Topics & Speakers | Agenda | Registration | Hotel Information | Driving Directions

• KEYNOTE: Strategies for Increasing Active Learning
  Tom Terry, University of Connecticut, CT
• Get Students to Focus on Learning Instead of Grades: Teach them HOW to Learn! - Benjamin Cummings regrets that this session is cancelled due to a scheduling conflict
• Including the G, O, and the B in Allied Health Chemistry
  Todd Deal, Georgia Southern University, GA - Originally scheduled for 2:30
• Low Tech Options to Foster Critical Thinking in Non-Science Majors
  Mimi Bres, Prince George's Community College, MD
• Serendipitous Gallimaufry for Science
  Kim Aaronson, Truman College, IL
• Hands on PhysioEx™ V6.0
  Susan Baxley, Troy University, Montgomery, AL
• Reusable Learning Objects: What, Where, and How to Use Them
  Cay DeSa, Westchester Community College, NY
• Strategies To Draw Students Into Your Most Difficult Lectures
  David Eakin, Eastern Kentucky University, KY
• Getting Unprepared Students Ready for A&P
  Lori K. Garrett, Danville Area Community College, IL
• An Online Inquiry-Based Approach to the Discovery of the Basic Concepts of Molecular Biology and Genetics
  Jeff Elhai, Virginia Commonwealth University, VA
• Including the G, O, and the B in Allied Health Chemistry
  Todd Deal, Georgia Southern University, GA - Rescheduled for 10:45
• Science Assessment Strategies: Catalysts for Success
  Virginia Johnson Anderson, Towson University, MD
• Strategies for Online Course Management
  Kim Aaronson, Truman College, IL
  TECH REP, Benjamin Cummings
• Emerging Infectious Diseases: Avian Flu and More
  Stuart Hill, Northern Illinois University, IL

KEYNOTE: Strategies for Increasing Active Learning
There is ample evidence that students learn better when they are engaged in some level of active participation, as opposed to being "lectured at." My teaching assignments for over 30 years included large classes in Introductory Biology for majors, nonmajors, and microbiology students, and I have experimented with a number of strategies for active learning. Most of these require only modest instructor preparation, take very little class time, and can quickly "perk up" a lecture and get students to participate at some level. Examples will be demonstrated, and range from short group activities to the use of interactive computer activities in which student feedback controls the instructor's demonstration.

Dr. Thomas Terry earned his B.S. (Physics) and Ph.D. (Molecular Biophysics) degrees at Yale University. He has been on the University of Connecticut faculty since 1969. Dr. Terry has received several awards for outstanding teaching, including selection as a University of Connecticut Teaching Fellow (1994), Chancellor's Award for National Recognition in Information Technology (1998), Connecticut Professor of the Year (1998) by the Carnegie Foundation, Teacher Innovation Award in Higher Education for the development and application of technology-based innovations in learning (2001), and UConn Alumni Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching (2003). He retired from full-time employment at UConn in 2003, but continues to work part-time as an advisor, teacher, and workshop speaker.

Low Tech Options to Foster Critical Thinking in Non-Science Majors
One of the compelling issues that confront science instructors today is helping students master critical thinking skills. Experience has shown that critical thinking is easier to achieve when content and problem solving techniques are learned together. This presentation will demonstrate a variety of simple techniques that can be used in any science course to help students acquire thinking skills, master basic concepts, and develop an appreciation for the scientific method. Topics will include use of lecture study guides, strategies to increase classroom participation, sample activities, non-graded assignments, group homework assignments, and testing for both content and thinking skill mastery.

Dr. Mimi Bres, a Professor at Prince George's Community College, has over 20 years experience in the development of curriculum materials designed to stimulate interest in science and to improve critical thinking skills. Of particular note is her recent work developing an interactive web and video-based curriculum, including a virtual field component, to teach environmental concepts without the need for students to travel. Dr. Bres received a 2001 National Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. She has also been nominated for "Outstanding Freshman Professor of the Year," the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Faculty Senate Excellence Award.

Serendipitous Gallimaufry for Science
This engaging presentation will give participants a number of ideas that have been accidental discoveries that successfully engaged students in learning science. These activities were discovered mostly in Anatomy & Physiology classes, but could be tweaked and used in a variety of ways in other science classes as well. Your creativity will be stimulated by this sometimes humorous and somewhat out-of-the-box presentation.

Dr. Kim Aaronson has been in the health care field since 1960, when he began working in a hospital laboratory in Alliance, OH. Since that time he has worked as a medical technologist. He attended physician's assistant and forensic pathology training at Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston. He received a B.S. in Science Education, Biology from East Carolina University in 1981, and a D.C. from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City, MO in 1996. He has taught from middle school through college in the science and health fields. Dr. Aaronson has recently taught Anatomy & Physiology, Nutrition and Human Biology as an adjunct instructor at various colleges in Chicago. He is currently teaching an online medical terminology course he developed for Harold Washington College and teaches General Biology for Columbia College in Chicago. He also has an active nutrition and wellness private practice.

Hands on PhysioEx™ V6.0
A common challenge for A&P and Human Physiology laboratory courses is that many good learning activities may be too costly, too time-consuming, or too dangerous to perform in an actual wet lab. This session will allow you to explore a few of the 40 PhysioEx™ physiology lab simulations that may be used to supplement or substitute for wet labs. Suggestions will be given on its use in the laboratory as well as in a lecture setting. Session attendance is limited to 24.

Susan T. Baxley has a B.S. in Biology from Auburn University and an M.A. from Troy University, Montgomery. Prof. Baxley taught the laboratory portion of the 300 level, two-semester Human Anatomy & Physiology courses for 25 years before her recent retirement. In 1996 she was named Teacher of the Year for Troy University, Montgomery, and in 2000 and 2002 was the recipient of the President's Excellence Award for Full Time Faculty. She is an active member of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS).

Reusable Learning Objects: What, Where, and How to Use Them
What, Where, and How to Use Them Reusable Learning Objects are technology-based resources for face-to-face and online teaching that can be used to introduce content, check understanding during a unit, and review key points. They can serve as student tutorials for a small unit in a course or as a complete tutorial on a topic. Examples include images, animations, movies, streaming video, sounds, websites, text and audio files. This workshop will discuss how existing Reusable Learning Objects can be found, how new ones can be created, and will give some suggestions of ways they can be used for teaching and learning in the chemistry classroom.

Cay DeSa is a Professor of Chemistry at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York where she teaches introductory chemistry lecture and laboratory courses for health science students. She has also developed and teaches online classes for introductory chemistry and non-science majors. She is the Faculty Fellow for Technology in the Center for Faculty and co-holder of the Abeles Endowed Chair for Distance Learning. Her contributions have been recognized by the Westchester Community College Foundation award for in Teaching Excellence and Medallion Award for Education.

Strategies To Draw Students Into Your Most Difficult Lectures
There are some lectures every professor dreads presenting. Material so complex, so hard, and yet so necessary to our overall understanding of life that it would constitute intellectual negligence to overlook it! But these lectures, usually at the level of molecules, simply cannot complete with stirring and stimulating sermons on finite resources, global warming, and the destruction of the tropical rainforest! This session will present you with ideas to make even your most dreaded subject come alive! Using Cellular Respiration as our example, you will go home with some tangible, practical ideas for drawing students into the most difficult of subjects. Come with some ideas of your own for sharing ideas with your fellow instructors!

Dr. David A. Eakin received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in Botany. As coordinator of non-majors biology for Eastern Kentucky University he works with about 500 students per semester. As a part of this work, he is responsible for teaching 7-8 graduate students how to teach the 20 laboratory sessions. "Dr. Dave" to both students and colleagues, Dr. Eakin is a highly acclaimed and respected professor, recognized for excellence in teaching and his genuine love for his students.

Getting Unprepared Students Ready for A&P
As competition for admission into Allied Health and Nursing programs increases, Anatomy & Physiology students need to do more than just pass the class, they need to truly master the course content. At the same time, many of these same students have either forgotten what they learned in high school science classes, are not prepared to study for a rigorous science course, or lack the fundamental knowledge to handle the material in lecture and lab. In this interactive session, Ms. Garrett will share several strategies and techniques that have helped her students overcome these challenges and ultimately succeed in A&P. Participants are encouraged to discuss ideas from their own teaching experience.

Lori K. Garrett teaches Anatomy & Physiology courses at Danville Area Community College, where she developed her own A&P "prep" course to help her students succeed. Her gifts for simple, straightforward explanations and effectiveness in the classroom have earned her several teaching awards, including the Association of Community College Trustees' William H. Meardy Faculty Award. Ms. Garrett is the author of the new Get Ready for A&P workbook and online program from Benjamin Cummings.

An Online Inquiry-Based Approach to the Discovery of the Basic Concepts of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Concepts take hold when students discover them with their own hands. But experiments that do more than demonstrate are generally impractical within the time and resources available. A publicly available web resource, BioBIKE, provides guided tours and an environment that encourages students to perform bioinformatics experiments that elucidate the nature of genes and other concepts of molecular biology and genetics.

Jeff Elhai is on the faculty at the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity at Virginia Commonwealth University and Director of the Bioinformatics and Bioengineering Summer Institute, which engages undergraduates from around the U.S. in an intense research experience. He graduated from Pomona College (Music, 1973) and State University of New York at Stony Brook (Music, 1975; Molecular Biology 1981). His lab studies the molecular basis of cellular differentiation and the function and origin of repeated DNA sequences. He is part of a project to develop tools to allow computationally challenged biologists, new and old, to exploit creatively the vast resources of bioinformatics.

Including the G, O, and the B in Allied Health Chemistry
The majority of Allied Health Chemistry courses are billed as introductions to General, Organic, and Biochemistry. The facts are that most of these courses spend the majority of the instructional time focused on the concepts of general chemistry with as much organic chemistry added in as possible. Biochemistry, the topics of which are most relevant to allied health students, is covered minimally, if at all. We will discuss strategies for integrating the topics of General, Organic, and Biochemistry throughout the course for appropriate coverage of the topics relevant to allied health students. This workshop will also introduce you to a capstone-type project for the course that we have used to integrate many of the major concepts.

Dr. Todd Deal is Professor of Chemistry at Georgia Southern University. After earning his Ph.D. at Ohio State University, he had the chance to return to his undergraduate alma mater and has been on the faculty for 14 years. His teaching has been recognized with awards at both the college and university levels, and the students of Georgia Southern selected him as Professor of the Year. Dr. Deal is a member of Project Kaleidoscope's Faculty for the 21st Century, and he has been extensively involved in chemical education reform since the mid 1990s.

Science Assessment Strategies: Catalysts for Success
Are you interested in collecting meaningful, quantitative, course-embedded data to enhance student learning, to inform and improve your teaching, or to demonstrate a need to external grant funding? Join us as we "dissect" a variety of assessment techniques including authentic assessments, performance assessments, reflective student portfolios, behavioral checklists, rubrics, primary trait analyses, and test-blueprinting. We will also address how to measure the student learning outcomes that really matter and how to collect and analyze classroom data that can be used for departmental, general education and/or institutional assessment at your community college, college, or university.

Virginia Johnson Anderson, Professor of Biological Sciences at Towson University, is a nationally known science assessment activist and author. Engaged in departmental, general education, and university assessment on her home campus, Anderson maintains a 9/12 teaching load, has directed two major urban NSF grants ($400,000+), and has worked with science faculty from over 100 colleges and universities to develop effective assessment plans.

Strategies for Online Course Management
This session will highlight some of the most helpful features of CouresCompassTM powered by BlackBoard, including syllabus, 1 chapter materials such as online quizzes and interactive lab, online discussion forums and the very useful gradebook and assignment functions will also be demonstrated. Although this presentation will focus on MyA&P for CourseCompass™, most of what will be presented is also applicable to other CourseCompass™ enhanced courses.

Dr. Kim Aaronson has been in the health care field since 1960, when he began working in a hospital laboratory in Alliance, OH. Since that time he has worked as a medical technologist. He attended physician's assistant and forensic pathology training at Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston. He received a B.S. in Science Education, Biology from East Carolina University in 1981, and a D.C. from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City, MO in 1996. He has taught from middle school through college in the science and health fields. Dr. Aaronson has recently taught Anatomy & Physiology, Nutrition and Human Biology as an adjunct instructor at various colleges in Chicago. He is currently teaching an online medical terminology course he developed for Harold Washington College and teaches General Biology for Columbia College in Chicago. He also has an active nutrition and wellness private practice.

Emerging Infectious Diseases: Avian Flu and More
In the upcoming century, emerging infectious diseases will pose a massive threat to world health unless concerted global action is undertaken to combat this problem. What is particularly troubling about these infectious diseases is that many are exotic in nature with a vast potential for global impact. In this session, a molecular microbiologist's perspective will be presented that will integrate an understanding of basic infectious disease parameters with a look at the factors that allow for the emergence of these potentially devastating infectious agents. The discussion will range from the effect of human behavior on the spread of infectious agents to the potentially devastating natural events that could give rise to an Avian flu pandemic.

Dr. Stuart Hill is an Associate Professor of Biology at Northern Illinois University. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Montana. Prior to teaching at NIU, he spent eight years studying infectious disease at the National Institutes of Heath with a further two years of study at the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon. Dr. Hill is an internationally recognized expert in the variation of surface antigens in Neisseria gonorrheae, which is the etiological agent for the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea. Dr. Hill is also the author of the booklet entitled Emerging Infectious Diseases which is part of the Benjamin Cummings Special Topics in Biology Series.