Pitt's Annual Teaching Excellence Fair Set for Nov. 8

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh will hold its annual Teaching Excellence Fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, in the J.W. Connolly Ballroom, Alumni Hall, 4227 Fifth Ave., Oakland.

Sponsored by the Provost's Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence and coordinated by Pitt's Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education (CIDDE), the fair celebrates faculty initiatives and innovations related to teaching and the use of instructional technology.

Recipients of the 2005-06 Innovation in Education grant awards will present their prize-winning teaching projects. Also featured will be small group discussions on teaching and learning facilitated by faculty who have been recognized for their teaching excellence. Throughout the day, informative minisessions will be held on a variety of teaching-related topics, such as promoting student motivation and developing a teaching portfolio. There also will be demonstrations of new instructional support software and technical resources, including:

Podcasting from the classroom;

Using Pitt's Student Response System for classroom feedback and assessment; and

Using anti-plagiarism software.

This year's fair includes a discussion with Joe Grabowski, associate professor in Pitt's Department of Chemistry, on the Innovation in Education grants program and application process and free digital portraits for faculty. A number of sessions will be Web-cast in real time for those unable to attend.

For more information and to register, visit CIDDE's Web site at www.pitt.edu/~ciddeweb or contact Melanie Fox at 412-624-2896 or fox@cidde.pitt.edu.

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