
Hendersen, Sandra Goss Lucas, and Linda Woolf) 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 over 30 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 get-togethers.
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 Wednesday, January 3, with registration
and a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and five morning workshops beginning
at 8:00 a.m. It ends on Saturday, January 6, at Noon, after the announcement
of poster awards and the closing session.
Opening
Workshops
| Annual STP Workshop: Eat Your F.I.B.E.R.S.:
How to Help Students Digest Psychological Science • Brian Burke
• One of our most difficult–and rewarding–quests as
teachers of psychology is to get students hooked on science. This workshop
will illustrate that our success in this regard is not only possible, but
likely, if we present and package psychological science in a digestible
format. Despite the common tendency to simply present a study in "APA
style" (intro, methods, results, discussion), there are actually a
plethora of different ways in which to present psychological research or
"data" to our students, each with varying aims and goals. This
workshop will discuss the "FIBERS" approach, a mnemonic that captures
six different ways to get students interested when presenting psychological
research in any class. Throughout, teachers will be encouraged to consider
how they present research across the psychology curriculum in order to optimize
student participation and interest in the science of psychology. |
| Improving Your Teaching through Assessment and
Feedback • Bill Buskist and Victor Benassi • At some
point in their academic careers, teachers who are serious about their work
will ask themselves a critical question: "How can I become a more effective
teacher?" One of the most beneficial answers to this question centers
on authentic and consistent assessment and feedback regarding all aspects
of their teaching. In this workshop, we provide an interactive overview
of effective assessment and feedback strategies and tactics as they relate
to different forms of teaching: small and large classes, laboratory courses,
seminars, and so on. We will discuss assessment in terms of who does the
assessment, when it is done, and for what purpose it is done. Our goal is
for each participant to leave the workshop with an individualized plan for
assessing his or her teaching and a strategy for implementing that plan
in the spring term. |
| Designing and Implementing Assessment Systems
for Psychology Departments • Tom Pusateri • This workshop
will present strategies for designing and implementing a system for assessing
outcomes in psychology programs consistent with the 2002 APA Task Force
report, "Undergraduate Psychology Major Learning Goals and Outcomes."
These strategies may help participants and their departmental colleagues
to: articulate key learning goals and outcomes for their programs; reach
consensus on shared standards for assessing student work across sections
of one or more courses; communicate expectations to prospective students
and majors; and collect, analyze, and report data that may generate further
discussion for maintaining or improving the quality of the program. |
|
Annual Introductory Psychology Forum: Beyond
Carrots and Sticks: Promoting Self-Regulated Learning in Introductory
Psychology • Bob Hendersen, Sandra Goss Lucas, and Jane Noll
• Each year the Introductory Psychology Forum addresses a topic
suggested by participants in the previous year's workshop and each of
three facilitators briefly discusses an approach to the topic. These presentations
are followed by an open discussion, wherein all the participants in the
forum are encouraged (and expected!) to contribute actively to the discussion.
Good instructors want their students to be motivated
by more than grades. They also want their students to be able to engage
course material effectively when they study. Ideally, all students would
be able to learn and think critically without an instructor guiding every
step of the process, but in reality many students need help in achieving
these goals. How can we best help students to become motivated, effective,
self-regulated learners in Introductory Psychology? The three presenters
will each suggest some ways to address these challenges. The discussion
that follows will provide participants the opportunity to share the ways
they motivate their students and help and encourage students to become
self-regulated learners.
|
|
Interpersonally Interactive, Discovery-Based
Learning—Online • Morton Ann Gernsbacher •
In this workshop, I shall describe the curriculum and format of
a completely online capstone course. The course features discovery-based
learning (i.e., students are responsible for actively seeking and synthesizing
the course's content), a high degree of peer interaction (i.e., students
meet weekly in small groups in chat rooms and even more frequently post
the results of their discovery to bulletin boards), and a high degree
of peer feedback (i.e., students are responsible for providing feedback
to their peers' discussion board posts as well as formulating group inquiries).
Quantitative data demonstrate that students perceive the course as more
interpersonally engaging than traditional face-to-face courses and that
they feel considerably more comfortable contributing to group discussion.
|
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. |
| 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. |
| 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 NITOP 2007 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
|
| Bent Tree Press |
|
Blackwell Publishing Company
|
|
Houghton Mifflin Company
|
|
McGraw-Hill Higher Education
|
|
Prentice Hall Publishing Company
|
| Society for the Teaching of Psychology |
|
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, four breakfasts, two luncheons, the reception on Wednesday 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.