2023

The 28th Annual Facet Associate Faculty and Lecturer Conference (FALCON)

October 28, 2023

Trends, expectations, and challenges: What it’s like to be an educator in 2023 

Adjunct and lecturer faculty face a dynamic landscape with evolving trends, expectations, and challenges. To succeed, they must stay abreast of emerging pedagogical methods, incorporate technology into their teaching, focus on student well-being and success, and meet administrative expectations. Building a diverse skill set and actively seeking professional-development opportunities is crucial. 

Suggest a thirty-minute session followed by 15 minute discussion. The sessions can be activity based or presentations. Suggested topics: 

  • Changing expectations – syllabus, feedback, support/flexibility, uniformity of student experience, promotion/dossier development, well-being.  
  • Current issues, trends, and topics such as inclusive classroom environments, disruptions of AI, other technology, etc. 
  • New opportunities and concerns  

Suggest a thirty-minute session followed by 15 minute discussion. The sessions can be activity based or presentations. Suggested topics: 

  • Faculty experience stories 
  • Effective teaching philosophies  
  • What it means to “tell your story” 
  • Stories of pedagogical leadership and service  

Share your short story about something little you’ve done to help your students succeed. Attendees will get to hear and discuss multiple stories during these sessions. 

In 250 words, share your short story about a little thing you’ve done or something you’re planning to do to positively impact your students. These sessions should be easy for other teaching faculty to incorporate into their own learning environments. Be sure to share examples of how your story has or could impact student success.

Schedule

Check out the schedule and presentation abstracts (subject to change). 

Schedule

Presentations

View the slides and supplemental materials from the presenters.

Presentations

Hotel Reservations

Book online or call the Sheraton at (317) 846-2700 to reserve a room and mention IU FALCON. The deadline to receive discounted rate is October 20. 

Book a Room

Parking

Free self-parking is available in the attached garage. Attendees must request a validation ticket from the registration desk. Hotel guests will need to visit the hotel's check-in desk.

Park

Registration

Registration is free and limited by institution based on previous year's attendance rates. FALCON is an IU presidential initiative to provide the highest quality personal and professional development opportunities to part-time and associate faculty members. The deadline to register online is October 23 at 12 pm EST.

  • Indiana University 100
  • Butler University 10
  • Ivy Tech Community College 10
  • Other non-IU institutions 30

Once the limit is reached, you may join the waiting list and will be notified by October 23 if a spot opens up. In order to reach as many attendees as possible, we will be implementing a no-show fee of $75 for those who do not cancel their registration by October 22 and do not attend.

Register

Robin Hass-Birky Keynote: Nourishing Ourselves and Our Students’ Learning

Julie Saam, IU Kokomo

Although being an educator in 2023 is challenging, met with high expectations, and built on trends that are steep in new technologies, all the work that we do and the success that we earn is to ensure student learning. We are building connections, finding our patience, eliciting grace, and managing our professional progress for the students. Let’s spend some quality time at this FALCON conference to reflect on our professional lives and how this nourishes students and their learning.

Julie Saam is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment; and Professor of Education at IU Kokomo. As a native Hoosier, Dr. Saam is proud of her degrees from only IU campuses. She received a BS in secondary education from IU Southeast, a MS in secondary education from IU Southeast, and a Ph.D. in Science Education from IU Bloomington. Before beginning her tenure track position at IU Kokomo, she taught for 1.5 years at the IUPU Columbus campus. She is currently an Associate professor in the School of Education teaching methods courses in science and mathematics education.

Improving in Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century Panel Discussion

The goal of this panel discussion is to provide advice to all teaching faculty with the opportunities to learn more about continuous improvement and development in teaching and learning in higher education in our current learning environment.  Some of the most popular current topics today in higher education include digital literacy, active learning practices, and open educational resources. FACET is excited to bring these experts together to share ideas on how we can all incorporate these methods and improve our teaching and learning practice for the 21st century.  Please come with questions for the panelists and find new ways to enhance your teaching practice.

Tracey Birdwell

Tracey Birdwell, Ph.D., serves as the Program director of the Mosaic Active Learning Initiative at Indiana University. She leads a university-wide initiative to support active learning in all IU classrooms. Dr. Birdwell blogs regularly on the different ways that active learning classrooms have transformed teaching and learning at Indiana University. Tracey earned her Ph.D. in American History from the University of Delaware. 

Jennifer Price Mahoney

Jennifer Price Mahoney is a senior lecturer and associate director of the IUPUI Writing Program. Her degrees are from Indiana University (Bloomington) and Butler University (Indianapolis). Before coming to IUPUI, she worked as a technical writer, project manager, and trainer for American United Life and the Disney Company.

Justin Hodgson

Dr. Justin Hodgson is the Co-Director of the Digital Gardener Initiative at Indiana University and an Associate Professor of English at IU Bloomington. As a research scholar and teacher, Hodgson focuses on the points of connection (and spaces of contention among) digital media and rhetorical studies, with a particular tint toward multimedia production, aesthetics, media studies, game/play theories, and rhetorical invention.

  • Keith Anliker, Chair, IUPUI
  • Virginia Hojas Carbonell, IUB
  • Gina Londino-Smolar, IUPUI
  • Melinda Stanely, IUK
  • Diane Larson, IUN
  • Suparna Mukhopadhyay, IUS
  • Jon Becker, Advisory Member, IUN
Back to Top