Description, Goals, Financial Support, and History
The Indiana High School Psychology Teachers Association (IHSPTA) Conference is an annual, one-day event that draws high school psychology teachers to the IUPUI campus to accomplish the following three goals: to sharpen their pedagogical skills, to provide them with a forum to share their teaching techniques with their peers, and to develop collegial relationships with their fellow high school and college teachers of psychology. Psychology teachers from all 355 Indiana public and private high schools receive an annual mailed invitation to attend, which includes a description of the conference, a list of its goals, and comments from the preceding year’s attendees. The conference consists of formal presentations by attendees and IUPUI faculty and informal sessions during which attendees share effective teaching methods, resources, and materials and discuss pedagogical topics such as AP psychology courses, academic honesty, and teaching ethics. Funding for the conference is provided by a $25 registration fee and, when available, a grant ranging from $250-$1,250 from the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs Pre-College and Undergraduate Block Grants Program. The foundation of the conference was laid in 1998 when Dr. Drew Appleby, who was then the Chair of the Marian University Psychology Department, created a needs assessment questionnaire, which he sent to all Indiana high school psychology teachers with a mailing list he obtained from the Marian’s Admissions Office. Those who responded to the questionnaire indicated they (1) thought the conference was a good idea, (2) would attend if the conference was held, (3) would like to participate in an activities/ideas exchange session involving other attendees, (4) would like to learn about services available to high school teachers from the American Psychological Association, and (5) would be interested in mentoring relationships that could develop among more-experienced and less-experienced attendees. Many also responded that the conference would be particularly valuable because they were the only psychology teacher in their high school and the conference would provide them with a way to develop a network of professional colleagues. The conference is modified each year to better meet the needs of the attendees on the basis of the results of an evaluation form completed by the attendees and a 15-minute concluding debriefing session. As the conference evolved, Dr. Appleby encouraged attendees to take an active role in the planning and implementation of conference events, and a core group of attendees (including the current co-director Amanda Vanderbur, who teaches at Zionsville Community High School) accepted the offer enthusiastically. The participation of these active attendees further strengthened or created conference sessions that dealt with classroom demonstrations, internet resources, field trips, controversial issues in the teaching psychology, and state and national standards for teaching psychology in high school. Dr. Appleby created an annual report for each conference until he retired in 2011 and turned his role of co-director over to his colleague Dr. Bethany Neal-Beliveau. A copy of a recent annual report can be obtained from Dr. Appleby at [email protected].
The Indiana High School Psychology Teachers Association (IHSPTA) Conference is an annual, one-day event that draws high school psychology teachers to the IUPUI campus to accomplish the following three goals: to sharpen their pedagogical skills, to provide them with a forum to share their teaching techniques with their peers, and to develop collegial relationships with their fellow high school and college teachers of psychology. Psychology teachers from all 355 Indiana public and private high schools receive an annual mailed invitation to attend, which includes a description of the conference, a list of its goals, and comments from the preceding year’s attendees. The conference consists of formal presentations by attendees and IUPUI faculty and informal sessions during which attendees share effective teaching methods, resources, and materials and discuss pedagogical topics such as AP psychology courses, academic honesty, and teaching ethics. Funding for the conference is provided by a $25 registration fee and, when available, a grant ranging from $250-$1,250 from the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs Pre-College and Undergraduate Block Grants Program. The foundation of the conference was laid in 1998 when Dr. Drew Appleby, who was then the Chair of the Marian University Psychology Department, created a needs assessment questionnaire, which he sent to all Indiana high school psychology teachers with a mailing list he obtained from the Marian’s Admissions Office. Those who responded to the questionnaire indicated they (1) thought the conference was a good idea, (2) would attend if the conference was held, (3) would like to participate in an activities/ideas exchange session involving other attendees, (4) would like to learn about services available to high school teachers from the American Psychological Association, and (5) would be interested in mentoring relationships that could develop among more-experienced and less-experienced attendees. Many also responded that the conference would be particularly valuable because they were the only psychology teacher in their high school and the conference would provide them with a way to develop a network of professional colleagues. The conference is modified each year to better meet the needs of the attendees on the basis of the results of an evaluation form completed by the attendees and a 15-minute concluding debriefing session. As the conference evolved, Dr. Appleby encouraged attendees to take an active role in the planning and implementation of conference events, and a core group of attendees (including the current co-director Amanda Vanderbur, who teaches at Zionsville Community High School) accepted the offer enthusiastically. The participation of these active attendees further strengthened or created conference sessions that dealt with classroom demonstrations, internet resources, field trips, controversial issues in the teaching psychology, and state and national standards for teaching psychology in high school. Dr. Appleby created an annual report for each conference until he retired in 2011 and turned his role of co-director over to his colleague Dr. Bethany Neal-Beliveau. A copy of a recent annual report can be obtained from Dr. Appleby at [email protected].
