Everybody is doing it: companies like Google provide professional development around mindfulness for their employees, professional athletes practice mindfulness, and even the military trains soldiers through mindfulness. A growing body of neuroscience and other research suggests that mindfulness also holds an array of benefits for higher education, including individual benefits (such as increased self-regulation, attention, and creativity) and communal benefits (such as the promise of more inclusive environments). When students are emotionally engaged in the classroom, they have a greater sense of belonging because content connects to their personal lives and academic pursuits. During this workshop, participants learn how to incorporate mindfulness into their classrooms to support student engagement and success.

By the end of this workshop, participants know or are able to:

• Understand the “contemplative pedagogy” movement in higher education.
• Identify practical strategies and a wealth of resources for implementing mindful practices.
• Implement mindfulness in various classroom formats.
• More fully support their students!

Activities:

• Hands-on exercises involving practical strategies for implementing mindfulness practices in and out of the classroom.

While they are effective pedagogical tools, leading discussions can be frustrating. They can easily go awry, leading to uncomfortable silences, domination by a couple of speakers, superficial contributions, or off-topic remarks. This workshop reviews research-based principles for guiding classroom discussion and strategies for designing and facilitating classroom discussions that work to create an effective, positive learning experience. You’ll experience a variety of specific strategies first-hand, including those relevant to small classes, large classes, online courses, and a variety of disciplines. Plus, you’ll reflect on how to apply these strategies to your own classes. You’ll also learn what you can do to prevent the “common discussion pitfalls” listed above, along with what to do when they happen. You’ll also learn how to design discussions as a part of your course so they truly help students learn (and so you’ll know that they worked!).

During this workshop, you’ll experience these engaging discussion techniques first-hand. Expect a fast-paced, highly practical day!

By the end of this workshop, participants know or are able to:

• Review and discuss 12 research-based principles to guide class discussion.
• Experience a variety of discussion techniques that faculty can use to engage all students.
• Explore strategies to prevent and respond to common discussion pitfalls.
• Design discussions that lead to deep, meaningful, and measurable learning.

Activities:

• Structured small group discussions and activities on 12 research-based principles on class discussion.
• Discussion “mini-simulations” including framing and debriefing.
• Designing a “discussion that works” for one of your classes.

Have you ever wished that teaching could be more fun and more effective more often? We believe it can! The first step in this process is building a relationship with each student. Clinical Psychology offers a unique perspective on this. The same skill sets that facilitate relationship building and healing in the consulting room are transferable to the classroom. This workshop seeks to explore best practices for relationship building through lectures, story sharing, PowerPoint presentations, videos, breakout room activities, and opportunities for full group discussion. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants can:

• Translate the relationship building skills used by clinical psychologists into effective classroom management tools.
• Adopt an engaging presence and bring optimism, warmth, and enthusiasm into the classroom.
• Incorporate principles of rapport building and bonding into their teaching.
• Use active placebo effects to increase student learning.
• Use principles of behavior modification to build structures that support risk taking.
• Apply the above competencies in face-to-face and virtual classroom settings.

Have you ever wished that teaching could be more fun and more effective more often? We believe it can! The first step in this process is building a relationship with each student. Clinical Psychology offers a unique perspective on this. The same skill sets that facilitate relationship building and healing in the consulting room are transferable to the classroom. This workshop seeks to explore best practices for relationship building through lectures, story sharing, PowerPoint presentations, videos, breakout room activities, and opportunities for full group discussion. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants can:

• Translate the relationship building skills used by clinical psychologists into effective classroom management tools.
• Adopt an engaging presence and bring optimism, warmth, and enthusiasm into the classroom.
• Incorporate principles of rapport building and bonding into their teaching.
• Use active placebo effects to increase student learning.
• Use principles of behavior modification to build structures that support risk taking.
• Apply the above competencies in face-to-face and virtual classroom settings.