Hitting the Road: Visual Thinking and Teaching Certificate Programs at #PODHBCU
I’m heading to Atlanta this week for the joint POD Network / HBCU Faculty Development Network conference. I’m on POD’s Core Committee (our board of directors, more or less), so I’m heading down a bit earlier than some. I’m excited about the longer-term strategic planning the Core is doing this year. I’m glad we’re making time for that, and longer-term planning is certainly something I’ve been focusing on in recent weeks at Vanderbilt.
Also exciting is this year’s create@POD event, an evening session featuring (mostly) Ignite-style presentations, each featuring exactly 20 slides and lasting exactly five minutes. The conference team this year is stacked with artistically inclined faculty developers, which means we have several creativity- and arts-oriented items on the program this week, including create@POD.
I’m also co-presenting two sessions at the conference. Details below. If you’re headed to #PODHBCU (as it will be known on Twitter), let me know!
Everyone’s a Visual Learner: Using Visual Thinking in the Classroom
Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt University; Jose Vazquez, University of Texas at San Antonio
Drawing from models that are spreading quickly in the business community, as well as from research-based cognitive theories, this session will help participants: 1) create visual metaphors for their own presentations; 2) share strategies for engaging students in the creation of visuals; and 3) collaborate in identifying ways they (and their faculty colleagues) might use visual thinking in the classroom. Participants will leave the session not only ready to perform the type of PowerPoint “makeovers” in high demand from their faculty, but also to use such makeovers as a spring board to engage faculty in broader conversations on effective pedagogy.
TA Certification Programs: Key Questions for Design and Implementation
Judith Longfield, Georgia Southern University; Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt University; Hugh Crumley, Duke University; William Rando, Yale University
Have you thought about starting a TA Certification Program on your campus or wondered how your current program compares to others? If so, then you will want to attend this session presented by four universities—Duke University, Georgia Southern University, Vanderbilt University and Yale University—some with TA Certification Programs that have been successfully functioning for years and others just now beginning to take shape. In addition to details about the programs on each campus, panel members will present “progress reports” from their institutions before inviting attendees to ask questions and share their experiences.
Image: “Suitcase,” Sarah Macmillan, Flickr (CC)