My session will dive into an experiment that Dr. Angela Staples and I are running during this fall semester. We propose that there is a dissonance between what students come to college expecting by the time they receive their degrees and what the university believes it provides to students in skill development and critical thinking. Students often assume that it is the role of the university to guide them through a program of study and into a career field. Instructors, however, recognize that college courses offer more than content-area knowledge that will enable students to adapt to ever-changing workforce needs.

We hope to bridge the gap between student and university expectations by way of the Careers in Psychology (PSY 200) course, which is mandatory for all undergraduate psychology students. This presentation will cover research about student expectations and barriers to graduating into the workforce or attending graduate school. I will use PSY 200 as an example 1-credit hour course that aims to address these concerns. For example, the course could offer clarity in terms of expectations put forth by the university (e.g. cross-disciplinary skills) while simultaneously equipping students with tangible career focused resources, such as a polished resume, interview experience, and clarity on their individual career direction.

Through a 12.5 hour course, it is possible to offer a more effective method than standard advising to help our students be successful post-degree. I hope the presentation enables others to extend the careers course to other departments to help the EMU student body more broadly.

I will offer a researched based presentation that talks about the value of honors contracts when it comes to building an engaged undergraduate population. In addition to talking about the value of the contracts themselves, I will do a pseudo-workshop where I use real student examples (FERPA protected information redacted ) of honors contracts, and how they can be outside of the box projects while still fostering additional learning. Many faculty seem to be stumped when they are first propositioned for contracts. It is my hope to remedy this while showcasing the value the process has for student growth, confidence, and building faculty relations. Much of the scaffolding for this work will be built on the foundation of NCHC’s 2020 book "Building Honors Contracts: Insights and Oversights." Besides this text an assortment of scholarly articles will be used to demonstrate both the strengths and weaknesses that are presented with honors contracts. 

Giving students a voice is vital to their educational experience as they take on more responsibility for their learning and become increasingly engaged in the classroom (Cook-Sather, 2011). Instructional partners (IP) are students who have successfully taken a class in the recent past, attend the course in a subsequent semester, and meet after each class to discuss what went well and what improvements to make for the future. Since IPs work alongside the professor and not for a grade, power differentials are deconstructed, offering the opportunity for genuine, honest feedback (Bovill, Cooke-Sather, & Felton, 2011). It also features in-the-moment changes to benefit current students instead of waiting until the following semester. IPs are successful when faculty understand that students have valuable contributions to make teaching and learning more effective (Hemmerich, Hoepner, & Samelson, 2015). Through self-reflection, IPs may also take an interest in teaching as they develop a greater appreciation for pedagogy (Hemmerich, Hoepner, & Samelson, 2015). 

Bovill, C., Cooke-Sather, A., & Felton, P. (2011). Students as co-creators of teaching  approaches, course design, and curricular: implications for academic developers. International Journal for Academic Development, 16(2), 133-145.  https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2011.568690 

Cook-Sather, A. (2011). Layered learning: Student consultants deepening classroom and life lessons. Educational Action Research, 19(1), 41-57.

Hemmerich, A. L., Hoepner, J. K., & Samelson, V. M. (2015). Instructional Internships:  Improving the Teaching and Learning Experience for Students, Interns, and Faculty. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 15(3), 104-132. https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v15i3.13090 

During this presentation, I will talk about what cultivating positivity in the classroom looks and feels like, and how faculty can incorporate it into their day-to-day teaching. I’ll focus on how positive teacher-student relationships can boost engagement, foster a sense of belonging, and enhance overall learning for students. I will encourage the use of both verbal and non-verbal cues to help students feel supported and seen. Even small gestures can motivate students to put in more effort and feel more connected. I’ll also highlight how showing care can directly influence a student’s willingness to learn and participate. Finally, I’ll discuss how creating a positive classroom environment, while maintaining appropriate boundaries, can make instructors feel more approachable. When students see their instructors as supportive rather than distant, they’re more likely to ask for help, stay engaged, and thrive both academically and personally.

The Curse of Knowledge: the issue when professors are immersed so deeply in their disciplines, they struggle to teach the fundamental basics to their students. This tends to overcomplicate topics and makes learning harder for the students coming into the course with zero knowledge. This becomes a good time to utilize the tutoring system that the Holman Success Center provides. At the tutoring center, fellow students work to connect with students at their level. Without the tendency to over-explain, they build understandings gradually, using simple language and relevant examples. In my primary research, I'll gather first-hand narratives from professors, tutors, and students, aiming to identify which aspects of classroom learning the curse of knowledge affects most. Secondary research and past studies will be compared to these personal experiences at EMU to deduce where the most change is required. My goal for the session is to help professors recognize this issue, and inspire them to be more aware of who their audience really is; this way, the students' skills and perspectives feel seen. I also want to encourage professors to steer their students towards seeking tutoring in order to cement the baseline knowledge they may be struggling to get across in their classes. 

Professors are required to give grades to their students, but grading systems vary significantly in their student requirements and demands on teachers. Additionally, grading systems can heavily influence students’ learning, behavior, and perspectives on education. This session will first review the necessary and ideal functions of grading, including identifying knowledge gaps, assessing competence, and helping students develop a growth mindset. I will then review grading tools and methods that support those functions across diverse students, including unique grading strategies, tools found within Canvas, assignment difficulty, bias, achievement discrimination, and validity. By leveraging these tools and intentionally improving their approach to grading, professors can better understand students’ current performance and support their lifelong learning.

Let’s be honest, teaching isn’t the same as it used to be. There is a competition for student attention, and for many instructors, it’s harder than ever to engage students in class. This isn’t a coincidence. Student performance reflects student well-being, and like instructors, students aren’t immune to the unprecedented state of the world. So, why aren’t students utilizing the resources available to them? Many of us don’t have privilege to. As a commuter school in a low-income city, Eastern students are especially economically disadvantaged. If we want active students, we need to take care of them while we have them: in-class.

Mindful Minutes is a guide to brief wellness sessions that take place during class time. The program is modeled after Mindfulness, Movement, and Clay (MMC), a student-faculty research project funded by two Student Wellness Mini-Grants from the Faculty Development Center. Professor Margeaux Claude from the Department of Art and Design and I have spent the last 1.5 years developing, implementing, and evaluating MMC in-class wellness sessions in collaboration with the REC/IM and Eagle Nutrition Services. With both faculty and student perspective, we have designed Mindful Minutes to apply across a range of departments and courses – including yours.  

I will present on the trend of online learning in higher education being used at its bare minimum. The overreliance on online learning's convenience and accessibility is creating an environment that does not reward student engagement or participation, does not facilitate effort from instructors, and ultimately disrupts the instructor-student relationship.

This has had a massive effect on the actual value of the classes, with instructors teaching higher-level courses without any investment in the material, nor in the students' ability to internalize it. Third-parties, like Cengage and McGraw-Hill, are profiting from the streamlining of online learning, pushing college courses into an auto-graded, reductive, rote memory process. It becomes more of a moderated forum rather than classroom. We need to give instructors a proper avenue to show pride and devote themselves to teaching, and give students a chance to engage with the material beyond the bare minimum. 

I will focus on a problem-solution format, with an open-ended discussion about what different solutions are viable for different instructors.

The purpose of this presentation is to share both the lived experience of navigating graduate school with ADHD and to present evidence-based strategies that promote inclusive and equitable teaching. This talk will identify the common struggles that students with ADHD may encounter in higher education and will highlight how these difficulties can shape their learning experience. I will also address common misconceptions frequently held about ADHD in academic settings. Drawing on current research and teaching guidelines, I will outline specific strategies faculty can implement to support students’ learning and academic success. In addition, I will connect this research to my own experiences as a graduate student, describing the teaching practices and accommodations that have been most impactful in achieving success and fostering growth within the academic setting. By combining research and personal insight, this presentation will provide practical approaches to create classrooms where students with ADHD can thrive.

As a non-traditional student and future educator, I am deeply committed to removing barriers that hinder the success of today’s learners. The New Majority Learner Report 2025 (Genio) highlights critical shifts in higher education demographics: 40% of learners are over the age of 22, 69% are balancing employment alongside their studies, and enrollment of neurodivergent students has increased by an astounding 267% since 2004. These statistics underscore the urgent need to ensure learner success, promote graduation, and reduce attrition by addressing the unique challenges faced by this growing population.

Supporting non-traditional students requires a multifaceted approach that engages faculty, administration, and institutional systems. This presentation will examine the barriers non-traditional learners encounter, drawing on current research as well as lived experience. Because I identify with this student group, I am uniquely positioned to provide both scholarly insight and a first-hand perspective, including examples of effective practices currently in use at EMU.

By the conclusion of this session, conference attendees will be equipped to recognize the challenges non-traditional students face and leave with practical strategies and evidence-based processes to better support their success.

I will advocate for flexibility for assignment deadlines in higher education. Strict deadlines are often the norm in academia, often seen as “tough love” and justified as preparing students for the “real world.” However, the reality for most students is they have other responsibilities besides school such as working a job, taking care of their kids/an elderly relative, etc. Students are struggling to meet deadlines not because they are lazy, but because they are dealing with real life issues that deserve grace and compassion. The pressure of rigid deadlines often leaves students too stressed to focus on learning itself, reducing their ability to engage with the course content. By embracing flexibility in deadlines, faculty can create a more supportive environment that prioritizes learning over punishment. This shift not only reduces stress and anxiety for students but also strengthens the teacher–student relationship, fostering mutual respect and trust. A gentler, more compassionate approach to deadlines helps students succeed academically while preparing them for the real world in a healthier, more sustainable way.

Are you tired of looking at your student in the front row, glued to their laptops, avoiding eye contact, and appearing unengaged? This session aims to inform the audience about the advantages of a teaching style that emphasizes information sharing and in-class practice. Higher education often relies on a course format that has been heavily focused on lectures and PowerPoint presentations. While this approach can be beneficial for covering a vast amount of material within a single semester, it promotes a listening-based learning style that leaves room for distractions and boredom. In this session, the audience will explore specific examples and alternatives that support interactive learning and boost engagement. We will discuss how these activities benefit students, why the significance matters, and strategies to seamlessly incorporate and integrate them into your syllabus!

As an international student, I quickly learned that succeeding at university meant adapting to much more than academics; it meant learning how to belong, how to connect, and how to navigate a completely new environment. This session invites faculty and peers to reflect on how teaching practices can unintentionally shape this hidden curriculum, the unspoken lessons students absorb about participation, belonging, and success. Drawing on research about inclusive pedagogy, sense of belonging, and student transitions, the session begins by sharing insights on how course structure, communication styles/norms, and classroom culture can either support or challenge students as they adapt to college life.

Following this introduction, participants will engage in two interactive activities. In “What I Had to Learn,” small groups will share things they had to figure out on their own in college, revealing patterns in the academic, social, and emotional sides of adaptation. In “Making the Invisible Visible,” participants will collaborate to identify practical ways educators can make implicit expectations more visible and foster environments where all students, international, first-generation, or otherwise, can thrive beyond the syllabus.

This session explores how extra credit can be reframed from a reactive tool used after poor performance to a proactive strategy that reinforces effective study habits, planning, and goal setting. Traditionally, extra credit serves as a last chance opportunity for students to recover lost points, but this approach often rewards remediation rather than preparation. This project examines how offering extra credit at the start of the semester for tasks such as setting academic goals, developing study plans, and participating in learning activities before exams can serve as a behavioral primer for success. Drawing on research in behavior analysis and student motivation, we plan to present findings from a student questionnaire that explores perceptions and practices related to extra credit at Eastern Michigan. Participants will leave with evidence-based strategies for using extra credit to shape productive academic behaviors and support long-term achievement.

Student sense of belonging and academic success are important qualities of any university; thus, teaching techniques to enhance these must regularly be considered. Through published research at University of Guelph and survey data collected from EMU students, it'll be shown how small groups are a simple yet effective approach in strengthening both sense of belonging and sense of success in undergraduate students. This data will also address the common concerns faculty have around integrating more student-to-student interactions. Overall, I will be encouraging small group use in order to develop more wholesome classroom environments across Eastern Michigan University. 

Neurodiversity would be best described as not a disability, but a different ability, akin to having a different set of tools to work with. If your neurology is your toolkit, the teaching methods of a class would be the car you are performing maintenance on. While the education system works great for many neurotypical students, many neurodiverse students learn in differing manners. One of the biggest firsthand experiences with this was that as neurodiverse students ourselves, we had always learned best via dialectics with other people. This is a part of why we found the Reacting to History class so interesting, as we were able to discuss with fellow students about the material in addition to reading the text. Even apart from a formal academic setting such as College, Dialectics has helped us learn a large amount of knowledge on the world around us, through thoughtful conversations with friends about complex and nuanced subjects such as Economics, Politics, and Philosophy. Finally, Dialectics hones the mind's critical thinking skills, and really makes you have to consider other people's opinions and beliefs, which is a central skill needed for today's diverse and inclusive world.

In this session, I’ll explore the power of learning together and share the journey of co-creating a redesigned social work course with a faculty member. Through intentional collaboration, we’ve discovered how shared ownership of the learning process deepens engagement and fosters mutual growth. This experience has helped us both embrace our evolving roles as teachers and learners, breaking down traditional hierarchies and building a more inclusive classroom culture. I’ll reflect on the process, the challenges, and the insights gained from working side-by-side to shape curriculum that reflects our values and lived experiences. Central to our collaboration is a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, not just as course content, but as guiding principles for how we work and learn together. By centering these values, we aim to create learning spaces that are more responsive, equitable, and empowering for all students.

This presentation aims to advocate for inclusive and empowering learning environments for students in carceral settings and students reentering society after incarceration. Recognizing their resilience and diverse experiences, the presentation will emphasize equity, social justice, and social emotional learning (SEL) as essential foundations for teaching. It calls on educators to use asset-based perspectives, ensure equitable access to resources, and design flexible, inclusive instruction while advocating for institutional policies that remove systemic barriers.

Sitting in a classroom can feel a bit nerveracking at times, especially when you observe other people and how they interact. What do you do when you observe people who might know each other as they start a conversation before class starts? When there’s an open discussion with reluctant students? When there’s a disconnect between the professor and students due to the pacing of the lecture? When there’s classroom management and flow of discussion has been compromised? Those are aspects how a space is used, especially if you are experiencing it in the first person. ‘Breaking The Silence’ is an informative poster about how these aspects are likely to be applied. 

This presentation interrogates the systemic and cultural forces that suppress intellectual potential among Black people, particularly in environments where academic achievement is socially penalized. Building on prior work, this research delves deeper into how early alienation from intellectual identity contributes to long-term disenfranchisement and criminalization. Through a multidisciplinary lens, I examine how schools, media, and peer dynamics reinforce the false binary between Blackness and brilliance. Special attention is given to the school-to-prison pipeline and disciplinary bias against gifted Black students. This presentation reframes intelligence not as a privilege, but as a suppressed form of resistance. The goal is to challenge institutions to recognize and nurture Black potential and to inspire communities to redefine what it means to be both unapologetically Black and unapologetically brilliant.

This session will explore green space's benefits to student well-being in and outside of the classroom. Green spaces can have a positive impact on student well-being and their success as a student. Time spent in green spaces has been linked with lowering anxiety levels and decreasing stress (Aghabozorgi et al., 2024). Additionally student achievement can be positively impacted by green spaces (Liu et al., 2022). This poster presentation includes information from a literature review and research study exploring the impact greenspaces in classrooms has on student learning. The research study explored what adding plants to a classroom does for student's processing speeds, concentration and focus. Overall, this poster will explore how students and plants can grow together to improve student success and well-being. 

This poster will focus on the strategies to create an inclusive learning space for diverse students by highlighting three approaches: (1) vocalizing assignment expectations clearly through written text and spoken words; (2) simplifying instructions to make them accessible to all; and (3) incorporating multicultural elements in curriculum design to resonate with students' lived experiences. The poster will reflect on personal experiences and draw from existing research on transparency in assignment designing, casting insights into the Universal Design for Learning and multicultural curriculum. Using concrete examples, I will suggest ways to use intentional changes in assignment design and lesson planning to improve educational accessibility. The purpose of the presentation is to leave participants with a framework for rethinking their teaching choices that can support diverse learners. 

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) means to develop key life skills: understanding oneself, managing emotions, showing empathy, building relationships, and making thoughtful choices. In college, SEL is especially important because it helps students handle stress, explore their identities, and connect with others in diverse settings. When professors include SEL in their teaching, it creates classrooms where students feel safe, engaged, and supported. They can do this through practical approaches: showing empathy themselves, assigning reflective writing, using inclusive language, and guiding group discussions. Activities like "Rose, Thorn, Bud" check-ins (where we share daily highs, lows, and hopes), identity mapping exercises, personal journaling, or short mindfulness sessions before tests make a noticeable difference. These methods do not weaken academic challenges, they actually strengthen learning by building trust, sparking curiosity, and improving teamwork. When students feel emotionally supported, they would learn more effectively, participate more actively, and develop skills that extend far beyond the classroom.

Higher education often operates as a transactional system: students become customers, faculty employees, and learning a commodity. This reflects a wider cultural dehumanization, where communication reduces people to roles and knowledge to information. Yet classrooms remain one of the few spaces where rehumanization can occur, a place where presence, attention, and meaning are restored through everyday interaction.

Drawing on existential and phenomenological philosophy in dialogue with critical theory and communication research, this presentation explores how educators can nurture transformation within transactional systems. Rather than sweeping reform, it emphasizes the ethical power of small, intentional acts as moments that recognize students as full persons and invite genuine engagement. Reframing teaching as a practice of recovering the human allows faculty to cultivate recognition, agency, and wonder in sustainable, practical ways. Participants will leave with a renewed vision of education as communicative hope: transformation not by escaping systems, but by humanizing them from within.

Just as Lifeguard Instructors (such as myself) identify and support swimmers in distress, teachers can recognize and respond to students who feel overwhelmed, disengaged, or anxious. This presentation explores evidence-based strategies - early detection, scaffolding, formative feedback, peer support, and stress-inoculation - that help students build confidence and resilience. Using the FLOAT framework (Find, Listen, Offer, Affirm, Teach Reflection), participants will gain practical, research-backed approaches to keep students “afloat” academically and emotionally. Attendees will receive a concise FLOAT handout that translates empirical research into actionable classroom techniques educators can apply immediately.

My poster highlights personal stories and testimonies on struggles with chronic pain in the classroom from both students and professors to establish the issue. I will address the inherent individuality of chronic pain, and how everyone's needs will be different. I also address barriers to in-classroom learning to expand on the issue, as well as current research on possible improvements to in classroom learning for those with chronic pain.. To bring back the student voice, we talk about what students have found to be helpful actions from professors. I will also share stories from professors who have provided accommodations for diagnosed or undiagnosed students, and will provide key takeaways for people. 

STEM education is not only about teaching concepts in science, technology, engineering, and math it is about inspiring curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in every learner. In this poster, I will “flip the script” by showing how teachers and students can learn from one another. When working with K–12 students, I’ve seen how their questions and imagination can completely change the way we approach problem-solving. This poster will focus on how we, as future educators, can recharge our own passion for STEM while also creating engaging, hands-on opportunities for younger learners. My goal is to highlight the mission of STEM education as more than knowledge transfer it is about empowering the next generation to see themselves as innovators and explorers. By sharing my perspective, I hope to spark a conversation about building a stronger, more connected learning community.

We, members of EMU's Disability Revolution Club, recognize that understandings of disability and educational accessibility have developed in ways beyond the training EMU faculty and staff receive on this campus. With this in mind, we will provide faculty the opportunity to speak honestly with a range of disabled students about their experiences, needs, and how we can build a more accessible learning environment together. We aim to bring awareness to existing accessibility failures on campus and how those failures can be amended through open dialogue, creating a better understanding of diversity in disability. Together, we can begin to bridge the gap between good intentions and tangible solutions.

This interactive workshop equips participants with practical strategies for using and implementing generative AI in their classrooms. Participants will explore how AI tools can enhance creativity, streamline research, and support diverse learning styles while maintaining academic integrity.

The session combines presentation with hands-on activities: participants will use AI to explore Google's NotebookLM to create personalized study materials, including audio podcasts, visual explanations, and interactive summaries. Participants will leave with concrete experience using university-approved AI tools and clear guidelines for responsible implementation.

We'll address critical questions about AI ethics; how these tools actually work, where information comes from, and what constitutes plagiarism in the AI era. Through collaborative discussion and practical application, participants will learn to distinguish between AI use that enhances learning and use that undermines it.

Rather than viewing AI as a threat to learning, this workshop positions it as a collaborative tool that, when used thoughtfully, prepares students for AI-integrated professional environments while strengthening the critical thinking, creativity, and ethical reasoning skills essential for academic and career success in an increasingly AI-driven world.

In this panel, we will explore the many ways that Large Language Models (LLMs) shape academic life from the perspective of students. Our discussion will move across several dimensions of AI’s role in higher education and its evolving position in the classroom.

We will consider how the rise of AI has altered the value and integrity of traditional written assessments, and how this shift can feel like a rupture that displaces a long-standing tradition that once formed the core of learning and evaluation. At the same time, we will highlight how LLMs can function as tools of access and empowerment, particularly for English As a Second Language (ESL) students and for those who face challenges in expressing complex ideas through conventional academic writing.

Another theme we will discuss are the impacts of what AI can offer us and if what it affords contribute more to virtue or vice, and how students and educators can better manage intellectual habits in the face of this emerging technology. 

After laying out these positions, we will open the discussion to a broader discussion of how we as students actually use AI, the ways it has impacted our engagement with curriculum, and its positive as well as negative affordances. 

In this political climate, students need to be able to safely talk to their peers when there is a national/global tragedy. I firmly believe that teachers need to start encouraging conversations about real-world issues between their students to build a community within the class and recognize students' real feelings. Luckily, there are some easy, albeit somewhat uncomfortable, things that can be done to make it a little easier on students. By modeling respect and professional vulnerability during difficult situations, students will be more likely to have productive conversations in the real world. Whether it be having students have discussions in groups or as a whole class, it is important for students to reflect on their feelings and reactions while getting varying input from others. It is also important for the teacher to show compassion, awareness, and stability. As teachers, we have an obligation to not only teach academics, but to promote emotional intelligence. I hope the audience will leave this knowing how to better support their students through trying times in the world.

This workshop, The Hyperlocal Classroom, challenges faculty to flip the script on course design by informing the curriculum with materials situated in its immediate context: the EMU campus and Ypsilanti. This practice encourages course designers to set their focus away from abstract global issues and on the hyperlocal. This focus increases the relevance of a course experience for students by offering them an opportunity to understand and/or make an impact within their locus of control. This approach fosters student empowerment and provides a path to understanding the hyperlocal context and, depending on the course, positively affecting that context. 

Participants will get hands-on practice exploring how to structure materials and projects around local challenges and concerns, and will leave with strategies for gathering input from students and community partners to generate authentic, context-driven course content.