Daniel Willingham, Professor, University of Virginia
Time: 9:00-12:30 (continental breakfast provided)
Location: Ford Hall 240

The last fifty years has seen unprecedented growth in our knowledge about how people learn. This information has been slow to affect education practice - it's no small matter to move from the laboratory to the classroom. Dan Willingham will present a summary of the most important principles of memory, as well as a summary of research investigating how those principles are best put into classroom practice. Participants will have a chance to reflect on and discuss how this information might apply to their own teaching, and also to ask wide-ranging questions about cognition and how it applies to classroom practice.

Sponsored by the Jacobson Center, Sherrerd Center and the Provost’s Office. Faculty who participate in the workshop will also receive a $100 stipend.

Please RSVP to Patty Tran (ptran@smith.edu) by May 6th.

Bio: Daniel Willingham earned his B.A. from Duke University in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Harvard University in 1990. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1992. Until about 2000, his research focused solely on the brain basis of learning and memory. Today, all of his research concerns the application of cognitive psychology to K-16 education. He writes the “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” column for American Educator magazine, and is an Associate Editor of Mind, Brain, and Education. He is also the author of Why Don't Students Like School? (Jossey-Bass) and When Can You Trust the Experts? (Jossey-Bass). His writing on education has been translated into eleven languages.

What Will Improve a Student's Memory?

Brian Lukoff, Co-founder, Learning Catalytics
Time: 1:30-3:00 (refreshments provided)
Location: Neilson Browsing Room

Peer instruction and other interactive teaching methods have been shown to dramatically improve conceptual understanding. While no technology is necessary to take advantage of these teaching methods, technology can enable the instructor to better understand student understanding, prompt students to engage in deeper thinking, and facilitate more productive student discussions in the classroom. In this talk, I will introduce Learning Catalytics, a cloud-based platform for interactive teaching that allows students to use web-enabled devices -- laptops, smartphones, and tablets -- to engage in rich, authentic tasks in class. With Learning Catalytics, instructors can go beyond clickers and other response systems to create a rich interactive environment that integrates assessment with learning.

In advance of the workshop, please sign up for a Learning Catalytics instructor account at https://learningcatalytics.com/instructor_sign_up. Bring a web-enabled device with you (smartphone, tablet, or laptop) to the workshop; you'll play the role of a student during the workshop as we interactively model how you might use Learning Catalytics for engagement, formative assessment, and peer instruction in class. Sponsored by the Sherrerd Center and Educational Technology.

Please RSVP to Patty Tran (ptran@smith.edu) by May 17th.

Bio: Brian Lukoff is co-founder of Learning Catalytics, a company that grew out of his research work in educational technology at Harvard University. Before coming to Harvard, he was a software engineer at adap.tv, a video advertising startup in Silicon Valley. In addition to his research and technology development work, he has also taught mathematics at Harvard University and Boston University. He received a Ph.D. from the Stanford University School of Education where he studied educational measurement and technology. He also holds an M.S. in statistics from Stanford University and a B.A. in mathematics from Cornell University.