TYCA-West’s 2008 conference was a good time! I thought I would share some of the good stuff the participants had to say about the conference in the conference evaluations. Besides saying that the session were generally “good,” participants mentioned that they liked the variety, found them “highly relevant,” and practical. Participants also mentioned that they liked the “collegial” atmosphere and valued the “good discussions.” Participants also liked the conference facilities and the food.
Folks were asked about what topics they liked enough to see again on the confernece program next year:
- teaching with technology,
- commenting on student writing/assessment,
- evaluating teaching,
- student evaluations, and
- family writing.
And folks were hoping they might catch some of these topics and would love to see them on the program next year:
- reading,
- developmental/basic writing,
- multi-modal composition,
- adjunct issues,
- scholarship of teaching and learning, and
- alternative texts.
So if you are thinking of proposing a session for next year’s conference, consider presenting something from one of the two lists above.
As for the negatives, more than one person wanted the sessions to end a little earlier in the day on Friday. Obviously they acknowledge that we all had a good time eating and drinking Friday night and value the networking that occurs over good food!
Happy conference participants at one of the sessions.
November 10, 2008 at 4:52 am
[...] As the program chairperson for the 2008 TYCA-West conference, I needed to do a little reflecting on the conference evaluations. [...]
December 5, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Hello, TYCA-West,
I am subscribing to the “better late than never” philosophy as I type this, but now that our term at YVCC is coming to a close, I’ve had a moment to go through some of the many “to do” lists that I’ve set aside and paper piles needing my attention, and I am trying to catch up. I attended your conference this fall on the lovely Yavapai campus as your visiting national TYCA representative, and I have been meaning to tell you all how much I enjoyed my time there and how much I appreciated meeting all of you during my visit. Unfortunately, upon returning home from Clarkdale, I had sort of a run of funerals (of all things!) to attend. It’s been a tough quarter, losing both a family friend and a family member unexpectedly as well as a few colleagues and acquaintances, all in the span of about one month, and I just lost focus on some of these smaller “to do’s.” But these small things are important to me, too, and now that I have a moment to take a breath (before all my final portfolios come in), I want to make sure you all knew how impressed I was with your conference intimate and stimulating conference. Kudos to Carol, Shelley, and the other conference organziers for a job well done! I had a great time and enjoyed your very good company. I also enjoyed spending a little time with Clint, the new TYCA Secretary, at NCTE. He’s going to do a fabulous job! Good luck with next year’s conference, Salt Lake folks, and I hope I run into some of you at CCCC!
Enjoy your holidays and have a restful winter break!
Best wishes,
Carolyn Calhoon-Dillahunt
Outgoing National TYCA Secretary
February 27, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Thanks for doing this Shelley–it will help us plan the conference for SLC next year. I just realized I forgot to write a post for our blog as I said I would.
I actually have a summary of our English 1010 retention study that I could post. Also, I’d like to post something on the upcoming 2009 conference. I just received confirmation that Deborah Holdstein (current CCCC editor) will be our guest speaker. Exciting!
Ron