History – Let’s Talk About Teaching
On November 18, 1994, a working conference on effective teaching brought sixty-six faculty members from all three Tufts campuses together on the Grafton campus. Held at the Franklin M. Loew Education Center at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine through the good auspices of Dean Loew, the conference enjoyed the full philosophical and financial support of the University President and Provost. By day’s end, the participants reached an overwhelming consensus that the climate at Tufts was ripe for new efforts to strengthen a university-wide culture that fosters continual improvement in teaching.
A core recommendation resulting from this first conference on teaching was the establishment of a committee whose membership is drawn from all three of the Tufts University campuses. This committee, the University-wide Committee on Faculty Development and Teaching (UCTFD), now organizes annual teaching and learning conferences to bring together faculty around best practices in teaching and innovations in enhancing learning.
Since the first conference in 1994, Tufts has held many faculty conferences on topics as diverse as “The Brain, Technology and the Person: Some Lessons for Teachers,” “Matching Assessment Strategies to Learners’ Needs,” “Really Fabulous Out-of-the-Box Practical Ways to Enhance Your Teaching and Student Learning,” and Classrooms without Borders: Extending the Classroom Experience.
The next annual University-wide teaching and learning conference, “Fostering Active & Collaborative Learning Environments: From Design to Assessment”, will be held in Grafton May 2019.