Follow where the Research Leads

Almost daily neuroscience, biology and cognitive science researchers reveal new insights about how the human brain works and learns. Many of these new findings strongly suggest that current models of instruction used in higher education need to be modified and in some cases, radically changed if they are to operate in harmony with how the brain learns.This presentation will discuss many of these new research findings and suggest ways to apply them in a higher education setting. Topics will include findings on movement and exercise, stress, sleep and naps, memory enhancers, attention enhancers, use of distributed practice, importance of patterns in learning and the role of neurogenisis, neuroplasticity and genes in enhancing learning.

Punya Mishra

Professor of Educational Technology
Michigan State University

Speaker Biography

What is this thing called 21st Century Learning?

There has been a great deal of talk about the how we need to prepare students for the demands of the 21st Century. The problem of course is that (a) we are already a decade into the 21st Century; and (b) we don't have a clear idea of what that means. Dr. Mishra will begin this session describing his current work on articulating what 21st Century learning means, how it compares to previous conceptualizations of learning, and the critical role played by technology in its current incarnation. This will lead to a discussion of the significant challenges faced by educators in integrating technology in their teaching and will present the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework as a way of thinking about teacher knowledge, technology integration, and teacher creativity. He will discuss how technologies (both analog and digital) need to be creatively repurposed by educators in order to develop a trans-disciplinary curriculum essential for success in the new millennium.

Joan Middendorf

Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
Adjunct Professor, Higher Education & Student Affairs
Professor, Educational Technology
Indiana University 

Speaker Biography

Decoding Emotional Resistance: Collecting Evidence about Ways of Knowing and Preconceptions

Just as Decoding the Disciplines can be used to determine the patterns of the cognitive thinking in a discipline, it is also possible to use it to uncover the patterns in affective thinking. In this cross-disciplinary workshop participants will view videos of Decoding the Disciplines applied to emotional bottlenecks and consider useful frameworks, including our latest work on philosophies of knowledge, for understanding and overcoming these problems. Participants will design questions to get at emotional bottlenecks in their own courses and discuss ways to uncover the patterns in emotions in their disciplines.