The Conversations on Teaching were started in 1999 as an outgrowth of the Carnegie Foundation's "Campus Conversation on Teaching" initiative, which was aimed at fostering opportunities for teachers and would-be teachers on college campuses to reflect with one another about what it is they do when they teach (working towards developing the "scholarship of teaching").
They began as quarterly, informal roundtable discussions whose purpose was to generate ongoing discussion about undergraduate teaching in the department, with the goal of sharing ideas and helping fellow teachers. They now range from informal, focused discussions to presentations by university professionals and outside visitors on various topics related to undergraduate teaching.
The outside visitors come as part of our annual Lecture on Linguistics Pedagogy, and this lecture is now a regular element in the Conversations in a given year.
The Conversations take place once each quarter during the academic year; the following is a comprehensive list of what they have involved. An asterisk (*) marks those that were the Pedagogy Lecture for that year.
Spring 1999: Informal Conversation on the "Scholarship of Teaching as It Pertains to Teaching Introductory Linguistics"
Winter 2000: Informal Conversation on "Developing Ourselves as Teachers"
Spring 2000: Informal Conversation on the Purchase of Teaching Materials and Possible Involvement in the Linguistic Olympics (http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~tpayne/lingolym)
Autumn 2000: Dr. Li Tang, OSU Office of Faculty and TA Development (http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/education/ftad/) "Adjusting for Differences in Learning Styles"
Winter 2001: Informal Conversation on "What Every Educated Person Should Know About Language and Why" (based on 2001 Linguistic Society of America Symposium)
Autumn 2001: Video and Discussion on "Civility in the Classroom"
*Winter 2002: Dr. Beverly Flanigan (Ohio University): "Incorporating Dialect Awareness into the Teaching of Introductory Linguistics"
Spring 2002: Pam Tracy & Brenda Boyle: OSU Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing (http://www.cstw.ohio-state.edu/index.htm) "Creating Writing Assignments"
Autumn 2002: Informal Conversation: "Teaching Highs and Lows."
Winter, 2003: Brenda Boyle, OSU Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing (http://www.cstw.ohio-state.edu/index.htm) "Responding to Student Writing"
*Spring 2003: Dr. Gregory Ward (Northwestern University): Interdisciplinization, Corporatization, and other Polymorphemic Horrors Facing Linguistics Today
Autumn 2003: Stephanie Rohdieck, OSU Office of Faculty and TA Development (http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/education/ftad/) "Developing Your Teaching Portfolio"
Winter 2004: Informal Discussion: "What to Include — and Why — in Linguistics 201"
*Spring 2004: Dr. Christina Kakava (Mary Washington College): "Introductory Linguistics in a Small Liberal Arts College"
Autumn 2004: Departmental panel discussion: “Research and teaching — doing both well"
*Winter 2005: Dr. Tom Wasow (Stanford University): “Linguistics in an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Program”
Spring 2005: Informal Discussion: “Active Learning in the Linguistics Classroom”
*Autumn 2005: Dr. Jorge Hankamer (University of California, Santa Cruz): “Teaching without a Textbook”
Spring 2006: Demonstration of and Follow-up Discussion to teaching without a textbook: “Would it work for you?”
Autumn 2006: Informal Discussion: “The Use of Electronic (and Other) Teaching Aids in the Classroom and Supports for the Mechanics of Teaching”
*Winter 2007: Dr. Chip Gerfen (Pennsylvania State University): “Mentoring Undergraduates into Research: Many paths to success”
Spring 2007: Academy of Teaching mini-conference on Good Teaching
This is a lecture series that was begun in 2002, drawing on funds made available from our University Departmental Teaching Award. Each year we bring in a speaker who is known to be an excellent teacher or to be innovative in some way connected with instruction (e.g. in curricular planning, promotion of undergraduate research, etc.). The lectures to date are listed above with an asterisk (*), since they serve as the Conversation on Teaching in the quarter they occur.
For the past several years we have maintained a departmental listserv dedicated to instructional matters; anyone is free to join in (we have subscribers from outside the university!). The address is teachling@ling.osu.edu; for more information and instructions on how to subscribe, visit https://mail.ling.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/teachling.