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NITOP in Review

1/10/2019

8 Comments

 
​NITOP this year was wonderful, as usual! The talks and posters were inspiring, and TNP team was all together for the first time! Here were my main take-away points from the conference. 
​1. There were a couple sessions I attended this year surrounding skills, specifically the skills students take away from coursework. These skills may be apparent to us, but this isn’t always the case for students. Tanya Martini mentioned in her concurrent session that students view experiences outside coursework as more valuable for developing skills. 
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​How do we make them aware of these transferrable skills? Tanya said in her courses now, she spends much more in-class time on explaining the assignments including WHY they are important and HOW they are developing transferrable skills. She also has them do activities that help drive this point home.
 
I also participated in a PIE table that was having a similar discussion. Virginia Wickline shared that she has her students create a resume entry as an assignment. Students are forced to reflect on the skills they developed during the coursework and how they could apply to a job setting. Then the students get feedback on it!  
 
Highlighting transferrable skills is something I want to work on in my future courses, and these talks were great inspiration!
 
2. David Daniel gave a very engaging talk, which was the final keynote address of NITOP, and he discussed faith-based vs. evidence-based teaching practices. The bottom line is that our faith or beliefs can guide our teaching practices, but our practices need to work. We need to demonstrate that these different techniques we prescribe to work in our classrooms. Note: I made that last sentence personal on purpose. Teaching is personally empirical; it is an interactive, complex, dynamic system, and what works for you may not work for someone else. Also, what works for you now may not work in a few years. Having faith in a teaching practice is perfectly fine, but having faith isn’t enough. We also need evidence demonstrating that the practice works in our classroom context.
 
3. I presented my first poster this year at NITOP, and I think it was my favorite poster presentation ever! Everyone who stopped by was very nice, and I got some great suggestions for how to move forward with the project! Thanks everyone! If you want to check out my poster, you can find it here.
 
These were my top three take-aways from NITOP, but I could have written about many more! Thanks for another great conference!

written by Jen Blush
8 Comments
Tanya Martini
1/11/2019 01:41:11 pm

Hey Jen - Thanks for the shout out! If you want to talk further about anything I included in that talk, please let me know.
Tanya

Reply
Jen
1/11/2019 01:55:25 pm

Thanks! I may take you up on that offer in the near future. And thank you for presenting a wonderful talk at NITOP!

Reply
Drew C Appleby
1/12/2019 09:31:55 am

Regarding your following information from your NITOP in Review:

One participant shared (I didn’t get her name! If this was your idea, please let me know!) she has her students create a resume entry as an assignment. Students are forced to reflect on the skills they developed during the coursework and how they could apply to a job setting. Then the students get feedback on it!

I believe you are referring to the information that Ginger Wickline presented. Send me your email address, and I will send you the manuscript (under review in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology) upon which her presentation was based. My email is dappleby@iupui.edu

Reply
Brian Day
1/12/2019 08:01:06 pm

I would love to see that too!

Reply
Virginia (Ginger) Wickline
1/13/2019 05:39:51 am

Hi Brian - email me at vwickline@georgiasouthern.edu. Happy to share!

Virginia (Ginger) Wickline
1/13/2019 05:39:05 am

Hi Jen,

I cannot remember for sure if we connected at NITOP or not, and there were several people talking about this important topic over the course of the conference. I always walk away with a few great ideas to try from NITOP - one of my favorite conferences!

Drew is right that I presented a PIE, poster, and Teaching Slam about this at NITOP based on his syllabus section highlighting skill development for psychology majors. As part of my class, I do have students create a retrospective or even prospective resume (what they want to accomplish before they graduate). I talked about this in my PIE and shared my Careers syllabus and assignments with my table participants.

Students then have two peers in an online class review their resume - as well as a CV, personal statement, and cover letter - and get feedback both from them and me before submitting a final version. I have had several students tell me having that detailed feedback and those documents ready is what helped them get hired in positions the following year. I also have them video themselves answering the "Big 3" interviewing questions - tell me about yourself, your strengths, and your weaknesses. They get peer and instructor feedback on these as well.

If you or anyone is interested in seeing my syllabus and materials for the Careers course, they are absolutely welcome to contact me at vwickline@georgiasouthern.edu.

Reply
Jen Blush
1/29/2019 02:47:54 pm

Hi Virginia!

I don't remember if we connected at NITOP either. But thank you so much for giving me this information! I will most definitely be emailing you. And I'll update my post with your name! Thank you so much for commenting!

Jen Blush
1/29/2019 02:50:29 pm

Hi Drew! Thank so much for getting me in contact with Virginia! I am going to email you here shortly if you are still willing to share your manuscript. I would really appreciate it!

Reply



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