Millennial Learning: April 16-17, 2009
Todd Zakrajsek

1. Three More Research Findings and Two Additional Activities That Will Change the Way You Teach
2. When the Best of Intentions Hinders Learning

Todd Zakrajsek is the Executive Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was previously the Director of the Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching at Central Michigan University and the founding Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Southern Oregon University, where he also taught as a tenured Associate Professor in the Psychology Department.

Dr. Zakrajsek received his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Ohio University. He has published and presented widely on the topic of student learning, including workshops and conference keynote addresses in over 30 states and 4 countries in the past several years.

Session 1: Three More Research Findings and Two Additional Activities That Will Change the Way You Teach

Using the same concept as the highly popular session last year at Lilly-East, this fast-paced interactive session is based on additional recent studies in cognitive and social psychology. These findings, all exceptionally important to student learning, will make you think about the way you teach. You will also experience a few new easy classroom activities that can be used in almost any class to improve student learning. This session is designed to give you evidence about how students learn, demonstrate methods to get students involved, and present the material in a way that is easy to implement.

Session 2: When the Best of Intentions Hinders Learning (with Corine Coniglio, Misericordia University)

As faculty without specific training in the area of learning theory, we are often placed into the position of doing what seems to make the best sense and what we really believe will lead to effective learning environments. At times, even with the best of intentions, our behaviors can lead to unfavorable and unintended consequences. For this session, topics include what we might be doing to increase absences, decrease participation, limit preparation for class, and even encourage poorly written papers. In this session we will focus on suggestions for a brighter future and have a bit of fun in the process.