Welcome Back Symposium

Curious, Connected, and Creative: Practical Strategies for Sparking Student Engagement

We will explore the small, evidence-based moves faculty can make at the start of the semester (and sustain throughout the class) to shift student engagement from the transactional to the transformative. Participants will leave with a handful of specific strategies they can try right away, to support their motivation for the start of the fall semester.

Facilitator: Bonni Stachowiak, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University of Southern California

UDL and Academic Accommodations: How They Work Together

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and academic accommodations are sometimes seen as separate approaches to accessibility, but they are most effective when they work together. This session introduces the fundamentals of UDL and examines how proactive course design can support accessibility while complementing the accommodation process. Participants will explore practical strategies for designing courses that reduce barriers for diverse learners while maintaining the flexibility needed to support individual student needs.

Facilitators: Pearl Xie, Director of Universal Design for Learning and Accessibility Services, TLOS and Ashley Bray, Director of Services for Students with Disabilities, Student Affairs

Big Classes, Strong Connections: Designing Large Courses Students Want to Show Up For

What does it take to make 500 students want to show up at 8 a.m. and stay engaged once they do? This session draws on real teaching experiences in large enrollment courses and student feedback to explore how small, intentional changes can transform the energy of a lecture hall. It highlights practical ways to make large classes feel more alive, connected, and worth the early wake-up.

Facilitator: Pitchayaporn “Peach” Tantihkarnchana, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Department of Economics

Experiential Learning: A Hands-on Approach to Course Design

This session focuses on how hands-on learning opportunities are intentionally integrated into course design. In LAR 3154, students engage with environmental topics related to stormwater through experiential activities that use the campus and surrounding community as a living laboratory. We will discuss how these field-based experiences are scaffolded within the course, including preparatory instruction, the structure and facilitation of the on-site experience, and strategies for guiding meaningful post-experience reflection.

Facilitator: Jenn Engelke, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture

Going Analog: Creating a Dynamic and Engaging Learning Environment in a Device Free Space

The classroom environment is an increasingly competitive space where faculty must contend for student attention against a multitude of devices, software platforms, and increasingly Artificial Intelligence systems. This interactive session provides some tips and methods for de-digitizing and re-humanizing the professor-student environment. The session provides ample time for dialogue on how to achieve a more engaged and interactive classroom environment that is more rewarding to both faculty and students.

Facilitator: Aaron Brantly, School of Public and International Affairs

Why Can't Chat GPT Write my Essay?

In this micro-session, I will discuss ways that I have incorporated Chat GPT usage ethically in my class. With real life classroom scenarios, I'll also describe ways that students have tried to use AI to do their assignments and how I attempt to prepare assignments that discourage full AI preparation.

Facilitator: Katherine Hall, Advanced Instructor, Department of English

Get Them Thinking: Practical Strategies for Active Classrooms

Students don’t all learn in the same way or at the same pace, so how can we make class time more engaging and meaningful for more of them? In this session, we’ll look at a few ways to incorporate in-class problem solving that invite broader participation and encourage students to learn from each other. We’ll also reflect on how classroom structures can help students feel more comfortable taking intellectual risks and viewing mistakes as part of learning. The session will offer practical ideas you can adapt to your own teaching context.

Facilitator: Kelli Karcher, Director of Undergraduate Academics, Advanced Instructor, Department of Mathematics

Down with Friendly, Up with Nice.

Of the chaplain's polite yet distant relationships with his Army colleagues in Catch-22, Joseph Heller wrote, “Everyone was always very friendly toward him, and no one was ever very nice; everyone spoke to him, and no one ever said anything.” Sometimes we lament that our students treat us with similar perfunctory chilliness, but sometimes that's because we seem perfunctorily chilly! This talk addresses broadly applicable ways to decenter steer clear of a seemingly emotionally sterile style of classroom performance while still maintaining professional distance.

Facilitator: Andrew Hobin, Advanced Instructor, Department of English

Beyond Lectures: Using Case-Based Assignments to Deepen Conceptual Learning

This presentation explores practical methods for augmenting traditional instruction by pairing core concepts with carefully selected case-based assignments that challenge students to apply, analyze, and synthesize what they've learned. The session will examine how real-world and simulated cases can serve as cognitive anchors to create more engaging learning experiences. Attendees will leave with an actionable framework they can adapt across disciplines to align with specific learning objective and varying levels of student readiness.  

Facilitator: Joseph Roark, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Management

Efficient Strategies for Engaging Students in Large Classes

It can be difficult to engage students in large classrooms for a variety of reasons. Students may expect to be able to be a passive observer, many engagement options cost money, and even more simply require a lot of time and effort. In this session, we will explore strategies for engaging students that are no-cost and require minimal preparation, without the need to learn new software.

Facilitator: J.P. Gannon, Collegiate Associate Professor, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Real Complexity, Constructed Stakes: Using Simulations to Build Professional Skills in Online Courses

This presentation offers a comparative look at how two courses use simulation-based learning to develop professional skills in online environments. One course, focused on environmental conflict resolution, used an asynchronous negotiation in which students adopted assigned stakeholder roles to reach consensus on a solution to a community-based environmental conflict. The second course, focused on international management, employed a synchronous team-based simulation in which students created a company to develop and manage as they expanded into international markets. 

Despite differences in structure, format, and discipline, both simulations yielded similar outcomes, including a deeper appreciation for the complexity of real-world scenarios and the way system components interact. 

Presenters will discuss design choices, surprises, and lessons learned, with particular attention to how simulations prepare students for the messiness of professional practice.

Facilitators: Ashley Beleny, Instructor, Department of Management
Kathy Perkins, Professor of Practice, Career Coach, College of Natural Resources and Environment

If AI Can Do the Assignment, Why Are We Still Assigning It? Reimagining Assessment, Critical Thinking, and Authentic Learning in Higher Education

The keynote will explore how faculty can design assessments that emphasize process over product, cultivate critical thinking beyond information retrieval, and create opportunities for students to demonstrate judgment, creativity, ethical reasoning, and cognitive engagement. The talk will encourage faculty to consider how AI can function as a productive thought partner in the design of learning experiences while reinforcing their essential role as mentors, facilitators, and architects of meaningful learning.

Facilitator: Nicole Pitterson, Associate Professor and Assistant Department Head for Undergraduate Programs in the Department of Engineering Education