Hello Everyone!

I am pleased to serve once again as the chair of the 2011 Associate Faculty and Lecturers' Conference. Thanks to the work of our top notch planning committee, this year’s conference promises to be another exciting time of sharing, and we will be exploring some new and innovative changes that some of our colleagues have made in their classes which have improved the learning process.

This year’s theme is “Innovations in Teaching.” As the planning committee, we again spent time thinking and talking about how we can best impact our students and develop as more capable instructors. We agreed that our students today are unlike our students of the past in many ways and faculty conversations seem to focus on how our students experience the classroom given the rapid-fire existence in regard to communication and technology they seem to lead. We were fortunate to discover that there are people who have developed and are using new methods that are designed to engage students both in the instructor’s content area, as well as beyond the curriculum laid out in the syllabus.

Past conferences have looked at best practices, learning styles of students, and many other facets of the teaching and learning process. We have asked whether there were “sure-fire” methods to communicate our expectations to our students in ways that they can all understand in spite of the fact that our students come from a very wide range of background. We have had presentations that we know have affected many members of our faculty because these presentations have made positive changes in the classroom.

This year’s conference will provide you with an opportunity to learn new and innovative changes that some of your colleagues have made in their classes that are related to uses of new technology, how to facilitate learning in content areas, and reaching beyond course content to teach students about the skills needed to be an active, participatory, and fully functioning member of today’s society. A variety of presentations and workshops will be offered in which we hope you will find the inspiration to “… dwell in the mystery of good teaching… “ (Palmer, 1990) and that you will develop new relationships with other faculty who are part of the Indiana University family.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the conference on October 14 & 15 at the Indianapolis Marriott East.

Jon Becker (IUN)
2011 FACET Associate Faculty and Lecturers Conference Chair