From Friday February 10 to Sunday February 12, attendees gathered in Long Beach, California for the 14th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference. The program committee organized a very dynamic program of sessions and workshops around the theme “The 21st Century Classroom: Creating an Engaging Environment for all Students.” The program opened with the Keynote Address by Nancy Thomas of the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. During this keynote session, APSA President David Lake of the University of California at San Diego offered remarks and presented two prestigious awards: the 2017 CQ Press Award for Teaching Innovation and the Michael Brintnall Award.
The 2017 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) focused on promoting greater understanding of how to create an engaging environment for all students in the classroom. The conference was organized using a working group model which permits in-depth discussion and debate on pedagogical issues relevant to the political science discipline. This year the main track themes addressed issues of civic engagement, core curriculum and general education, the inclusive classroom, innovative subfield strategies, the Socratic method, and the virtually and technologically enhanced classroom. The panels and workshops presented research on best practices in political science education and how all teachers can effectively train students to think analytically, write effectively, and evaluate, consume, and generate knowledge.
APSA staff and TLC organizers thank those who participated and those who support APSA’s commitment to excellence in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The TLC is a central part of APSA programs supporting the practice and scholarship of teaching and learning. Moreover, APSA continues to expand this commitment: recently the Journal of Political Science Education became available to all APSA members; the syllabi collection on the website continues to grow; and the amount of teaching and learning programming at the Annual Meeting has substantially increased.
For over a decade, the Teaching and Learning Conference has brought together educators who use this event to generate ideas and develop techniques which stimulate conversation in the discipline about pedagogical research and innovations. This year continued that tradition. The proceedings of the meeting will be shared discipline-wide through the track summaries featured in the July issue of PS: Political Science & Politics.
Above: Nancy Thomas, director, Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, delivers the opening keynote address on Friday.
Below Left: Attendees enjoy a pasta bar at the opening reception on Friday evening.
Below: Brooke Thomas Allen, Macomb Community College, receives the 2017 CQ Press Award for Teaching Innovation from APSA president David Lake.
Undergraduate students from Eastern Michigan University present in the Civic Engagement track on Saturday.
Mikhail Beznosov, University of West Georgia, talks during a session of the Inclusive Classroom track.
Above: A discussant responds during the Core Curriculum/General Education track on Saturday morning.
Right: J. Cherie Strachan, Central Michigan University, discusses during the Inclusive Classroom track on Saturday afternoon.
Exhibitors from Pearson (left) and Univeristy of Toronto Press (center) talk to attendees during a break on Saturday afternoon.
Attendees enjoy a sponsored “coffee break” by Pearson. College Board also sponsored coffee on Friday afternoon. APSA appreciates our 2017 TLC sponsors!
