The John M. Burns Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is co-sponsored each year by the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center and the Teaching Academy. Named in honor of Dr. John M. Burns, who helped found the Teaching Academy, this conference is held each fall and features two keynote sessions from an invited teacher-scholar and a poster session from recipients of the Annual Lawrence Schovanec Teaching Development Scholarship Award. Past speakers include Noah Finkelstein, Bryan Dewsbury, Peter Felten, Claire Howell Major, Michele DiPietro, and Derek Bruff.

The 22nd annual John M. Burns Conference will be held on Friday, September 8, 2023, with Lauren Barbeau and Claudia Cornejo Happel. Registratration NOW OPEN!

About Dr. Lauren Barbeau and Dr. Claudia Cornejo Happel

Who Tells Your Story: Faculty Reflection and Agency

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | TLPDC Room 150

When it comes to teaching effectiveness, who tells your story? Often, documentation of teaching privileges student or colleague voices or simply lets materials speak for themselves. Using the Critical Teaching Behaviors (CTB) framework, we discuss a documentation method that promotes instructor agency in shaping teaching narratives while fostering reflective habits that improve teaching. The framework provides guidance to instructors crafting their first teaching narrative and presents more experienced teachers with a new lens to think about their teaching. Participants will begin framing a persuasive, coherent teaching narrative using the CTB and evidence from instructional artifacts easily available to them.
*Please bring a mobile device or laptop

Crafting a Definition of Teaching Excellence at Texas Tech

*This session is focused on the Teaching Evaluation Initiative. All are welcome to attend. 

1:30 - 3:00 p.m. | TLPDC Room 150

How will we define excellence in teaching? Do we know when we see it? As we strive to improve and build upon a culture of excellence in teaching and learning at Texas Tech, creating a shared definition of teaching excellence is a critical step in evaluating and measuring our work. In this working session, we will examine the work of the Defining Excellence subcommittee from the Teaching Evaluation Initiative and consider the pillars of teaching they have identified captured in this summary statement: Texas Tech University is committed to evidence-based, inclusive, innovative, engaging, and empowering teaching and learning. How do we measure the pieces of this definition? Do they reflect the rich history of teaching at our institution? Do they align with your departmental culture? Together we will brainstorm and analyze these questions as we compare the pillars to the Critical Teaching Behaviors (CTB) framework. 

2023 Registration

About Our Speakers

Recordings of Previous Sessions

*Please Note: While this conference is face-to-face, we are offering a virtual option for remote faculty. If you have a remote appointment, please email Kerri Pike to request a Zoom link.