Join us at the annual International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) conference and take the next step in your journey as a scholarly educator. Engage with diverse perspectives, discover new teaching strategies, and build lasting professional relationships.
Unlike discipline-specific conferences, ISSOTL brings together scholars from a wide-range of disciplines, fostering cross-pollination of ideas and innovative teaching strategies. This commitment to teaching as a scholarly activity is a wonderful space for IU instructors of all ranks, particularly those considering applying for teaching professor as part of their career trajectory and graduate students just starting their teaching journey.
Unlike many conferences that claim to be international, ISSOTL brings together a global community beyond North America thanks to the structure of the conference involving both the organization and a co-host. Over the past decade the conference has been hosted in Canada, Australia, Norway, The Netherlands, virtually (during COVID), and the US. As the host for the 20th anniversary conference, IU faculty have a unique opportunity to explore this global community close to home. For those whose teaching schedules may not allow for full conference attendance, one-day registration is available.
If this is your first time attending ISSOTL, consider participating in the buddy program to be connected with a more experienced ISSOTL attendee. There is also a “new to ISSOTL” session just before the opening reception to provide an introduction to ISSOTL and tips for an optimal conference experience. Students new to ISSOTL may be interested in attending the student welcome also held just before the opening reception.
Attendees will find five types of programming during the main conference: papers, concurrent workshops, panels, posters, and keynote speakers. I find the paper session to differ the most from disciplinary paper sessions. Unlike STEM conferences, there is not a written paper or proceedings. Like these conferences, papers are grouped thematically with each session offering 2-3 short talks on a related area. Unlike humanities conferences, these are designed to be more interactive than listening to the presenter read their paper. View the program for more details.
In between sessions, join us in the conference commons. More than a physical space, the commons is a space designed to foster connection. You might engage in informal discussions over coffee breaks or jigsaw puzzles. Maybe you would like to leave a note for a new colleague in a book and pick up a new one for the flight or drive home. You might connect with an ISSOTL board member at the registration desk. The two features of the conference commons I am most excited about are the podcast and pin trading.
The first ISSOTL podcast was recorded at the ISSOTL23 conference in Utrecht, Netherlands. We are excited to continue this programming format through the Great Conversations at ISSOTL podcast to be hosted by our own FACET executive director and Great Conversations host, Michael Morrone. Michael will also be moderating the opening keynote panel at the conference.
In the pin trading aspect of the conference commons, we draw inspiration from another international gathering; the Olympics. Originally used to identify individuals officially involved with the Olympic games, pins became a “currency of friendship and goodwill, with athletes seeking to trade badges from their countries or swap rare ones to enhance their collections” (Alderman, 2024). We will be providing a 20th anniversary ISSOTL pin as part of the conference registration materials for attendees to wear on their lanyard. We encourage attendees to bring other pins to wear on their lanyard and trade with other conference attendees. We hope this activity will serve as a mechanism to facilitate friendship among new colleagues in much the same way as between Olympic athletes.
Don’t miss out on significant savings! Register before September 15 and reserve your hotel room before September 22 to take advantage of reduced rates. For more information contact Shannon Sipes at sipessm@iu.edu or JT Cornelius at sotlgrad@iu.edu. Graduate students interested in volunteering at the conference should contact Leslie Drane at lesdrane@iu.edu.
Citation:
Alderman, L. (6 Aug 2024). Star Power Elevates Pin Trading, the Unofficial Sport of the Olympics. The New York Times. Accessed 4 Sept 2024 from https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/06/business/paris-olympics-pin-trading.html
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