Researchers gather at McMaster to discuss undergraduate teaching and learning

Studying the complex ways that the brain absorbs, retains and recalls information can
reveal important opportunities for improving the effectiveness of teaching, says an
award-winning McMaster researcher.

Geoff Norman, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Dimensions of Clinical
Expertise, won a prestigious Karolinska Prize (from the same institute that presents the
Nobel) in 2008, recognizing his lifetime achievements in medical education research.

He is to discuss the psychology of learning as keynote speaker on the opening day of
Research on Teaching & Learning: Integrating Practices, a two-day conference presented
by McMaster University's Centre for Leadership in Learning Wednesday and Thursday.

“If we really want to improve teaching, we have to understand very precisely how people
learn,” Norman said. “Cognitive psychology is devoted to many aspects of thinking that
are directly related to learning – memory, transfer, perception, judgment, decision-
making. A better understanding of these processes leads almost automatically to
insights about how teaching can be improved.”

The entire conference deals with the broad spectrum of research into teaching and
learning, a particularly active area of scholarship that takes in many disciplines and
yields new academic insights while generating improved, evidence-based methods for
teaching in all fields.

“It's a celebration and a showcase of teaching and learning,” said Sue Vajoczki, director
of McMaster's Centre for Leadership in Learning, which opened a major new home at
Mills Memorial Library earlier this year. “Research in teaching and learning is how we
stay at the forefront of education.”

About 150 delegates are expected to attend the conference, representing faculty and
staff from McMaster and other institutions engaged in the growing field.

“They will come away with tangible ways to improve teaching and learning in their own
classrooms,” Vajoczki said.

The conference is the result of collaboration between several partners, including
McMaster University Library, the School of Graduate Studies, Office of the Vice-President
Research, Office of Institutional Research and Analysis, Research, Instruction and
Innovation in Educational Technologies (Health Sciences) and, from outside McMaster,
the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

All presentations are to take place in the third floor of the McMaster University Student
Centre, where Norman is to speak at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday.

The conference is to include presentations on such topics as assessing the effectiveness
of teaching, promoting academic rigor and motivating instructors and administrators to
improve teaching and learning.

One presentation will discuss evidence indicating that students' performance improves
when they can access online audio recordings from lectures, synchronized with
PowerPoint slides and searchable closed-caption text.

The Centre for Leadership in Learning, located in Mills Memorial Library, is mandated to
encourage, support and collaborate with the teaching community in the scholarly
exploration, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of teaching and learning
practices.