ABSTRACT
Efforts to promote excellence in the teaching of psychology have taken innumerable forms, many of which are outlined in other chapters of this volume. Here, I focus on the one with which I am especially familiar—the psychology teaching conference. By all accounts, conferences on the teaching of psychology have had an enormous intellectual and motivational impact on psychology faculty over the last three decades. The formal presentations, poster sessions, roundtable discussions, and informal interactions that typify psychology teaching conferences have been hailed by thousands of participants as providing (a) vital content updates that inform their lectures, (b) new ideas that improve and enliven their teaching methods, (c) a forum for discussing a wide variety of issues that affect their lives as teachers, and (d) a welcome opportunity to compare notes and blow off steam about the joys and frustrations of teaching.
