About 150 people attending the Faculty Resource Network 2018 National Symposium in Orlando are expected to visit Stetson University on Saturday, Nov. 17, for breakout sessions and presentations on “Transforming Teaching Through Active Learning.”

Stetson is a member institution of the Faculty Resource Network, allowing faculty and staff to register for free for the 2018 National Symposium on Nov. 16-17 at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes Orlando Hotel. Membership in the network is provided through Stetson’s Brown Center for Faculty Innovation and Excellence.

The registration deadline for the symposium is Friday, Nov. 9.

On Saturday morning, Nov. 17, faculty, administrators and others attending the symposium will take shuttle buses to Stetson’s DeLand campus for 23 breakout sessions in the Lynn Business Center. Each presentation will explore this year’s theme of “Transforming Teaching Through Active Learning.”

The activities will begin at 8:45 a.m. in the Stetson Room of the Carlton Union Building with a continental breakfast and welcome from Rosalie Richards, Ph.D., associate provost for Faculty Development and Stetson’s liaison to the Faculty Resource Network, and Thomas Farrell, Ph.D., interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Afterward, breakout sessions will begin on topics ranging from “Improving Active Learning Through Enhanced Faculty Development,” “Faculty Reflections on Active Learning and Global Climate Change,” “Moving the Race Conversation Forward Through Civil Rights Tourism,” and “Food as Nexus of Community-Engaged Learning.” Four of the presentations will be led by Stetson faculty and professional development staff, Richards said.

She added that it’s a “huge deal” for Stetson to host these faculty and staff from colleges across the country.

“The people are warm and friendly and excited about learning aside one another,” Richards said of the Faculty Resource Network members. “It is festive because we have people from Puerto Rico and other countries. It’s a network that imports and exports a lot of culture. There’s a lot of information exchange that happens.”

The day will conclude with a cocktail reception from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. in the Marshall & Vera Lea Rinker Welcome Center. Participants also will have an opportunity to visit the Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center and the campus bookstore during the day.

Based at New York University, the Faculty Resource Network is devoted to faculty development through seminars, lectures and other programs for faculty and staff at more than 50 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Europe that are members of the consortium.

This year’s symposium will provide “a forum to explore the many varieties of active-learning techniques, develop best practices for lesson planning, and examine technology-based resources to facilitate student engagement,” according to a brochure.

“In past decades, students relied on professors and library books as their primary sources of knowledge. But today’s college students do not remember life without a smart phone and its ability to instantly access vast amounts of information through the internet. As a result, college education is shifting from the transmission to the evaluation of information. Active learning is a particularly powerful teaching strategy for cultivating a new generation of critical and creative thinkers,” the brochure said.

For more information, visit the Faculty Resource Network or email Rosalie Richards.