Stelzer to discuss transforming student learning through technology

10:35 a.m., Nov. 30, 2011--Tim Stelzer, research associate professor of physics at the University of Illinois, has two distinct areas of development to share with University of Delaware faculty -- his approach to teaching and his use of clickers. He will present on each of these topics in separate sessions on Friday, Dec. 9.

Stelzer has been heavily involved with the Physics Education Group at Illinois, where he has led the development and implementation of tools for assessing the effectiveness of educational innovations in introductory courses and expanding the use of Web technology in physics pedagogy. 

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Stelzer was also instrumental in the development of i>clicker, UD’s campus-wide classroom response system.

Stelzer's presentations on Dec. 9 are as follows:

• "Using Web-Based Activities Before Lecture to Transform Student Learning in Lecture." This session will be held from 10-11:30 a.m. in 208 Gore Hall. 

Students' unprecedented access to content on the Web is providing a unique opportunity to transform the role of lectures in education, moving the focus from content delivery to helping students synthesize content into knowledge. 

The University of Illinois has introduced a variety of activities to facilitate this transformation, including Web-based preflight assessments of student understanding before lectures, Web-based multimedia pre-lectures designed to provide students with content before lectures and peer instruction (clickers) to assess and facilitate student understanding during lectures.

In this session, Stelzer will discuss the pedagogical motivation for introducing these activities, and the impact they have had at the University of Illinois, including published outcomes data that demonstrate the effectiveness of using Web-based activities to enhance learning. 

Register for the "Using Web-Based Activities Before Lecture to Transform Student Learning in Lecture" session.

• "Models and Best Practices for Using Clickers in Your Classroom." This session will be held from 1:30-3 p.m., also in 208 Gore Hall.

Stelzer’s second session will promote ideas for engaging students during lecture and best practices for using clickers in class. He will discuss the pedagogical strengths regarding the original i>clicker's simplistic design compared to enhancements in the newest version of the technology. 

Several UD faculty members will share their insights, with ample time for discussion and building cross-discipline connections.

Register for the "Models and Best Practices for Using Clickers in Your Classroom" session.

More information about Stelzer’s presentations is available at the ATS website. 

2012 Winter Faculty Institute

Save the date Jan. 10, 2012, when Renee Hobbs, founder of Temple University's Media Education Lab and the founding director of the University of Rhode Island's Harrington School of Communication and Media, will be the keynote presenter for the Winter Faculty Institute. 

To learn more and to register, visit the Winter Faculty Institute’s website and watch for updates on UDaily.

Photo by L. Brian Stauffer/University of Illinois