Academic Games Dialogue Day: Innovation, Creativity, and Learning: Academic Games to Educate and Motivate

Oct 13, 2006
South Mountain Community College, Student Union A, B and C
8:30am - 12:00pm
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
Light continental breakfast will be provided.

featuring...
Dr. Barbara J. Millis
Director of the Excellence in Teaching Program at the University of Nevada at Reno

Students today have grown up with sound bytes, IPods, and MTV and often remain unengaged—and hence at risk for attrition—when subjected to traditional lecture modes. However, no responsible teacher wants to “dumb” down the curriculum or to fail to challenge students. The secret is to “package” learning through more appealing delivery methods. Academic games focused on solid content are a perfect medium for this. They motivate students to learn material, encourage them to come prepared, and get them actively engaged through group interactions.

Goals

Participants will be able to accomplish the following:

Experience some active learning, participant-centered techniques they can adapt for their own teaching.
Learn some solid approaches for group work.
Reflect on the value of games for teaching.
Learn how to design or modify, conduct, and “debrief” games.
Enjoy interacting with colleagues.

About the speaker

Barbara J. Millis, Director of the Excellence in Teaching Program at the University of Nevada at Reno, received her Ph.D. in English literature from Florida State University. The former Director of Faculty Development at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA), she frequently offers workshops at professional conferences (AAHE, Lilly Teaching Conferences, etc.) and for over 300 colleges and universities. She publishes articles on a variety of faculty development topics such as cooperative learning, peer classroom observations (she was a FIPSE Project Director on that topic), the teaching portfolio, microteaching, syllabus construction, classroom assessment/research, critical thinking, writing for publication, focus groups, writing across the curriculum, academic games, and course redesign. The IDEA paper series published Enhancing Learning—and More!—through Cooperative Learning available at http://www.idea.ksu.edu/papers/Idea_Paper_38.pdf. Oryx Press published in 1998 a book, co-authored with Philip Cottell, Cooperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty. In 2002 Stylus Press published Using Simulations to Enhance Learning in Higher Education, co-authored with John Hertel, which will be followed by a book on academic games. While at USAFA, Barbara won both a teaching award and a research award, and after the Association of American Colleges and Universities selected the Academy as a Leadership Institution in Undergraduate Education in 2001, she began serving as the liaison to the AAC&U's Greater Expectations Consortium on Quality Education. In 2002 Barbara loved being a Visiting Scholar at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

Agenda

9:00	Introductions and Overview of the day
9:10	Content and Activities Scavenger Hunt: Conversations about Teaching & Learning Structuring Games through Cooperative Learning
10:10	Break
10:30	Content and Activities (continued) Snowball Discussion: Some Motivational Ideas Crossword Puzzle: Inspirational Quotes about Teaching Murder Mystery: A Variety of Topics to Stimulate Learning Discussion of other games: BINGO/QUIZO; Mech Madness; Classroom Football; Reaction Course; Fishing for Connections; Jeopardy; Sociopoly; Who Wants to be A Millionaire?
11:50	Conclusion, Assessment, and Evaluation

Faculty Professional Growth

This Dialogue Day has been pre-approved for 2.5 clock hours Faculty Professional Growth non-academic advancement.