Teaching and Learning Conference 2017: Conference Theme and Call for Proposals

Photo of question mark on foggy glass window

Theme: Cultivating Curiosity in Teaching and Learning

Curiosity is at the heart of inquiry and exploration and is a powerful motivator for learning. It lights up our brains, motivates us to seek new information and experiences, and leads to new frontiers in understanding.

Through dialogue, discussion, and debate with colleagues, we grapple collectively with the big questions in our fields. But how do we pique students’ curiosity about our fields and invite them into this lively conversation? And how do we integrate this spirit of scholarly inquiry into teaching and learning? What good questions are we asking about teaching, learners, and learning?

For this year’s Conference, we invite you to share your own curiosity about teaching and learning, as well as how you foster student curiosity.

Questions to Consider

How can we be curious with our students and involve them in research?
How do we ignite and build on students’ curiosity about our fields?
How can we teach students to ask meaningful questions that draw on facts, hunches, unusual connections, and imagination?
How do we demonstrate and promote curiosity about teaching and learning within ourselves and amongst our colleagues and students?
How can we be curious about our students’ learning, motivations, and goals?

Proposal Guidelines

We welcome proposals from faculty, staff, and students. Please consider the following when developing your proposal:

Proposals should be related to the conference theme and/or its sub-questions.
Proposals may be research-based, practice-based, or both.
Consider how your session will be relevant to people from a variety of disciplines.
Consider the following: if participants were to leave with just one idea from your session that they could integrate into their work, what would it be?
Individuals may present in a maximum of one session. Individuals may be authors, however, in more than one session. If you are submitting a poster, you may present at up to two sessions.
Proposals are limited to 300 words.

Session Format Options

Presentation: 25 minutes (15-minute presentation, plus 10-minute discussion period). Share an approach (practice-based), present empirical findings, or examine theoretical or methodological issues (research-based).
Panel Discussion: 55 minutes. With a panel of colleagues, address different topics related to the Conference theme and/or its sub-questions. Topics may raise issues and include insights from practice, research, or both. Panels may relate to one discipline, several disciplines, or integrate insights gained from working in an interdisciplinary/multi-disciplinary way. Panels should involve three to five panelists, as well as a moderator, and should include a discussion period of 15 to 20 minutes.
Workshop: 55 minutes. Take participants through the process of designing and implementing a strategy that you have used and the insights gained from using that strategy, with some hands-on time built in.
Alternative session format: 25 minutes or 55 minutes. We invite you to propose a format for your session that may better suit your outcomes than the session formats suggested above. When submitting your proposal, please describe the session format, how it relates to your session outcomes, and the amount of time needed.
Poster: Share an approach (practice-based), or present empirical findings (research-based). While the poster should be self-contained and informative, we expect the author(s) to be present during our poster session to interact with the conference participants.

Proposal Review Criteria