About 60 faculty members filled the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union Wednesday for a fast-paced Faculty Forum.

The event, sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, was titled “Teaching Tips From Exemplary ISU Faculty.”

“For a few years now, the Center for Teaching Excellence has had these forums in the evening,” said Susan Yager, associate professor of English and associate director of the center. “This is the first time we’ve had a forum in the daytime, and we are hoping to have a bigger turnout. I have a feeling we’ll be dragging out a few extra chairs.”

The forum began with a brief introduction of the members who helped organize the event.

Speakers shared experiences in a variety of teaching-related issues.

Speaker Sue Crull, associate professor of human development and family studies, said she noticed about half of the 13 presentations dealt with group activities and active learning.

“There’s a lot of emphasis on group work, which a lot of students don’t like,” she said. “But in the United States, we are in a group-oriented society, particularly in the workplace.”

Presentations ranged from using poetry for focusing student energy to using technology tools to inspire student accountability.

Connie Hargrave, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, gave a short speech, “Helping Students Establish Personal Goals for Learning.” She said about 20 percent of students in her class fail, and they should “look around the room and decide who it’s not going to be.”

During his speech on “Risk-Taking, Vulnerability, and Learning,” Neil Nakadate, university professor of English, said he often relates to students by telling them what it was like for him as a college English major.

He said he remembers chemistry class as “having my instructor look at what I’ve done and say, `You know, that stuff isn’t supposed to burn.’ “

Crull said faculty don’t have as much time to talk about teaching, as opposed to research, as she sometimes would like.

“Teaching at Iowa State is not often a focus [of forums], so it’s great to be able to talk about teaching,” she said.