Pre-Conference Events

The following events are offered in addition to the CIT Conference. Registration is only available online, though you can still pay by check or money order. Click on the Registering for Pre-Conference link for more info.

NOTE: Engaging to Learn, which had a limit of 25 participants, has reached its capacity.

Contingent Faculty | Putting Additional Pieces in Place | Engaging to Learn | Registering for Pre-Conference

Contingent Faculty - Central to our Programs

with Dr. Christine Monikowski
9 AM – 4 PM
Presented in spoken English | Registration to 15 participants

The issue of recruiting and maintaining qualified adjunct and part-time instructors (i.e. contingent faculty) needs to be addressed. We know that in 2006, 52 percent of instructors in higher education are contingent (up from 34 percent in 1988). We know that many of our IEPs function as small programs with one or two full-time faculty and a pipeline of contingent faculty.

Where can we find qualified part-time interpreting educators?
What professional development can we offer them after they’re hired?
How clear are our expectations for their work?
Can we offer them any kind of supervision about their teaching?

This six-hour workshop is meant, NOT for adjuncts themselves, but for those who are responsible to recruit, hire, and oversee them: program coordinators, chairpersons, supervising faculty. Participants will leave with a CD of resources to help them with this challenging process.

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Putting additional pieces in place:

Refining our interpretations through linguistic research

with M. Villanueva, M. Thumann and R. Hogue
9 AM - 12 PM
Presented in ASL | No limit on registration

This workshop presents cutting edge research in American Sign Language linguistics and directly applies it to ASL/English interpreting pedagogy. As practicing professional interpreters, interpreter educators with experience teaching at the Associate, Bachelors and Masters levels, and doctoral students in ASL linguistics, all three presenters actively incorporate our own linguistics research into interpreting courses. Our experiences teaching interpreting also lead to new linguistics research questions, thereby fostering continued development and advances in our knowledge of both fields.

For this workshop, each of the three presenters will explain their original linguistics research, including their research questions, methodology, and findings. Participants will have a chance to apply the same analysis tools we used to ASL data clips, fostering a thorough understanding of the principles and features identified through our linguistics research. Each data presentation will be followed by a participatory activity in which workshop participants practice interpreting with special attention to the target features. We will wrap up the discussion of each research project by considering ways that these activities and analyses can be presented in courses that teach interpreting and language skills.

The three areas of research are:

ways that native ASL signers shift focus away from the agent or actor in an event
signers’ use of eye gaze during constructed action (role shifting)
the use non-manual features, focused on individual mouth movements and postures specific to ASL

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Engaging to Learn:

Interpreter Education through Dynamic Learning

with Dr. Len Roberson
1 PM – 4 PM
Presented in Spoken English | Registration limited to 25 participants (FULL)

Undoubtedly, the goal of all interpreter educators and interpreter trainers is for their students and participants to leave a class or session having actually learned something. Teachers want what they present to be understood, to be remembered, and to be eventually used by their students. The challenge is designing our instruction in ways that create the most optimal learning opportunities for everyone involved. All to often those who teach focus so much on the important content that they overlook a critical piece to the learning puzzle – the learner.

This workshop, through hands-on demonstrations, modeling, and discussions, will actively present proven tools of engaging learners. The facilitators will not only present key findings related to brain-based learning and active learning, but will relate the tools and strategies to successful application in interpreter education. Participants will learn how to lead their own “students” into new learning states and will learn what to do to help their students to be more engaged and successful in the learning process. During the workshop, participants will practice many of the tools presented and work through a specific action plan for integrating the strategies and information presented into their own teaching and training.

The desired learning outcomes will be for participants to:

Identify key elements of active, engaged learning;
Explain the tools of engagement presented;
Connect the strategies for engagement to specific interpreter training constructs;
Formulate specific applications of the tools of engagement for their own teaching

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Pre-Conference Event Registration:

Event	Regular* (Until 7/15/08)	Late 7/16/08 - 10/10/08	Registration Limit
Contingent Faculty - 9 - 4 pm	$50	$65	15
Putting Additional Pieces in Place - 9 AM - 12 PM	$25	$32.50	No Limit
Engaging to Learn - 1-4 PM	$25	$32.50	25 - CLOSED
Both Half-Day Sessions	$50	$65

As of June 4, registering for these sessions is integrated into registering for the CIT Conference. If you have already registered for the conference, you can go back and fill out the form online - you only need to include your Name and Email, your selection for the Pre-Conference and a note in the comments that you have already registered for the conference. Click here to register.

There is no paper form for registering for the pre-conference. If you would like to pay by check, you can fill out the online form and you will receive an e-mail that you can print with your registration information. Checks need to be payable to CIT.