Quality teaching and teaching evaluation will be in the spotlight on Friday (Mar. 5) during the 17th Annual Advancing Teaching and Learning Conference at Texas Tech University. Held virtually via the Zoom platform, the event is hosted by the university's Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center and the Teaching Academy.

Cindy Akers, associate dean for academic and student programs with Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, noted the conference is being dedicated to the late Charlie Klein, an associate professor with Tech's Department of Landscape Architecture.

Program leaders said they wanted to honor Klein's memory by acknowledging his passion and dedication to teaching and his lasting legacy on his students, colleagues and community. They said Klein was an innovative teacher, nationally recognized in study abroad programs, advocate of service learning pedagogy, and an active and respected professional landscape architect.

Klein was able to inspire his students with more than three decades of professional experience as he guided his students in experiential learning through reflection to meet the community's needs. His passion for experiential learning led him to be an early adopter and supporter of Tech's service learning. He also participated and gave his time to support and encourage other faculty to implement service learning in their teaching.

In 2008, Klein was a Service Learning Faculty Fellow, who then later served as a mentor for new service learning fellows. He implemented service learning pedological practices to allow his students to develop a deeper understanding of the skills they needed to be successful future professional landscape architects. He also produced much scholarly work on service learning and study abroad pedagogies.

One of Klein's most notable teaching projects spanned the last decade, leading a community-focused ecotourism project in the Yucatan peninsula and Merida, Mexico. He would take students on a summer study abroad to work with rural Mayan communities to develop low-impact tourism projects. The project focused on sustaining income for the community while preserving their history, heritage, culture, and natural environment.

The focus of Friday's event will be on how to evaluate how participants might approach teaching evaluations from a three-pronged approach: information from others, self, and students. Separately, Ginger Clark, associate vice provost for academic and faculty affairs at the University of Southern California, will serve as the event's keynote speaker. Clark is currently is leading USC's Teaching Excellence Initiative.

To register for the keynote and concurrent sessions, please click here. The program schedule includes:

• Welcome & Introductory Remarks; Suzanne Tapp, Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center; Emily Miller, Association of American Universities; 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
• USC's Teaching Excellence Initiative: What We Did, What We Learned, Where We Are Now; Ginger Clark, University of Southern California; 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Faculty Peer Observers Are Looking for these Five High Impact Practices in Online and Hybrid Courses; Charles Crews, Melanie Hart, Robin Lock, Lisa Low, Angela Lumpkin, Courtney Meyers and Kay Millerick, Teaching Academy Online Evaluation Subcommittee; 1 to 2 p.m.
• Successful Teaching Innovations Spurred by the Demands of Switching Teaching Modalities; Angela Lumpkin, Audra Day, David Pifer and Heather Vellers, Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management; 2 to 3 p.m.

CONTACT: Cindy Akers, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Programs, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or cindy.akers@ttu.edu

0301NM21 / Editor's Note: Use this Zoom link for each session throughout the event