Math, education, technology, productivity.

Speaking

In addition to being a professor, I often give talks and workshops to college and university faculty on teaching and learning issues. My emphasis is on providing research-based, yet practical help to college faculty on improving student learning, delivered with a lot of energy and a positive, student-centered attitude. My areas of emphasis include:

  • Flipped learning and the flipped classroom
  • Standards-based and specifications grading
  • Self-regulated learning
  • Teaching with technology, including classroom response systems (clickers)

If you are in in higher education and are looking for someone to come and work with your faculty on improving teaching and learning in any of these areas — or a combination of them, or something related to them — I’d love to work with you.

Upcoming speaking and workshop engagements

Nothing is booked at the moment! See below for information on how to contact me for talks and workshops.

Experience

I’ve been giving talks and workshops on teaching and learning for about seven years. My experience includes:

  • Two-day workshops on flipped learning to two-year college faculty in Michigan and Pennsylvania
  • All-day workshop on flipped learning to the entire faculty and staff of a small liberal arts college
  • A two-day minicourse on flipped learning design given to mathematics faculty at the 2015 MAA MathFest
  • Keynote speaker and scholar-in-residence for the Appalachian College Association five-day Teaching and Learning Institute
  • Keynote addresses in the United Kingdom, Jamaica, and Canada
  • Contributed papers at academic conferences
  • I even gave a workshop on clickers once to the Johnson County (Indiana) Humane Society. (One of my favorite experiences.)

Examples

Here’s a talk I gave recently with my GVSU colleague Matt Boelkins on How can technology extend the humanity of learners? A dialogue.

And here are some presentations from select past engagements:

What you can expect

Once your organization has retained me as a speaker or workshop facilitator, here is what you can expect from me:

  1. Prompt, professional, and transparent replies to all your emails and phone calls.
  2. A personal conversation with me prior to the event, to help me gauge your needs and interests.
  3. Thorough preparation and quality materials, especially for workshops which will provide a number of “take-home” materials for participants.
  4. Arrival on-site at least one hour before the talk or workshop, to be prepared and properly set up when the event begins.
  5. For talks — an energetic, positive message tailored to the specific interests of your group. For workshops — a vigorous time of work (and fun!) with a clear purpose in mind, again tailored to the specific interests of your group.
  6. A brief follow-up conversation following the event to make sure I met your expectations.
  7. Continued accessibility to workshop participants through email and social media, in case participants have any remaining questions or ideas that didn’t get addressed on site. I typically provide 30 days of free one-on-one consulting to all workshop participants following workshops.

How to hire me for speaking and workshops

Just contact me using one of the links in the sidebar and let me know the details of what you’re interested in. The information that helps the most is:

  • What’s the context? Is this event part of a larger event, like a conference or multiple-day retreat? Is there a specific issue you’d like me to address? Are there any details about your faculty and institution that would be helpful for me to know?
  • What’s the outcome? When the talk or workshop is done, what would you like to have accomplished? Where would you like your faculty to be, or what do you want them to know or be motivated to do, as a result of the event?
  • What’s the location and what’s the time frame? An exact date is most helpful but if it’s pretty far off in the future, just a general time frame is OK. My current schedule for events is at the bottom of this page.

Fee structure

When contracted to do a speaking or workshop engagement, my expectations for funding are:

  • The host will pay for all food, travel, and lodging expenses. For travel considerations, I am located near Grand Rapids, Michigan USA. For engagements within 300 miles of Grand Rapids, I typically rent a vehicle and drive. Otherwise I fly out of the Gerald Ford International Airport (GRR) and connect via the Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) if necessary.
  • I also request an honorarium in addition to those expenses. How much is it? It depends on your needs, and on other factors that vary from one group to another. So, please contact me using the email or social media links in the sidebar if you’re interested, and let’s talk about it.