CIRTL Presentations at the Annual POD Conference

The 30th annual Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) conference, “A Gathering by the Waters: Exploring Possibilities and Engaging Ideas,” was held on the weekend of October 27-30, 2005 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Several researchers from the Delta program attended the conference and presented papers that deal with different aspects of effective teaching and learning practices.  Delta is a Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Together with Alice Pawley, a CIRTL Instructor (Diversity in the College Classroom course) and Judith Burstyn, UW-Madison Professor of Chemistry and Lead Scholar of the CIRTL Diversity Institute, Don Gillian-Daniel, Delta Program Assistant Director, presented “Effectively Addressing Diversity in Practice: Stories Told and Lessons Learned.”  Gillian-Daniel’s session focused on internship programs designed to give science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduate students and postdoctoral researchers authentic teaching experiences in which they address diversity.  Through interns’ stories, experiences, and struggles to develop personally meaningful and practically applicable definitions of diversity, conference attendees talked about the challenges of engaging students and faculty in discussions about diversity. 

According to Gillian-Daniel, “The session was great! We got into a really interesting discussion with audience members about how individuals begin to develop and then change their definitions of diversity, what individual and institutional factors inhibit this process, and the need for a better way of understanding this process [of developing a personally meaningful, and practically applicable definition of diversity].”

“Expeditions in Learning:  Low Risk, Low Cost, High Impact Professional Development,” presented by Delta Associate Director Chris Carlson-Dakes, and CIRTL Instructor Alice Pawley introduced the basics of the Expeditions in Learning (EL) program at UW-Madison.  EL exists to bridge the gap between the growing need for current and future faculty and students to be familiar, comfortable, and skilled working in complex and diverse settings, and the opportunities that exist on most campuses to explore issues of diversity.  The session focused on the principles and structures of the EL program and how to adapt the program at other institutions. 

Carlson-Dakes thought that the conference was a success, “The conference was a great way to continue to meet people, learn about new programs and ideas, and develop connections for our work with other institutions.  For the first time, I felt confident and affirmed as a white male doing diversity work at a national level.  Being part of a wonderful group of colleagues with the backing of a strong program energized me to keep going.”

Pawley had similar feelings about her experience at the conference, “I love going to POD because I feel surrounded by ‘kindred spirits.’  Everyone there is interested in improving student learning whether through faculty or instructional or graduate student development.  Smart, interesting, and committed people come to POD and are so willing to share ideas, resources, and even troubles.  I appreciate the wealth of new ideas, as well as the opportunity to get a little soul recharge from other people as interested in improving student learning as I am.”

Christine Pfund, Delta Associate Director, Co-Director Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching (WPST) and Sarah Lauffer, Co-Director WPST presented “Learning to be Effective Mentors for Undergraduate and Graduate Researchers.”  Their session focused on the mentoring training seminar developed as a part of the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching (For more information, visit http://scientificteaching.wisc.edu/).  They presented a case study and led a discussion on topics that have emerged repeatedly in the seminar.  They also discussed how this approach could be adapted and used at other institutions.

CIRTL Researchers Mark Connolly, Matthew Clifford, and Jana Bouwma-Gearhart, presented, “Tailoring SOTL For STEM Fields At a Research-One Institution.”  In this session, they reported on the advantages, disadvantages, and outcomes of a change strategy that they called “local customization.”  They discussed how and why a SOTL-like conception of practitioner research was designed, customized, and received by STEM constituents at a research university and the effects of customization. 

Jen Schoepke, a research assistant with the Delta Program, was a POD conference attendee, “The POD Conference was like no other conference I have been to.  The sessions were focused around bringing in the audience as active participants in discussions surrounding teaching and learning.  The people at the conference were one of the highlights—they were all excited about teaching and learning—the sense of community was overwhelming.  Between the people, the session formats, and the topics, I truly felt as if I belonged and that my research in teaching and learning was valued.  From the conference, I am taking away a large list of peers whom I intend to have ongoing discussions about teaching and learning, particularly about diversity topics.” 

For more information on the work being done at Delta, visit the Delta website at http://www.delta.wisc.edu/.

For more information on the 2005 POD Conference visit the POD Network website at http://www.podnetwork.org/conferences/2005/.

CIRTL
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