Robert Talbert is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics. Although his background is in pure mathematics, Robert's main area of scholarship for the past several years has been the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). He is particularly interested in how technology can be used to support active learning environments in university mathematics and computer science courses to improve student learning. He has published four peer-reviewed articles since 2013 on the use of flipped learning environments in computer science and mathematics courses. He is currently collaborating on two SoTL projects. One, with Marcia Frobish (Mathematics), is investigating the effects of flipped learning environments on student conceptual and metacognitive gains in introductory Calculus. The other, with Amy Schelling (Education), will study the effects of flipped learning on students with learning disabilities enrolled in college algebra courses. To learn more, visit his blog.

Thursday, March 26, 3pm- 5pm, 230-250 Bicycle Factory

Join us for an afternoon of retirement wisdom that you won't get from just your financial adviser.
Social Security Benefits 3:10-4:10pm
Vonda Vantil, Social Security Administration
GVSU Retiree Benefits 4:15-5:00pm 
Kurt Swardenski, Advantage Benefits Group

For more information contact Susan Sloop in Health and Wellness.

Monday - Friday, June 1-5, 4002 SCB - Downtown or
Monday - Friday, June 22-26, 3068 JHZ - Allendale

These workshops are for faculty who are preparing for pre-tenure and tenure reviews, or for promotion. Working closely with faculty mentors, participants will compose their Integrative/Reflective Statement and prepare other supporting materials for the portfolio in accordance with their college and unit personnel policies. Workshop mentors recommend that participants do not teach at the same time that they participate in this workshop. Participants usually devote at least 12-15 hours during the week to work on their portfolios.

Participants have said...

"Through this workshop, my integrative statement became not only a strong supporting document in my portfolio, but also a powerful reflection on my career as a teacher and scholar."

"Everyone going up for tenure or promotion should attend this workshop. Highly Recommend!"

"The feedback I received helped me immensely."

October 15 – 17,  2015 
http://lillyconferences.com/tc

The call for proposals for the 15th Annual Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching and Learning, Traverse City is open through June 9th.  The conference sub themes include:  Academic Success; Assessment/Student Outcomes; Creating Communities of Learners; Course/Curriculum Design/Redesign; Engaging and Motivating Students; Innovative Pedagogical Approaches; Multiculturalism/Diversity/Inclusion; Online Learning; Promoting Social Responsibility; Service/Experiential Learning; Teaching Well with Technology. Consider sharing your scholarly teaching approach or scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project results with regional peers via a workshop, oral presentation, or poster presentation.

As part of our move from Lake Ontario Hall to Zumberge Hall, the Pew FTLC had the opportunity to design a Faculty Demonstration Room. Located in 3068 JHZ, this space provides an “active learning” classroom layout, with movable tables, chairs that move and swivel, generous whiteboard space, and multiple projectors/screens. The flexible learning spaces maximizes collaborative interactions and permits projection from up to three laptops simultaneously. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. We have begun holding workshops and various faculty gatherings in this room. If you would like to schedule a tour and explore the possibilities of such a teaching and learning space, please let us know.

 April 27-May 1, Allendale and August 3-7, Downtown
Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors, for details

Are you working on a dissertation, book manuscript, article, grant application, or other writing project that would benefit from a quiet space in which to write, the support of colleagues who are also writing, and feedback to your work? Register for one of the
Faculty/Staff Writing Retreats sponsored by the Fred Meijer Center for Writing! For details and registration go to the Writing Center website.

Frank Blossom, School of Communications
Professor Blossom was awarded a Pew Scholar Teacher Grant to develop an application-based teaching module that is being used as part of select Advertising and Public Relations classes to teach students the strategy, structure, and content creation for Google AdWords and other current online advertising programs.  Students are developing, analyzing and executing real AdWords campaigns for real businesses, applying the psychology of online search and interpreting online data and analytics.