Lots of activity at the Symposium on Teaching and Learning
The Diamond Alumni Centre at SFU Burnaby is the place to be today and tomorrow. The Symposium on Teaching and Learning began this morning with welcoming remarks by Jonathan Driver, vice-president, academic, and a keynote address by Julie Christensen Hughes, who is dean of the College of Management and Economics at the University of Guelph and past president of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Christensen Hughes spoke about “Education at the Cross-Roads: An Imperative to Change.” Her presentation outlined some of the environmental challenges facing universities, including financial pressures, changes in student demographics, and technological shifts that have made information ubiquitous. She then invited symposium participants to consider the implications of these changes. Finally, she presented several findings contained in Taking Stock: Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, a book she co-edited with Joy Mighty that demonstrates a clear link between how faculty members teach and how (and what) students learn. A number of concurrent sessions will be held throughout the rest of the day, and a reception and poster sessions will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Another full day is on tap for tomorrow. To follow the symposium on Twitter, search for the #SFUSTL hashtag.