RAFO sponsored three adjunct faculty members to attend the Writing on the Edge 2019 Conference held on September 21 at the College of DuPage.  The conference theme was “iGen:  Reaching the Smartphone Generation in the Classroom.”  The term iGen refers to the first generation spending their adolescence with smartphones.  It is important to note that new strategies and new ways to engage this unique generation must be created.

Jennifer Wilson (RAFO president), Joe Fedorko (RAFO membership chair), and Ami Hicks (RAFO professional development chair) were able to attend this conference.  Dr. Jean Twenge professor of Psychology at San Diego State University was the Keynote Speaker and talked about “why today’s Super-Connected Kids are growing up Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood” (see p. 5 COD WOTE 2019 brochure).

Jennifer Wilson presented “The Anxiety Epidemic:  Five Tactics for Addressing Students’ Stress.” She discussed how alarming it is that college students experience chronic and episodic stress and offered five suggestions to help students manage their coursework and stress levels. She will be presenting this topic at RAFO’s upcoming Adjunct to Adjunct Conference in April 2020.  

The executive committee encourages all adjunct faculty to participate in these professional development conferences and offers to pay the registration fee for those who would like to be more involved in their own professional growth.  RAFO also encourages all adjunct faculty to present and share their knowledge and skills with other adjunct faculty.  There will be additional opportunities to present and become involved in the upcoming Adjunct to Adjunct Conference in April 2020.