Trine prof’s presentation included in Best of Conference publication

A presentation by a Trine University faculty member is included in The Best of the 2021 Teaching Professor Conference, newly released by Magna Publications.

Jeremy Rentz, Ph.D., professor in Trine University’s Reiners Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the university’s Center for Teaching Excellence, presented “Put the Hammer Down and Build Your Teaching Toolbox” at the Teaching Professor Conference, held June 2-4 in New Orleans.

His presentation, rated among the conference’s best in a post-event survey, is one of eight included in the publication.

“Dr. Rentz is not only an outstanding teacher to his own students, but, as director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, increases the quality of academic instruction across the Trine University campus by sharing what he and others have learned,” said John Shannon, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs at Trine. “I’m pleased that he not only gets the honor of being recognized in a national publication, but the opportunity to share his teaching expertise with a wider audience.”

Hosted by Magna Publications, the Teaching Professor Conference invites college faculty to learn the latest research-based, classroom-tested best practices to enhance student outcomes.

“Put the Hammer Down and Build Your Teaching Toolbox,” conducted as part of the event’s Instructional Growth and Development track, focused on utilizing other teaching tools as opposed to lecture — the “hammer.”

“For meaningful, long-term learning, students need to answer a lot of questions without resources,” Rentz says in the publication. “The classroom is the only place where we can (mostly) influence students’ actions and limit resource availability. So, to give students the opportunity to answer questions without resource temptation, we need to frequently put our hammers down during class and get students to do some work.”

The Best of the 2021 Teaching Professor Conference is available for free download at magnapubs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/free-report-Best-of-TPC-2021-opt.pdf

Last Updated: 10/26/2021