Unlike larger research universities, primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) are smaller, privately or publicly funded colleges and universities offering unique resources and research experiences. As a PUI faculty member, your responsibilities are multifaceted, including substantial teaching commitments, typically ranging from six to eight courses per year. Join us for an inspiring workshop showcasing exceptional faculty members from Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) who excel in teaching, research and service. Hear from educators at various career stages as they share insights and strategies for success. The speakers will be: 1. Blake Dunshee, Belmont University, on the integration fo cutting-edge active learning pedagogies to enhance student engagement, retention, and overall academic success. 2. Jason Devito, University of Tennessee at Martin, on effective interdisciplinary undergraduate research advising and securing external funding. 3. Nicole Panza, Francis Marion University, on navigating through university committees, departmental responsibilities, discipline-related opportunities and community-focused outreach, promoting mathematics awareness and education beyond academia.
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**Participants are requested to bring laptops or other devices capable of opening and working with excel files.** This workshop will present an innovative curriculum that is a hybrid of the standard courses mentioned in the title. The mathematical focus is on discrete models defined by difference equations, and the continuous models that they reveal. The goal is to give students a realistic sense of how math actually gets applied. At the same time, the development and exploration of these models is an effective vehicle for having students review many of the ideas from standard college algebra courses. The presentation will follow this outline: 1. Motivation for the course: dissatisfaction with standard curricular options. 2. Principles underlying the curricular design. 3. Progression of mathematical ideas from arithmetic to logistic growth, climaxing with a new discrete version of logistic growth. 4. Pedagogy; Instructional approaches. 5. Technology. Available suite of excel-based exploratory tools. 6. Experiences of teachers using this curriculum.
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Co-organizer: Aaron Trocki, Elon University, (atrocki@elon.edu) Research on teaching and learning in introductory mathematics courses has identified a need to address underpinning concepts during instruction and on assessments. Faculty teaching these courses are challenged with addressing a plethora of learning objectives in a limited amount of time, which may lead to a focus on lower levels of cognitive demand. All students deserve opportunities to develop their understanding of foundational concepts in mathematics. This workshop highlights innovative practices designed to foster and effectively assess conceptual understanding. We will showcase strategies recently implemented in Calculus I courses that include developing classroom routines to explain concepts; emphasizing application questions; and revising assessments for higher cognitive demand. Workshop participants will learn about these efforts and engage with others to adapt and develop actionable strategies and assessments for the undergraduate mathematics course they teach.
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