The fourth annual Active Learning Institute (ALI) will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, September 2nd and 3rd. ALI helps faculty develop and refine skills for learner-centered teaching in their courses. Once again this year Professor Chris Jernstedt (PBS) will address the institute with a presentation on how people learn and how learning changes brains.
Comments from Previous Participants
* "ALI is a phenomenal asset to this college. I not only learned valuable practical content, but I also find myself sharing these ideas with my colleagues in informal discussions. It's rare to have a two-day workshop have such a strong positive impact."
* "All in all, the Institute ranks among my most productive professional education experiences."
* "I do not think I could overstate how much the experience, authority, authenticity, intelligence, commitment, and enthusiasm of the facilitators and other participants defined my ALI experience. They helped me see how these techniques could be used and gave me the sense that it would be OK to try using them."
* "I was pleasantly surprised with just how incredibly useful it was."
Previous ALI Participants
Art History-Marlene Heck
Business Administration-Ye Luan, Richard McNulty
Chemistry-Richard Stolzberg
Community and Family Medicine-Carolyn Murray
Economics-Parama Chaudhury
Education-Donna Coch
English-Colleen Boggs, Michael Chaney, Mishuana Goeman (also NAS), Ivy Schweitzer (also WGST)
Epidemiology-Don Likosky
French & Italian-Michael Fodor, Nancy Canepa
Government-Lisa Baldez, James Murphy
History-Cecilia Gaposchkin, Leslie Butler
Japanese-James Dorsey
Mathematics-Stephanie Treneer
Philosophy-Carey Heckman
Physics & Astronomy-Robyn Millan
Psychological and Brain Sciences-Thalia Wheatley, Mark Detzer, David Bucci
Public Health-Sharon McDonnell
Religion-Reiko Ohnuma
Spanish & Portuguese-Ana Merino
Writing and Rhetoric-Sara Chaney, Joshua Compton, Carl Thum, Jonna Mackin
Lorie Loeb, Research Assistant Professor in Computer Science, has been awarded the DCAL Teaching Fellowship for 2008- 2009. Professor Loeb will use the course relief and technical support provided by the fellowship to adapt Dartmouth's recently acquired motion capture hardware and software for use in Computer Science 12—Motion Study: Using Motion Analysis for Science, Art and Medicine. Having taught CS 12 twice before, Professor Loeb's students have used a loaner system to help design an ergonomically correct kayak seat, study the causes of ACL injuries and evaluate sports bra designs, and they did this with only a few weeks' access to the system. Now that Dartmouth has its own motion capture system, Prof. Loeb plans to design procedures for simplifying the collection and analysis of motion data and write software that will make it easier to understand the data collected. She also wants to create a forum on the use of motion capture systems in other courses and projects. Last fall Professor Loeb led a team of students that won Google Earth's Build Your Campus in 3D contest. For more information on DCAL teaching Fellowships and application procedures, see the DCAL Fellowships page.
Have a look at the recommended books page on the DCAL website at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dcal/resources/books.html. Books recently added to our collection include Peter Filene's The Joy of Teaching, Eric Mazur's Peer Instruction: A User's Manual, and Academic Dishonesty: An Educator's Guide by Bernard. E. Whitley, Jr. and Patricia Keith-Spiegel. Also featured is a new edition of Teaching American Students: A Guide for International Faculty and Teaching Assistants in Colleges and Universities by Ellen Sarkisian of the Derek Bok Center of Harvard University.
