Purdue to host research summit on transformative education

Updates on empirical efforts to improve higher education in the United States through student-centered learning environments will be featured at the Transforming Education for Student Success (TESS) summit on Feb. 28 and March 1 at Purdue’s Beck Agricultural Center. 

The TESS summit includes two days of keynote speakers, invited talks from university researchers doing transformative work, and opportunities to explore a variety of topics related to transformative education, including research on flipped classes, high-impact practices, and student-centered learning environments. Faculty, administrators and graduate students who attend will come away with new ideas for their own classrooms and inspiration for new scholarship projects. 

Keynote speakers are: 

• George Kuh, founding director of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes and Assessments and author of many higher education books on topics including high-impact educational practices.
• Johnmarshall Reeve, professor at Korea University’s Brain-Mind Research Institute and noted researcher in autonomy-supportive classroom interventions.
• Pat Hutchings, former senior fellow of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and specialist in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
• Chantal Levesque-Bristol, executive director of Purdue’s Center for Instructional Excellence and noted author and researcher in transformative education. 

Other sessions will feature researchers and faculty from Purdue, San Jose State University, Hampton University, Clemson University and the College of New Rochelle on an array of topics including technology in the classroom, informed learning interventions and the processes behind studying transformation projects. The current schedule is available online.

Registration is limited and must be completed by Feb. 15. There is no registration fee for Purdue faculty, staff and graduate staff, who should register using the discount code TESS2019. The registration for the public is $100, which includes a continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks both days as well as a reception and dinner on Thursday evening held at Purdue Memorial Union. Registration for one day is $50. Online registration is available here.

TESS is hosted by Purdue’s Center for Instructional Excellence as part of Success through Transformative Education and Active Mentoring (STEAM), a grant project funded by the United States Department of Education. Since 2014, STEAM faculty at Purdue have been researching and testing strategies for bringing postsecondary education in the United States back to being first in the world.

For questions and more information, contact Jennifer D. Moss at moss16@purdue.edu.