About the Presenter

Bill Roberson, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Instructional Support Services
University of Texas at El Paso
Instructional Support Services http://academics.utep.edu/iss
Center for Effective Teaching and Learning http://cetal.utep.edu

Since 1982 Bill Roberson has been in the pursuit of teaching excellence—for faculty, for programs, for whole institutions, and for himself.  Since 1992 this pursuit has become the focal point of his professional activity and practice in Faculty, Instructional and Curriculum Development. His primary area of interest is designing courses and assignments that ensure intellectual engagement of students and the development of their ability to think critically.  Foremost, he is an advocate for transforming the way we define and structure learning experiences for novices in our disciplines. His public workshops and presentations emphasize extensive interplay with the audience, small-group processing, problems to solve, scenarios to figure out, and other mini-challenges designed to model strategies for student engagement. His facilitation goal is for participants to exit these sessions not only with the enthusiasm to innovate in their teaching, but also with a clearer idea of their teaching goals, and concrete plans to put new ideas into action.

A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Dr. Roberson has held positions in faculty and curriculum development at UNC, Indiana University, and the University of Texas at El Paso. At UTEP he has directed the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning, and currently directs the office of Instructional Support Services, which combines faculty, instructional, and curriculum development with instructional technology, classroom design, digital media production and support for distance learning.

Recent Public Seminars/Workshops on University Teaching

“Promoting Learning that Matters,” Invited workshop, ST University, Aix-en-Provence, France, 2006

“Designing Curricula for Inquiry-based Learning,” Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educacion, Santiago, Chile, 2006

“Designing Courses for Critical Thinking,” University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 2006

“Fostering Neo-Experts (who can think critically in your discipline),” Lilly South, Greensboro, 2006

“Data Drives Inquiry,” Professional and Organizational Development Network, Milwaukee, 2005

“How Should We Transform Universities?” Chilean Ministry of Education, Santiago, Chile, 2005

“Re-thinking Gateway Courses: Creating Conditions for Discovery-Learning,” New Mexico State University, 2005

“Teaching Critical Thinking in the Health Sciences,” Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, 2005

“What Every New Instructor Should Know About Critical Thinking,” PFF Session for Howard University, 2005

“Designing Lessons for Critical Thinking and Discovery Learning,” University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 2005

“Teaching Critical Thinking in Your Discipline,” California State University—Bakersfield, 2005

“Thinking Critically about the Teaching of Critical Thinking,” University of New Mexico, 2005

“Critical Thinking for Faculty and TA’s,” University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, 2005

“Building Academic Programs with a Critical Thinking Goal,” Central Piedmont Community College, 2005

“Teaching Critical Thinking at Your Campus,” POD, 2004, Montreal, Canada

Thinking Critically about the Teaching of Critical Thinking,” Michigan State University, East Lansing, 2004

“Are We Really Doing It? Critical Thinking for University Teachers,” University of Central Oklahoma, 2004

“Teaching Critical Thinking,” University of South Florida, 2004

“Three Workshops on Critical Thinking,” New Mexico State University, 2004

About the Workshop

Subverting the Academic Model
So learning can finally take place

It’s easy to change what students know. It’s hard to change how students think. This fundamental challenge to university teachers is the starting point for re-engineering what we do. Getting students to develop their ability to think critically requires overcoming several substantial barriers. Some of these barriers are institutional (how instruction is evaluated); some live in the heads of our students (fears and mistaken beliefs about what is expected of them); and some live in our own heads (the limits we believe to be imposed on us). In this session participants will address all of these barriers, re-conceptualize the teaching and learning process, and learn concrete strategies and techniques that can make our university classrooms the dynamic places they should be. The focus of this session will be first on the rationale behind assignment design in the critical thinking classroom, and second, on concrete steps we can take to turn passive students into active inquirers and questioners of information.