This is a national conference on the teaching of psychology at the University of Puget Sound during June 22-27, 2008, sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA). The last national conference sponsored by the APA was in 1991. Conference participants are addressing a wide range of topics that are relevant to the redesign of undergraduate education in psychology, including the use of new learning technologies (e.g., automated tutoring systems), applications from the science of learning, increased diversity in our students and faculty, learning outcomes assessment, models of curricula, quality in instruction, and new ethical concerns created by a revolution in our biological and socio-cultural understanding of psychology. These topics are being addressed in the context of nine critical questions that were identified by members of the Steering Committee for the APA National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychology as central to providing a high quality undergraduate education.
The participants are fifty six teachers of undergraduate psychology and other stakeholders, representing all levels of the educational pipeline and diverse educational institutions.
Specific outputs of this conference are: 1. A set of recommendations that will serve as the blueprint for the redesign of educational programs in psychology at the undergraduate level, and in undergraduate education more broadly. 2. A book draft, Undergraduate Education in Psychology: a Blueprint for the Future of the Discipline, for publication by APA as a means to disseminate the conference recommendations. 3. Planned additional dissemination activities so that the findings from the conference can be shared with the larger higher education community. Findings will be made available in a variety of formats (such as online videos, downloadable sample curricula, and demonstrations of learning activities and lab-based experiments).
