This year, 163 faculty members made their way to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and The Momentary, both in Bentonville, Arkansas, for Creating Your Teaching Masterpiece, Teaching Camp 2024 for two days of networking and faculty development.

This year's speaker, Lindsay Doukopoulos, is nationally recognized for her work in faculty development and is the associate director of the Biggio Teaching Center at the University of Auburn. She has served as vice chair of the Southern Regional Faculty and Instructional Developer Consortium, co-chair of the POD Network's Digital Resources and Innovation committee, and co-host of Centering Centers: the POD Network podcast. Doukopoulos spoke about Dynamic Lecturing, Gamification, How People Learn, and the Science of Student Motivation.

Carole Shook, outgoing TFSC co-director, said, "For the first time, we accepted proposals from faculty for the topics of Teaching Camp. This allowed us to have a broad range of varied topics, and to reach many areas of interest and expertise that our faculty might want to develop further. Allowing faculty to broaden their personal interests and improve their teaching is a cornerstone in student success. One of our goals of the camp was to encourage faculty to take ideas to create their own teaching masterpiece going forward." One way that was accomplished was by faculty participating in a Rainmaker's Recognition. Rainmakers are recognized as people who are seen as leaders and contribute significantly to an organization's goals and mission.

Rainmaker Recognition From Teaching Camp

56 faculty who completed the requirements of writing reflections on how they will use their teaching camp experience and showed how they had connected with other faculty during teaching camp are formally recognized with the Rainmaker Recognition. They are:

• Alexia Angton, Sociology and Criminology, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
• Jeanice Ball, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, College of Education and Health Professions
• Jennifer Beasley, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Health Professions
• Christa Bentley, Music, Fulbright College
• Ginger Blackstone, School of Journalism and Strategic Media, Fulbright College
• Susan Bristow, Information Systems, Sam M. Walton College of Business
• Lexi Catterlin, Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy, College of Education and Health Professions
• Su A Chae, School of Art, Fulbright College
• Amy Cooper, Music, Fulbright College
• Christianne Corbett, Sociology and Criminology, Fulbright College
• Cindy Covington, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Health Professions
• Anqi Deng, Health, Human Performance and Recreation, College of Education and Health Professions
• Natalie Edwards. Curriculum and Instruction, >College of Education and Health Professions
• Chris Farnell, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering
• Robert "Bob" Foster, Management, Walton College of Business
• Aysa Galbraith, First-Year Engineering Program, College of Engineering
• Matt Gerner, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Fulbright College
• Lei Guo, Civil Engineering, College of Engineering
• Sarah Hixson, School of Human Environmental Sciences, Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
• Shanda Hood, Mathematical Sciences, Fulbright College
• Stephanie Hubert, Human Environmental Sciences, Bumpers College
• Tacy Joffe-Minor, Physics, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
• Nick Johnston, Hospitality Management, Bumpers College
• Rupesh Kariyat, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Bumpers
• Maribeth Latvis, Biological Sciences, Fulbright College
• Faith Lessner, Biological Sciences, Fulbright College
• Ruoyun Mao, Economics, Walton College of Business
• Leslie Massey, First-Year Engineering, College of Engineering
• Renette McCargo, School of Journalism and Strategic Media, Fulbright College
• Emma McMain, Counseling, Leadership and Research Methods, College of Education and Health Professions
• Lynn Meade, Fulbright College Student Success
• Tim Meadows, Intensive English Program, Graduate School and International Education
• John Morris, Communication, Fulbright College
• Becca Muenich, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, College of Engineering
• Meredith Neville-Shepard; Communication; Fulbright College
• Kathleen Paul, Anthropology, Fulbright College
• Latisha Puckett, First Year Engineering Program, College of Engineering
• Sheida Raley, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Health Professions
• Christine Ralston, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Health Professions
• Christine Rickabaugh, Open Education, Data and Publishing Services, University Libraries
• Rocio Paez Ritter, Sociology and Criminology, Fulbright College
• James Roddy, Mathematical Sciences, Fulbright College
• Kandy Salter, Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy, College of Education and Health Professions
• Heath Schluterman, First-year Engineering Program, College of Engineering
• Melinda Schroeder, Mathematical Sciences, Fulbright College
• Karl Schubert, Data Science, Engineering, Walton and Fulbright Colleges
• Carole Shook, Information Systems, Walton College
• Sara Sugg, Eleanor Mann School, College of Education and Health Professions
• Susannah Swearingen, School of Journalism and Strategic Media, Fulbright College
• Amanda Troillett, Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy, College of Education and Health Professionals
• Ali Ubeyitogullari, Food Science, and Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Bumpers and Engineering Colleges
• Jenn Veilleux, Psychological Science, Fulbright College
• Heather Walker, Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering
• Megan York, Research and Instruction, University Libraries
• Jarvis Young, English and African and African American Studies, Fulbright College
• Jian Zhang, Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering

Presentations at Teaching Camp

In addition to the headline speaker's presentations, 41 faculty presented teaching topics related to teaching success and excellence.  Additionally, 18 faculty presented in the Third Annual Teaching and Learning Symposium.

Presenters and topics were:

• Hope Ballentine:  Increasing Engagement Through Problem Based Learning

• Shanda Hood:  Creating Community Through Early Communication and Shanda Hood and Nama Namakshi:  Oragami Odyssey: Unfolding Learning Through Practice

• Carole Shook:  Active Learning 101

• Susan Bristow, EmmaLe Davis, and Elizabeth Keiffer:  Tech Savvy:  Teaching, Innovate, Engage, Simplify

• Lisa Bowers, Laura Gray, Anne Marie Velliquette:  Why Service Learning: The Value of Experiential Learning for Students, Our Community, and You

• Jennifer Veillux and Ananda Rosa:  Using Different Moves When Teaching One-On-One

• Kandy Salter/Amanda Troillet:  Flipping the Classroom:  Moving from Lecture to Application

• Gretchen Scroggin, Leslie Massey, Aysa Galbraith, Heath Schluterman, Latisha Puckett/Enhancing Learning Through Teamwork Integration:  Strategies, Challenges, and Practical Insights for Education

• Sarah Hixson/Christine Rickabaugh:  OER Engaged:  Elevating Open Resources Through H5P

• Fiona Goggin, Stephanie Adams, Anne O'Leary-Kelly, and Becca Muenich: Mentoring:  A Hidden Dimension of Teaching

• Lindsay Aloia/Faith Lessner:  ENDORSE, ENCOURAGE, EMBOLDEN Building Student Confidence Through Positive Reinforcement

• Amalie Holland and Camie Wood:  Inquiring Minds:  Leveraging Questions for Better Learning

• Nick Johnston, Austin Jones, Rupesh Kariyat:  Diversity Overcomes Adversity:  Diverse Methods for Reaching Diverse Minds

• Matt Gerner:  Leveraging Technology for Active Learning and Adaptive Teaching in the Classroom, including with Large Class Sizes

• Margaret Butcher/Lynn Meade:  Let's Talk About the Elephant in the Room:  Are your perceptions limiting your ability to see the whole student?

• Our Experience with Competency Based Grading with Richard Cassady and Leslie Massey

• Christine Ralston:  Don't Put Yourself in Jeopardy:  I'll Take Tests and Quizzes for $100

Presenters in Third Annual Teaching and Learning Symposium

Eighteen faculty members submitted proposals or presented their teaching grant outcomes in a one-hour table session at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art where faculty participants moved between tables to learn about ideas.

Morgan Clarke and Chad Reed:  Real World and Role Playing in the Classroom

• Josette Cline and Becky Todd:  Strategies and Resources for Integrating Well-Being into the Academic Environment

• Jake Dionne:  Scared to Teach?  Strategies for Mitigating Public Speaking Anxiety

• Sarah Hixson:  Unlocking Student Engagement in the Digital Age with Self-Determination Theory

• Edward Holland:  How Field-based Research in the Geosciences Adapted to the Covid Pandemic

• Shanda Hood: Attending Teaching Conferences

• Julia Kennefick and Deanna Shields:  Encouraging and Incentivizing Notetaking

• Shaina Meyer and Amanda Troillett:  Developing Individualized "Skill Building Plans" to Remediate Entry Level Writing Skills

• Rocio Paez Ritter:  Innovative Teaching Tools

• Melinda Schroeder:  The Ideal Classroom Team Player:  Recognizing and Cultivating Essential Virtues from the Corporate Workplace to Create a Classroom that Promotes Engagement, Belonging, and Success

• Ali Ubeyitogullari:  Enhancing Student Engagement Through Hands-On Chocolate Making Activities

• Heather Walker and Tish Pohl:  The Transformative Impact of Alumni Mentoring Programs

• Megan York:  Gamifying Critical Information Literacy for Evidence-Based Practice and the Inclusion of AI

Additional Highlights of Teaching Camp

Another goal of teaching camp was to connect faculty with resources. Faculty also had presentations from key faculty support services on campus: Anna Zajicek, vice provost for faculty affairs and Stephanie Adams, director of student development, spoke about opportunities through their office. Susan Bristow, president of the Teaching Academy, spoke about what the Teaching Academy is and future opportunities to collaborate with Teaching Academy members, and the Teaching and Faculty Support Center co-directors provided information about future programming. Additionally, faculty were welcomed and encouraged by Chancellor Charles Robinson and Provost Terry Martin. 

Special recognition for our honorary co-directors who assisted with Teaching Camp Logistics: Lindsey Aloia, Susan Bristow, Margaret Butcher, Kate Chapman, Lynn Meade, and Heather Walker. Each of these professors had been recognized for their teaching excellence with teaching awards and leadership positions within the past year.

The support of Lori Libbert, program coordinator for the Teaching and Faculty Support Center, has been instrumental in the success of Teaching Camp. 

Teaching Camp is an annual faculty teaching development program sponsored by the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. The TFSC covered meals, beverages, and tours of the museum for participating faculty. 

Be sure to look for the Teaching Camp announcement and apply next spring so you can join us for camp in August 2025!