On Jan. 26, the Health Professions Division’s Institute for Educational Research will sponsor the fifth biannual Health Professions Educational Research Symposium. This daylong conference is open to all faculty and graduate students from any program on campus.
Educational research will be exhibited, which will offer insight into the health field. The presentations will showcase ideas on how to think about and how to question research, what topics to research, and how to use effective teaching methods.
Bin Zhang, director of research in the College of Optometry, said that the symposium will help improve the education quality of NSU’s health field for two main reasons.
“First, although many HPD faculty members are doctors and scientists, the expertise in their own fields do not automatically transfer into teaching skills. Second, many students now are Generation Y/Millennials and they stay perpetually connected through social media,” said Zhang.
Zang saud that studies about how teachers should adapt to those changes will help the faculty in HPD.
The fee for the symposium is $50 for NSU students; $75 for NSU faculty; and $125 for non-NSU faculty. The prices include breakfast, lunch, cheese, and wine.
Keynote speakers include Todd Zakrajsek, executive director of the Center for Faculty Excellence at the University of North Carolina, and Mary Tischio Blackinton, associate professor and associate director of the Hybrid Entry Level Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at NSU’s Tampa campus.
Cheryl Purvis, professor of anatomy in the College of Medical Sciences, said, “One of the most exciting features of this year’s conference is the addition of the ‘Author’s Forum.’”
Purvis said, “Anyone who has written a book or book chapter can submit a synopsis and could be published in the HPERS program. This is a wonderful opportunity for NSU faculty to promote their scholarly activity and learn what others are doing here at NSU.”
Edye Groseclose, biochemistry professor in the Health Professions Division, has attended the symposium twice before.
Groseclose said, “I look forward to meeting new people who are also interested in teaching and learning. I hope to learn how to teach more effectively. My experiences with HPERS taught me that there is always someone new and interesting.”
Zhang said, “I will look for research about how to apply new knowledge in social cognition to enhance the effectiveness of teaching. Figuring out what are the potential cognition biases in the students’ minds will help me to improve my teaching.”
For faculty members interested in submitting an abstract to present, contact Kathleen Hagen at khagen@nova.edu. For more information on HPERS, visit nova.edu/hpers.
