Participation in Professional Meetings or Workshops
1.) November 2, 2006: National Science Teachers Association Eastern Area Conference (Baltimore, MD)
Although the meeting was interesting to me as a new teacher, the most helpful part of the membership in NSTA has been the subscription to the "Journal of College Science Teachers". This journal has many practical examples of teaching methods, techniques, etc., and has been the source of many ideas for me.
2.) June 1, 2007: “Service-Learning in Maryland’s Community Colleges Statewide Training” (Howard County Community College, Columbia, MD)
This workshop was very helpful to me as I begin to incorporate service-learning into my courses. I was able to pick up many ideas regarding projects and their implementation (credit versus optional, how to assess achievement of learning goals, the use of reflection papers as a learning tool, etc).
3.) May 29 – June 1, 2008: 15th annual “American Society of Microbiologists Conference for Undergraduate Educators” (Endicott College, Beverly, MA)
This meeting was an interactive three-day conference on scientific updates and effective teaching strategies. It was particularly helpful in enhancing my teaching methodologies, since it focuses on technologies and science news relevant to undergraduate science educators. Highlights of the conference were two additional lab ideas for the BIOL 150: Microbiology course (isolation of bacteria from hot water taps, and analysis of the symbiotic relationship between nematodes and bacteria), a workshop on the use of classroom response systems (clickers), and a workshop on a service-learning project for Microbiology (water-quality testing). An additional benefit included the chance to dialogue with other microbiology professors, regarding solutions to common challenges faced in the classroom (how to enhance student engagement, how to cover appropriate content in an active-learning format, etc).
4.) June 19-21, 2008: “ Using Case Studies to Teach Science – A Workshop” (Manhattan, New York City, NY)
The Chautauqua Short Courses for College Faculty are three-day courses focused on improving undergraduate education. This particular workshop focused on the use of case studies in the science classroom. The power of case studies was demonstrated in my Fall 2007 Immunology course where students struggled to clarify concepts that had previously only been memorized. However, difficulties with timing and assessment interfered with the smooth integration of the cases into the existing course. The skills I learned during the Chautauqua workshop will allow me to more smoothly and efficiently incorporate case studies into my science courses.
5.) October 24, 2008: “Promoting Student Success: The First Year and Beyond” (College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD)
This second annual meeting focused on ways to enhance student success beginning in the first year of college. The session that was the most helpful to me dealt with the use of “web 2.0” tools of social networking in the classroom. Although I have been working to add active-learning strategies to my classroom, I have not incorporated many new computer technologies in the classroom beyond the school’s course management program, Desire2Learn. It was therefore helpful to hear about the use of avatars to welcome students to online classes, and the use of wikis for increasing student engagement.
6.) January 6, 2009: “Grant Workshop: State and Federal Perspectives” (Stevenson University, Stevenson, MD)
This workshop was beneficial because it included an overview of the Maryland state grants available to institutions, as well as helpful hints about how to write the grants. It was exciting to meet with other educators to hear how they are obtaining funding, and it reinforced the idea that grants are obtainable; just not always from a federal source.
7.) February 22, 2009: “Green Matters: Sustainable Landscapes” (Brookside Gardens Visitor Center, Wheaton, MD)
This workshop focused on “water-wise” landscaping and looked at several strategies for conserving water when landscaping public and private sites. Although all the ideas presented at the meeting were helpful, I was particularly intrigued by the idea of using rain gardens to improve drainage and conserve water. At the “Green Matters” meeting, I was able to meet with several representatives of Friends of Sligo Creek, the volunteer organization that monitors and maintains Sligo Creek, the small stream that runs past Columbia Union College*. The representatives of Friends of Sligo Creek subsequently met with the heads of landscaping and maintenance at Columbia Union College and myself to evaluate several campus sites for potential rain gardens. This project is moving forward in collaboration with the Student Senate, the upper division Ecology class (BIOL 420), and the general education science class Humans and Their Environment (BIOL 130).
8.) May 27, 2009: “Integrating Environmental Education into Preservice Educator Training” (Project Learning Tree, Owings Mills, MD)
This workshop focused on using environmental education to train preservice teachers. It was helpful to me in several ways. First, since I work with middle-school students as part of the Senior Seminar service-learning project, it was helpful to hear some of the ways in which presevice teachers are trained. This knowledge will benefit me as I prepare the senior science majors to interact with the middle-school students. Second, it was helpful to hear some of the research supporting the idea that getting young students actively involved in outdoor projects enhances their scholastic achievements. Since more students are entering college scholastically unprepared, it is imperative that professors find alternative pedagogical options. The use of environmental education has great potential, particularly for our general education students, but also for the science majors.