Campus Connection

Associate professor to present on ‘Failure as Feedback’

Entering its second season, The TEDxUWLaCrosse Salon Series will kick off with the presentation “Failure as Feedback: F**king up and Still Sort of Succeeding” from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in the Institute for Campus Excellence, Murphy Library. The event opens with a presentation and group discussion facilitated by Darci Thoune, associate professor of English and First-Year Writing Program coordinator. At a TEDx salon, attendees watch TED Talks, listen to speakers, and have discussions about the talks they witnessed. Salons re-engage the audience in the presentation model through the critical element of lively discussions, allowing attendees to actively participate in the event and shape the conversation. About the presentation “Failure is an inevitable component of learning,” says Thoune. “While most of us know this, there seems to be little room for failure, especially at the college level. However, what if we encouraged our students and each other to fail a bit more often and to make those failures public? How might discussing failure change and shape our understanding of this essential form of feedback? This TEDx Salon will explore how failure — even f**king up — can enhance the learning experience and lead to unexpected success.” During this presentation, audience members will watch videos that will encourage them to rethink the concepts of failure and success, being right and wrong, and what it takes to learn from mistakes. This will be an interactive component and the audience will have opportunities to contemplate their own failures and to listen and learn from the failures of others. [caption id="attachment_46835" align="alignleft" width="225"] Darci Thoune, UWL associate professor of English.[/caption] About Darci Thoune An overachiever, an occasional failure, and a lifelong learner, Darci Thoune is an associate professor of English and the First-Year Writing Program coordinator. Her research focuses on instructor feedback on student writing, writing assessment and writing program administration. In addition to administering UWL’s First-Year Writing Program, she also regularly teaches first-year writing and upper-level writing courses in the English Major’s Rhetoric and Writing Emphasis. When she’s not teaching, thinking about teaching, or talking to others about teaching, she’s probably in the kitchen — a space in which failure can also be a form of success. Learn more about upcoming TEDxUWLaCrosse Salons at http://www.uwlax.edu/TEDxUWLaCrosse/Upcoming-events/ If you go — What: TEDxUWLaCrosse Salon Series: “Failure as Feedback: F**king up and Still Sort of Succeeding” Who: Darci Thoune, UWL associate professor of English Where: Institute for Campus Excellence, 150 Murphy Library When: 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13 Admission: Free