UBC Okanagan

Okanagan Campus, 8th Annual Learning Conference
Scholarly Approaches: Evidence-Informed Teaching and Learning

May 2 and 3, 2012, Kelowna, British Columbia 

Keynote: Dr. Geoff Norman - A Cognitive Perspective on How People Learn: Implications for Teaching
Wednesday, May 2

Cognitive psychology has provided many insights into how people learn that can inform our teaching strategies. In this presentation I will review findings from the psychology of learning in five domains: memory (learning and remembering), transfer (using old concepts to solve new problems), deliberate practice and its critical role in transfer, experiential knowledge as a component of expertise, and the role (if any) of general strategic skills (problem-solving, critical thinking, reflection, etc.). In each area, I will begin with examples, review the evidence, then draw implications for more effective teaching.

Keynote: Dr. Christopher Knapper - Teaching For Deeper and Lifelong Learning
Thursday, May 3

How do faculty differ in their conceptions of good teaching? And what difference does this make to the ways their students approach learning? Recent research has shown important links between faculty beliefs about teaching, departmental learning climate, and students' approaches to learning. This presentation will explore these relationships and discuss how it is possible to change our teaching approaches to produce different kinds of learning - in particular to encourage deeper, lifelong, and life-wide learning that transfer from academic contexts to the world of work.