Pedagogy Day
March 14, 2024
"Small Changes with Big Impacts"
Welcome to Pedagogy Day 2024, a new one-day conference hosted at Eastern Illinois University. The purpose of this event is to cultivate a space where faculty and instructors can explore, share, and engage with proven effective practices for teaching and learning at the university level.
Registration is now open! To register, please visit: Pedagogy Day Registration Link
Final Full Program: Pedagogy Day Program (14-March-2024)
You can view the preliminary schedule here: Pedagogy Day Schedule At-A-Glance
Inspired by the large learning strides possible through small instructional design and teaching adjustments, the theme for Pedagogy Day 2024 is “Small Changes with Big Impacts”. This theme draws support from the book “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning,” by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel who argue that many common teaching and learning habits, such as massed practice, rereading or cramming, and the “fire hose” method of lecturing are counterproductive. Rather, with small changes rooted in the learning sciences applied to instructional design and teaching, content retention, retrieval, and ultimately learning outcomes can improve.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Andrew C. Butler, Ph.D.,
Chair and Associate Professor of Education and Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis.
Dr. Butler is interested in the malleability of memory – the cognitive processes and mechanisms that cause memories to change or remain stable over time.
Dr. Butler’s research focuses on applying the science of learning to enhance educational practice with an emphasis on understanding the complexity of implementation within different educational contexts. He is interested in student-centered interventions that involve implementing simple but powerful principles within educational contexts to improve long-term retention, promote deeper understanding, and motivate engagement and persistence in the face of challenge. In addition, he is interested in helping teachers to acquire knowledge about how to use principles from the science of learning to improve and expand their pedagogy. Finally, he also investigates how technology can be leveraged to facilitate learning inside and outside of the classroom.
The call for proposals has ended!
See below for the call for proposals information:
Under the overarching theme of “Small Changes with Big Impacts,” we invite proposals that address foundational and innovative pedagogy practices that transcend departmental and college boundaries. Proposals should support innovative teaching and have demonstrable evidence of impact on learning.
Proposals for presentations are welcome until the deadline of 11:59 pm, January 19, 2024. Submissions should be sent to fdic@eiu.edu. The primary contact person will receive a decision via email no later than February 1, 2024. Download a copy of this call for proposals at this link.
While we welcome proposals on various aspects of pedagogical innovation and excellence, our specific areas of focus include, but are not limited to:
- Assessment strategies that foster learner engagement and knowledge generation.
- Active learning practices that boost learner engagement and interaction with course materials and peers.
- Original or reconceptualized instructional materials that promote learning.
- Technology-enhanced teaching and learning.
- Accessibility concerns and Universal Design for Learning principles.
- Inclusive instructional design for teaching and learning.
These areas of focus can be considered from various institutional perspectives, including faculty and instructors, the Library, Writing Center, and other academic resources, learner support services, learners themselves, and instructional technology support.
Proposal Information
The proposal form includes the following fields:
- Name, title, department and institution name, and email address of each facilitator.
- Session format (see below).
- Session title.
- Keywords related to the selected areas of focus for the session (assessment strategies, active learning, learner engagement, instructional materials, technology-enhanced teaching, Universal Design for Learning, inclusive instructional design, or other).
- Description of session, including background and evidence of effectiveness of work being presented (400-word limit) and participant learning outcomes and/or engagement (100-word limit), submitted as a single document.
Successful proposals will address many of the following criteria:
- Inform pedagogical approaches with concrete examples.
- Highlight the impacts on learning outcomes.
- Define how engagement will take place for session attendees.
- Provide physical and/or digital access to key takeaway resources.
Session Formats
- Paper Presentation (10-12 minutes): Papers may report the results of completed research, describe research in progress, or present a position on a compelling problem or issue relevant to one or more of the conference areas. Research papers should highlight the problem, results, and conclusions while very briefly touching on method. Papers will be grouped into sessions with similarly themed projects.
- Panel Presentation (45 minutes, 2-4 panelists): Panel sessions offer two to four presenters the opportunity to weave together innovative ideas, practical experiences, fresh approaches and perspectives, and critical reflection on a theme or topic related to the conference theme of Small Changes with Big Impacts. Lasting a total of 45 minutes for all speakers and Q&A, these sessions are intended to inspire participants to consider multiple, diverse perspectives on a particular topic and their potential impact.
- Facilitated Roundtable Discussion (45 minutes): Facilitated roundtable discussions provide time for colleagues to examine topics of similar interest through a sharing of expertise and experiences. They provide an opportunity to work through concepts, engage in problem-solving, and explore new ideas—all from multiple perspectives. Facilitators should be prepared to share 3-4 questions and related materials in advance for interested participants to consider prior to attending the session.
- Poster Session: Poster presenters share visual models of curricular and cocurricular innovations and novel approaches, strategies for institutional transformation and/or new project development, findings and data from research projects, or novel designs for supporting high-impact practices.
- “Lightning Talk” Innovation Sessions (new tool, technology or approach) (7 minutes): "Lightning talks" are brief innovation sharing sessions during with a new tool, idea or approach is discussed. These sessions should build in time for inspiring participants to engage in dialogue and collaborative problem-solving and trying something new.
