The planning committee selects a balanced mix of full time and part time instructors from each campus who are at various stages of their careers and belong to a variety of disciplines. Below is the annual event at a glance:
- Four days in late July
- Days one and two take place remotely
- Days three and four take place on USM’s Portland campus
- The keynote is delivered by a nationally known guest speaker and open to UMS
- Between 25 and 28 faculty attend each year
- Earn an adcomp of $1000 upon successful completion
- SAALT indirectly reaches up to 2000 students annually
Intentional engagement
SAALT eschews the content-driven conference format of professional development. Instead, faculty members intentionally engage with each other and reflect on their practice in light of new pedagogies. Every session – online and in person – includes individual or group activities that (a) model good teaching practices and (b) directly impact participants’ plans for student engagement. Groups are shuffled throughout to allow everyone to work with different partners. We also recognize that every participant brings wisdom, skills and critical questions, and set aside unstructured time for them to research those and share with others.
All participants are enrolled in a Brightspace course site that gives them access to any ‘pre-work’, session descriptions and logistics. It also acts as a repository after the fact.
SAALT badge
Participants are offered the opportunity to earn up to three levels of the Adult Learner Practitioner badge, each of which is tied to completing qualifying SAALT-related activities. The badge is managed by the UMS Microcredential group and resides on Canvas Credentials, formerly Badgr.