Invitation

The University of Mississippi’s 5th Annual Faculty Approaches to Critical Thinking (FACT) Institute will be held on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, from 9:00-2:00 in the Johnson Commons East Ballroom.

The FACT Institute is an important part of the University of Mississippi’s ThinkForward Quality Enhancement Plan. This workshop will be the fifth and final installment in an annual series of summer workshops that have been dedicated to exploring the role of critical thinking in higher education, our university, and our classrooms. At the conclusion of the 2023-24 academic year, our QEP will come to an end, so this is your last chance to participate in both the FACT Institute and course redesign funding initiatives.

This year's FACT Institute will feature a keynote from Mike Caulfield, a digital literacy expert who leads the rapid-response team at the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public. Caulfield's research and his development of the SIFT method for combatting misinformation and disinformation have been profiled in the New York Times and other outlets. The FACT Institute will also include a panel of UM faculty who will discuss the redesign projects they completed using funding from QEP grants.

During the event, opportunities for upcoming grants for enhancing critical thinking pedagogy will be introduced. In particular, attendees of the FACT Institute will be eligible to submit a proposal for a FACT grant, which provides $4000 for individuals (more for departmental teams) to redesign a course or courses they will be teaching in Spring 2024. Redesigns should include, but are not limited to, course outcomes, assignments, and teaching methods, with an eye toward revising these elements to enhance critical thinking. Participants must attend the FACT Institute in order to be eligible for this opportunity.

During the 2022-23 academic year, 25 colleagues from 10 different departments/schools across the university received FACT grants, either as individuals or part of departmental teams, to redesign courses to enhance critical thinking.

RSVP for the 2023 FACT Institute

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to send them to me at jreyler@olemiss.edu. Thanks very much!