Speaker to discuss students' educational struggles
February 28, 2013
Michael Wesch, a nationally known professor who studies the issues students face when learning in today's classroom, will give a talk and conduct a question-and-answer session March 18 at Purdue.
The talk, sponsored by the Center for Instructional Excellence, will take place from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. The question-and-answer session will immediately follow and will last until 11 a.m. Both events will take place in Stewart Center, Fowler Hall.
Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, has studied how educators can prepare students for 21st century challenges, among other things. Additionally, his videos about culture, technology, education and information have been viewed online by millions, translated into more than 15 languages, and frequently are featured at film festivals and academic conferences worldwide.
Registration for his talk is required and can be found at: http://weschatpurdue.eventbrite.com.
Wesch's insights on teaching and education are part of a week of teaching-focused events the Center for Instructional Excellence is hosting March 18-22.
The events include a conference, called The Changing Classroom, which will be held March 21 in Stewart Center. The conference will focus on how Purdue's classroom teaching has changed through the IMPACT (Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation) initiative, and it will involve faculty members' presentations about how they have redesigned large-capacity courses to improve student learning, retention and completion rates.
Invitation-only events later that week will announce and honor the winners of the 2013 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards in Memory of Charles B. Murphy. The University's highest undergraduate teaching honor, the Murphy Award is accompanied by a $10,000 cash award and induction into Purdue's Teaching Academy, which provides leadership for the improvement of undergraduate, graduate and outreach teaching.