First Pittsburgh Regional Faculty Symposium Being Called a Success

With nearly 200 professionals from 30 different area institutions, the first Pittsburgh Regional Faculty Symposium is being touted as a success.

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), which collaborated with regional colleges and universities on the March 16 event, co-hosted the event on campus with the University. Support was provided by the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education and Colleagues in Connection.

The symposium focused on the theme of the power of small changes in teaching and learning in higher education that promote student learning, as highlighted in keynote speaker Dr. James Lang’s book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning. Lang is a professor of English and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College.

The symposium featured 14 interactive concurrent sessions on small teaching strategies; a Steal My Idea showcase during which featured participants presented a quick showcase of their unique teaching strategies; and a poster and recipe-for-success session.

Steve Hansen, associate director for faculty development at CTE and Chair of the PRFS Steering Committee:

“The symposium gave faculty an opportunity to explore how little adjustments to one’s teaching can have a big impact on student learning,” said Dr. Steve Hansen, associate director for faculty development for CTE, who chaired the symposium steering committee. “The keynote with James Lang and the symposium emphasized these small practices that faculty can easily adopt. Our goal was to have faculty leave the symposium equipped with ideas that are easy to implement when they teach their next class.”