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Keynote or Plenary

Flat space, deep learning, at Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) Conference (Tulsa, OK), Monday, November 3, 2014:
talk_2243.pdf
The teaching of physics to engineering students has remained stagnant for close to a century. In this novel team-based, project-based approach, we break the mold by giving students ownership of their learning. This new course has no standard lectures or exams, yet students’ conceptual gains are significantly greater than those obtained in traditional courses. The course blends six best practices to deliver a learning experience that helps students develop important skills, including communication, estimation, problem solving, and team skills, in addition to a solid conceptual understanding... Read more about Flat space, deep learning
Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning, at 2014 Robert A. Welch Conference in Chemical Research (Houston, TX), Monday, October 27, 2014:
talk_2144.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning
Turning lectures into learning, at Turning Technologies User Conference, University of Manchester (Manchester, UK), Monday, September 22, 2014:
talk_2367.pdf
The world is abuzz with talk about "clickers" or classroom response systems. Clicker are not just simple polling tools, but can be used to achieve significant learning gains. In this presentation we explore using clickers with Peer Instruction, a pedagogy that encourages students to interact and solve problems during class.
Confessions of a converted lecturer, at 9th Teikyo-HSPH Symposium, Harvard School of Public Health (Boston, MA), Thursday, September 4, 2014:
talk_2357.pdf
I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has improved my students' performance significantly
Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?, at EDULEARN14 (Barcelona, Spain), Monday, July 7, 2014:
talk_2316.pdf
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is what is mostly done in large introductory courses -- instructors present material (even though this material might be readily available in printed form) and for students the main purpose of lectures is to take down as many notes as they can. Few students have the ability, motivation, and discipline to synthesize all the information delivered to them. Yet synthesis is perhaps the most important -- and most elusive -- aspect of education. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to synthesizing... Read more about Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?
Why you can pass tests and still fail in the real world, at 2014 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Annual Conference, Queen's University (Kingston, ON, Canada), Wednesday, June 18, 2014:
talk_2142.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Why you can pass tests and still fail in the real world
Femtosecond-Laser Hyperdoping and Texturing of Silicon for Advanced Non-equilibrium Materials, at 2014 AFOSR Ultrashort Pulse Laser-Matter Interactions Program Review (Arlington, VA), Friday, May 30, 2014:
talk_2331.pdf
Shining intense, ultrashort laser pulses on the surface of a crystalline silicon wafer drastically changes the optical, material and electronic properties of the wafer. The process has two effects: it structures the surface and incorporate dopants into the sample to a concentration highly exceeding the equilibrium solubility limit. This femtosecond laser "hyperdoping technique" enables the fabrication of defect- and bandgap engineered semiconductors, and laser texturing further enhances the optical density through excellent light trapping. Hyperdoped silicon opens the door for novel... Read more about Femtosecond-Laser Hyperdoping and Texturing of Silicon for Advanced Non-equilibrium Materials
Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning, at VIII Congreso de Investigación, Innovación y Gestión Educativas: “Educar en el siglo XXI: Necesidades y retos, Tec de Monterrey (Monterrey, Mexico), Monday, May 26, 2014:
talk_2292.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning
Assessment: The silent killer of learning, at Center For Excellence In Learning And Teaching Spring Breakout Workshop, SUNY Oswego (Oswego, NY), Monday, May 19, 2014:
talk_2329.pdf
Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment: The silent killer of learning

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