Workshop focuses on ways faculty can engage 21st century students

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Senior Associate Director of Northeastern University's Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research, Michael Sweet, Ph.D., worked with the Thiel College faculty Monday on teaching techniques to better challenge, educate and develop students.

“This well-attended workshop is an excellent example of Thiel College’s commitment to fresh approaches to deeper, more lasting, more engaged student learning,” Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Lynn Franken, Ph.D., said. “To accommodate and challenge today’s multi-tasking, tech savvy and intellectually ambitious students, Thiel faculty members have been avidly pursuing recent research on optimal conditions for learning.”

Team-Based Learning is an instructional strategy that both teachers and students have reported increases levels of student attendance, preparation, participation and critical thinking. This specific form of small-group learning has enjoyed increasing adoption across disciplines in the last decade.

Sweet presents nationally and internationally on critical thinking and Team-Based Learning. He served as the 2009-2010 president of the international Team-Based Learning Collaborative and is now its Executive Editor of Publications. Online resources he developed to support critical thinking instruction and Team-Based Learning have achieved international adoption. Previously, he was Director of Faculty and Graduate Student Engagement in the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Texas at Austin and led the Teaching Effectiveness Program’s instructional technology support services at the University of Oregon.