AERA Heads to Philly

by Jennifer L. Brown, TEP Newsletter Editor 2013-2014

The 2014 AERA Annual Conference will be held from Thursday, April 3, until Monday, April 7, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  According to Barbara Schneider, AERA President and Mark Berends, Chair, 2014 Program Committee, this year’s Annual Meeting Theme is “The Power of Education Research for Innovation in Practice and Policy”.  The city of Philadelphia has many existing opportunities, including the Liberty Bell (pictured to the left), the Philadelphia Museum of Art (pictured to the right), and Independence Hall, the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.  In addition, Center City has many great restaurants to satisfy every taste bud.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Reflections from the AERA Annual Meeting: San Francisco Dreaming

by Cynthia Bolton-Gary, TEP SIG Chair 2013-2014

Due to many factors, not the least being the change in venue less than a year before from Atlanta, Georgia to San Francisco, California, I really did not expect a stellar turnout for the Annual Meeting.  Many universities and colleges cut their travel budgets because of continuing economic challenges, and this was the fifth meeting in the western (San Diego, Denver, Vancouver Canada) or central (New Orleans and Chicago) part of the country in 5 years.  With all of these challenges, it’s amazing that this year’s meeting surpassed my expectations by leaps and bounds.

                Last year in Vancouver Canada, TEP expanded the types of sessions offered by including poster presentations.  This year TEP sponsored a Round Table discussion.  This format was influential in helping new instructors to network and gain support from those of us who have been teaching educational psychology for many years in different contexts.  Another important result from this session was a serendipitous connection of those who teach educational psychology in departments of psychology, not colleges of education or for education program providers.  These connections are critical for those who may feel marginalized, though they have the same mission as the majority of our members:  how to teach educational psychology in meaningful, effective and innovative ways in order to provide educative experiences in how people learn, think, and are motivated and how best to effect that learning, thinking, and motivation.

                The Business Meeting was very well attended, and I hope all the new faces that I met that evening will become active and contributing members of our SIG.  The big topics of the evening was how to grow our TEP SIG; how to support all of our members especially graduate students and new professors; and how to reach out to our related SIGs and Divisions to co-sponsor sessions. 

                Every session that I attended (which was all but one due to travel arrangements) was incredibly well attended (some standing room only).  The interest in the research our members are conducting is engaging and rigorous, permeating many different areas of educational research. 

                I want to encourage you to submit a proposal for the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania next spring – April 3 – 7.  Submissions are due July 22, 2013.  You can also contribute by volunteering to be a discussant or chair of a session.  This is a great way to get to know others in TEP and network with an amazing group of professionals committed to Teaching Educational Psychology. 

See you

in Philly!

Call for Nominations

TEP SIG Leadership Positions for the

2014-2015 term

Dear TEP SIG members:

                Serving as a member of the SIG leadership team is a rewarding and enjoyable experience – we are a highly collaborative and collegial group!  As a member of the leadership team, you get the opportunity to work with colleagues across the continent and to shape the efforts of our SIG.  I hope you will consider running for an elected position on our leadership team.

                Elections will be held early in 2014 and newly elected officers will take office at the close of the 2014 annual meeting.  Below are descriptions for each of our elected offices.  If you are interested in running, or if you have any questions, please email me at dezuts@millsaps.edu.

Thank you,

Stacy DeZutter

Past TEP SIG Chair/

Nominating Committee

Chair-elect/Program Chair 

(elected for a 1-year term, continuing the next year as Chair, and the following year as Past Chair)

The Chair-elect/Program Chair will serve as TEP Program Chair for the 2015 AERA meeting in Chicago.  These duties include, but are not be limited to, submitting the call for proposals to AERA; soliciting proposals via the SIG website or other forums; recruiting members to serve as reviewers, discussants, and chairs; receiving proposals and assigning them to reviewers for blind review; deciding on proposals to be accepted and scheduling them in appropriate formats; in consultation with others on the Executive Committee, deciding on a substantive format for part of the business meeting and arranging for such; publicizing our annual meeting sessions; and submitting all required program-related forms to AERA. The Chair-elect/Program Chair becomes the SIG Chair the following year. The TEP SIG Chair is responsible for the general administration of the SIG and acts as liaison between the SIG and AERA. The Chair presides at the annual business meeting.  The Chair then becomes the Past Chair, who is in charge of the nominations process.

Secretary/Treasurer

(elected for a 1-year term)

The Secretary/Treasurer is responsible for any official correspondence, keeps the minutes of all business meetings, and compiles and disseminates the minutes to members of the SIG.  The Secretary/Treasurer also keeps track of the financial status and membership of the SIG and reports on these to members periodically.

Newsletter Editor

(elected for a 1-year term)

The Newsletter Editor is responsible for soliciting information that relates to the purposes of the SIG from SIG members and outside constituencies and publishing that information at least three times a year (generally, Fall, Spring, Summer) in a newsletter that is shared with all SIG members via the SIG listserv. 

Webmaster/Blog/Wikimaster (elected for a 1-year term)

The Webmaster/Blog/Wiki master is responsible for maintaining and sharing all electronic sources of information that relate to the purposes of the SIG, including our TEP Blog, the TEP Wiki, and the TEP website at aera.net.

Collaborative Project Across Institutions

by Rachel J. Eells, Concordia University Chicago

One of the great things about the annual AERA convention is the chance to meet with other researchers. This year in San Francisco, a few of us discovered a connection that has led to a collaboration.  All three of us teach educational psychology out of psychology departments, and we are interested in the ways that ed psych functions as both an education course and a psychology course.

                We (Rachel Eells, Allison Butler, and Alexa Darby) are conducting a document analysis that examines course objectives in syllabi for educational psychology classes. In addition to finding syllabi online, we are requesting them from the members of the TEP SIG.

                For the purposes of our project, we are specifically seeking undergraduate, introductory-level educational psychology syllabi. No identifying information pertaining to the professor or institution will be shared during the presentation of results.  If possible, we would like them by July 1, 2013, but late submissions will be accepted.

If you are interested?

If you are willing, please send your syllabi via email to rachel.eells@cuchicago.edu, and indicate whether your course is offered through a psychology department, an education department, or cross-listed.