Purpose:
This conference and training workshop will provide an overview of creating a culture of learning in universities with a particular focus on how individual faculty can initiate change in their classrooms. Participants from prior conferences have identified as a key area of interest modernizing faculty approaches to teaching, particularly course design and syllabus creation, as well as gaining a better understanding of how to foster student-centered interactions and utilize social media and online resources and tools. The goals are to provide Iraqi participants with an understanding of the changes in teaching and learning methodologies and actions that higher education institutions abroad take to foster teaching excellence as well as to suggest tools and resources suitable to the Iraqi higher education sector’s efforts. Through presentations, panel and round table discussions, small group sessions, and—new to this conference—videotaped presentations, Iraqi participants will gain strategies and perspectives on how to implement new learning and teaching strategies in their classroom. More than 150 participants, including senior Iraqi scholars, university presidents and deans, and U.S. university administrators and faculty will attend this conference which is part of a series of symposia presented under the auspices of IIE’s Scholar Rescue Fund/Iraq Project.
Agenda
This three-day conference will address the following major themes: Advancing a Culture of Learning, Contemporary Teaching Methods, Utilizing Technology and Online Resources in the Classroom. Topics to be addressed include: instructional design; syllabus design; classroom approaches and activities best suited to reach objectives; ongoing professional development for faculty; new teaching methodologies in medical schools; utilizing technology tools, online and web-based resources, and social media to create blended learning environments; and, measuring student application of knowledge.
Presenters:
Conference sessions will be conducted by expert trainers from U.S. Universities who work in Centers of Teaching Excellence and Schools of Education. Representatives from the Ministries of Higher Education and Scientific Research for Iraq and for the Kurdish Region of Iraq have been invited to provide formal remarks.