Technology’s Anchor within UM-Dearborn’s Clinical Experience Sea 

Danielle Defauw

Session Description: 

In the vast sea of teacher preparation, continuous improvement requires both a steady compass and resilient anchors. At the University of Michigan-Dearborn, our redesigned clinical experience harnesses technology as a strategic anchor — grounding teacher candidates in real-world practice while propelling their professional growth forward. This session invites participants aboard to chart how 7-credit co-requisite blocks — intertwining methods, apprenticeship, and educational technology courses — not only strengthen candidate readiness but also accelerate iterative learning cycles between classroom theory and authentic practice. Through a nautical lens, we’ll explore how intentional design, purposeful technology integration, and reflective cycles act as navigational tools that advance both candidate competence and program quality.

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Describe at least two ways that 7-credit co-requisite clinical blocks — integrating educational technology with field practice and methods — support continuous improvement and deeper candidate learning in clinical teacher preparation.

2. Identify and apply at least one technology-anchored strategy or tool that enhances teacher candidate reflection, data-gathering, or instructional decision-making during clinical field experiences. 

Navigating New Seas: The Hidden Benefits of Being an Accreditation Site Visitor 

Jillian Davidson

Session Description: 

Accreditation organizations rely on educators across the field to serve as trained site visitors and reviewers. While this service is essential to maintaining rigorous accreditation systems, the benefits extend well beyond the accrediting body. This panel session will explore how Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs) benefit when faculty and staff participate in accreditation review teams. Panelists will share how site visitor training and experience deepen understanding of accreditation standards, strengthen evidence-informed program improvement, and expand professional networks. By bringing insights and perspectives from the field back to their institutions, site visitors help their programs better navigate accreditation expectations and chart a stronger course for continuous improvement. 

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Participants will learn the benefits of being trained as a site visit reviewer.

2. Participants will be able to ask site visitors questions about their experiences completing reviewer training and serving on review teams. 

All Hands-On-Deck:  AI Transforming Accreditation Data into Action

Beth Kubitskey, Anne Tapp Jaksa, & Marcia Fetters

*Please bring a laptop to this session to practice along with the presenters.

Session Description: 

This interactive seminar explores how Artificial Intelligence can serve as a powerful catalyst for transforming educator preparation accreditation. Moving beyond theory, participants will engage in hands-on data sprints using various AI tools (such as NotebookLM, Claude, and ChatGPT) to analyze a sample Principal Satisfaction Survey. Guided by the FATE framework (Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, Ethics), attendees will practice synthesizing qualitative feedback, conducting quantitative statistical breakdowns, and generating actionable continuous improvement plans. Participants will leave equipped with the practical skills to leverage AI for program evaluation while keeping human-in-the-loop oversight central to the evaluative process.

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Apply Ethical Frameworks: Evaluate the use of AI tools in accreditation processes using the FATE framework. 

2. Execute Multi-Modal Data Analysis: Independently conduct qualitative thematic synthesis, quantitative statistical breakdowns, and data visualization on employer survey data.

3. Synthesize Actionable Plans: Translate AI-generated data insights into actionable, program-specific strategies for continuous improvement.

All Hands on Deck: Preparing P–12 Teachers for Effective Mentorship 

Sara Hoeve & Susan Brondyk

Session Description: 

This session equips educator preparation programs with transferable strategies for developing the mentoring skills of K-12 teachers—recognizing that effective mentorship requires more than strong classroom teaching. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use tools and structures to strengthen clinical partnerships and support candidate growth. 

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Participants will be able to describe how educator preparation programs can intentionally train K–12 teachers to adopt mentoring-specific skills that support candidate growth. 

Reframing Accreditation I: Improvement & Change

Virginia McMunn

Session Description:

Accreditation is often framed through the lenses of quality assurance, accountability, and improving outcomes. But what if we first reframed accreditation as improvement and change work, where gaps become catalysts for learning rather than signals of failure? This session explores the first dimension of an integrative conceptual reframing of accreditation. Drawing from change theory and improvement science alongside real accreditation examples, we will examine how leaders can move beyond ‘box-checking’ to leverage existing efforts and create accreditation processes that feel purposeful rather than punitive. Each workshop in this three-part series is designed to be standalone and accessible to anyone involved in accreditation work. Session I: Improvement & Change may be most relevant for newer accreditation leaders seeking to move from compliance activity to meaningful and purposeful change.

Session Learning Objectives:

1. Understand how change theory and continuous improvement reframe accreditation as iterative learning rather than compliance.

2. Identify practical reframing moves that make accreditation work more meaningful, manageable, and improvement-oriented. 

MOECS Candidate Tracking is Not a Uni-tasker: Using the MOECS Candidate Tracking system to help complete the Title II data submission

Jeff McNutt and Carrie Naylor

Session Description: 

Have you struggled with pulling together the data needed for the annual Title II Data Submission? Come and see how Western Michigan University’s College of Education and Human Development has used the MOECS Candidate Tracking system to help streamline the Title II data collection submission. This session will detail WMU’s process for getting the needed information into MOECS Candidate Tracking and then using that information to help create the Title II data file.

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Learn about Western's process for tracking candidates in MOECS

2.  Learn techniques that can be used to assemble and complete the Title II data submission spreadsheet. 

Preserving Clinical Experiences with Online Teacher Candidates

Amanda Cornwell & Jillian Davidson

Session Description: 

In this session, participants will have the opportunity to discuss strategies for translating on-campus systems and supports to benefit online student populations as they complete clinical fieldwork. Innovative strategies for developing partnerships and communicating with stakeholders across time and space will also be explored.  

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Participants will receive tools to complete an audit of existing processes to identify strengths and make plans for translating services to online programs. 

Reframing Accreditation II: Leadership Practice

Virginia McMunn

Session Description: 

Accreditation work often foregrounds policy, accountability, and compliance. Yet accreditation is a complex, relational process enacted within diverse educational systems and institutional contexts. Accreditation leaders must do more than comply with standards and report on outcomes – they must guide teams through uncertainty, conflict, and change. This session explores the leadership dimension of an integrative conceptual reframing of accreditation. Moving beyond systems and procedures, we will examine the role leaders play in facilitating conversations, democratizing data, balancing flexibility and authenticity, and mobilizing groups. Drawing from a range of leadership theories, participants will consider how accreditation becomes a people-centered leadership practice rather than a bureaucratic function. Each workshop in this three-part series is designed to be standalone and accessible to anyone involved in accreditation work. Session II: Leadership Practice may be especially relevant for those responsible for guiding teams, aligning initiatives, and making decisions within accreditation processes.

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Understand how leadership theory reframes the relational dimension of accreditation work.

2. Analyze leadership practices that shift accreditation from procedural to people-centered. 

Charting the Course: Using State Data to Navigate Continuous Improvement 

Jason Kalmbach & Karen Young 

Session Description:

This session provides an overview of MDE's Candidate Suite Surveys as well as other surveys, such as the Year Out Survey. Participants will learn how the data is delivered, review sample trends, and explore survey categories that align with CAEP & AAQEP standards and categories. The presentation will culminate with U-M AA sharing how they use a structured data protocol (Predict, Observe, Infer/Question) to interpret their own program performance scores and identify areas for improvement.

Session Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand how MDE survey data is delivered.

2. Examine how survey data can be used to analyze trends to identify patterns and potential areas of programmatic growth/need.

Navigating the Seas of Learning: A Journey Through Instructional Rounds 

Doug Ammeraal, Vicki Wilson, 

Susan Brondyk, & Alissa Thelen

Session Description: 

Join us as we navigate the collaborative journey between Hope College and Mona Shores to bridge the gap between educator preparation and P-12 reality. This session explores how instructional rounds serve as a powerful compass for aligning theory with practice through authentic, intentional school partnerships. Participants will delve into the core components of the rounds process—from identifying a shared problem of practice to synthesizing classroom observations—with a specific focus on embedding Core Teaching Practices. We will share practical implementation tips for starting small, building shared protocols, and using real-time data to refine both EPP coursework and clinical experiences. Discover how to move beyond traditional silos and use a shared language of instruction to enhance teacher candidate readiness. Leave with a concrete "call to action" and strategies to pilot this impactful improvement tool within your own professional networks.  

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Strengthen P-12 and EPP alignment.

2. Use instructional rounds as a shared improvement tool.

3. Positively impact and enhance the preparation of students entering the profession.

Reframing Accreditation III: Organizational Culture Work 

Virginia McMunn 

Session Description: 

At its deepest level, accreditation shapes how institutions define quality, interpret evidence, allocate resources, and tell stories about who they are and who they are becoming. This session examines the organizational culture dimension of an integrative conceptual reframing of accreditation to ask: What does it mean to use accreditation as a mechanism for collective transformation? Drawing from organizational culture, learning, and sensemaking scholarship, we will explore how accreditation leaders can approach accreditation as an act of storytelling, align accreditation evidence with organizational identity, and engage stakeholders as co-creators of meaning. Each workshop in this three-part series is designed to be standalone and accessible to anyone involved in accreditation work. Session III: Organizational Culture Work may be most engaging for experienced leaders interested in how accreditation shapes institutional identity and organizational transformation. 

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Understand how organizational culture and sensemaking theories reframe accreditation as identity-shaping work.

2. Analyze examples of accreditation leadership and practices that position accreditation as a driver for organizational culture and collective transformation. 

A Shared Dispositions Framework: Building Coherence Across Advanced-Level Programs 

Gregg B. Dionne & Chad Waldron 

Session Description: 

This session examines a systematic, EPP-wide initiative to identify and implement a validated set of professional dispositions across multiple advanced-level programs. Presenters will detail the collaborative vetting processes used to establish a shared framework of dispositions, highlighting methods for determining cross-program relevance and incorporating structured candidate feedback. The presentation will also address the outcomes of this effort and its implications for coherence, implementation, and continuous program improvement across multiple programs.

Session Learning Outcomes: 

1. Participants will gain awareness of a process for identifying, validating, and implementing shared professional dispositions to promote coherence across advanced-level programs.