ACC Teaching Scholar Todd Zakrajsek,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
Overcoming Apathy and Creating Excitement in the Classroom

Date:

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Time:

12:00-1:30 pm

Location:

Maryland Room, Marie Mount Hall

Abstract:

What can instructors do to facilitate learning when they encounter students who seem uninterested and even apathetic toward course content and assignments? Part of the responsibility for learning belongs to students, but as faculty, we can find new ways to motivate, inspire, and maybe even cajole students to learn. This workshop will demonstrate and explain how instructors can make classroom learning, perhaps one of the most artificial learning settings, a more meaningful experience for students.

About the Speaker:

Todd Zakrajsek serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously, Dr. Zakrajsek was the founding director of The Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching (FaCIT) at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. FaCIT constitutes a centralized faculty development office, providing resources in the areas of teaching, learning, and technology. Dr. Zakrajsek also previously served as the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Southern Oregon University, where he also taught in the psychology department as a tenured associate professor.

Dr. Zakrajsek has written two introductory psychology instructor's manuals for McGraw-Hill and a student study guide for Addison-Wesley. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Ohio University. Dr. Zakrajsek has provided workshop sessions and keynote conference presentations in 26 states and 3 countries in the past several years. He is the recipient of a 2004 national innovation in faculty development award for the development of his concept of “The 5-minute Workshop.”