About the Teaching the Teachers Conference

The Teaching the Teachers Conference provides a foundation in evidence-based instructional design, teaching techniques, and assessment for law librarians by law librarians. The conference was originally dreamt up by Penn State law librarians Laura Ax-Fultz (Dickinson Law) and Rebecca Mattson (Penn State Law) and brought to fruition by an amazing team of law librarians.

In 2016, after attending the ACRL Immersion program at Penn State University Libraries, Laura and Becky were inspired to create an experience for law librarians to enhance their knowledge of pedagogical issues and best practices specific to legal research instruction. During the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Meeting in July 2016, they started working with Alyson Drake (University of Houston), then the incoming chair of the AALL Research, Instruction, and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS-SIS), to convene a task force to design and create the conference.

For three years, the Task Force built the conference from the ground up – soliciting sponsorships, developing curriculum, and organizing the conference logistics. Conference attendance was intentionally capped to facilitate a robust, interactive experience amongst attendees. The interest in and need for a conference devoted to instruction was demonstrated when the available slots filled less than a half hour upon registration opening. The inaugural conference was held in 2019 at Georgia State College of Law in Atlanta, Georgia.

In response to the COVID pandemic, the conference team quickly arranged an online version of the conference, taking place in December 2020, to respond to the unique needs of the online teaching environment. With registration closing in approximately 6 minutes, we eventually opened the conference up to a greater audience, with over 100 people attending.

Due to increasing popularity of the conference and wanting to give everyone an equal opportunity to attend, the 2022 conference team ended the first-come, first-serve application process and added an application to the registration process to ensure blind review of conference attendees. The 2022 team also limited attendance to one registrant per institution on the idea that attendees should take back what they learn to their institutions. The Teaching the Teachers Conference has also grown to include the Beginners’ Bootcamp, created and organized by Alyson Drake. The Bootcamp provides support specifically to newer teachers as they work to ground their teaching in evidence-based strategies. The program provides hands-on instruction on backward design, cognitive science, and assessment techniques under the guidance of experienced mentors and conference team members and gives attendees time to develop materials for a class or unit of their choosing.

Currently, the Bootcamp and Main Conference alternate each year, giving new and experienced librarians regular opportunities to convene and work on strengthening their teaching skills. This conference would not be possible without the outstanding team we have assembled over the years. Thanks to all the team members, past and present, and to the dedicated law librarians all over the country who continue to strive to be better teachers.

2019 Founding Conference Task Force
Becky Mattson, Chair
Laura Ax-Fultz
Michelle Hook Dewey
Alyson Drake
Karin Johnsrud
Kris Niedringhaus

2020 (Virtual Main Conference)
Alyson Drake, Chair
Mari Cheney
Michelle Hook Dewey
Becky Mattson

2022 Main Conference & Bootcamp Pilot (Portland, OR)
Alyson Drake, Chair
Mari Cheney
Michelle Hook Dewey
Heather Joy
Mandy Lee
Becky Mattson

2023 Bootcamp (Houston, TX)
Alyson Drake, Chair
AJ Blechner (Content Team)
Kristina Chamorro (Content Team)
Mari Cheney (Onsite Team)
Michelle Hook Dewey (Logistics Team)
Heather Joy (Content & Logistics Team)
Becky Mattson (Website & Onsite Team)
Olivia Smith Schlinck (Logistics Team)
Theresa Tarves (Content Team)
Genevieve Tung (Content & Logistics Team)

2024 Main Conference (Philadelphia, PA)
Becky Mattson, Chair
Laura Ax-Fultz
Jennifer Chapman
Alyson Drake
Kerri-Ann Rowe
Olivia Smith Schlinck
Theresa Tarves
Genevieve Tung