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!
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