Interactive Sessions

What role(s) do emotions play in teaching and learning? How can instructors support student learning through understanding and harnessing emotions? Emotions are an integral dimension of learning; they are not a problem to be solved, but are deeply intertwined with learning’s cognitive components. In this session, we will consider the relationship between the cognitive and affective dimensions of learning. Together we will define emotions, reflect on emotions experienced in our teaching and/or learning, and begin to consider how we may support student learning in and through emotions. You will have the opportunity to reflect upon and discuss with other participants how you can integrate your new understanding of emotions into your teaching.

This interactive session will give participants the opportunity to plan for specific strategies for making their courses and curricula more innovative, experiential, and active in order to cultivate brilliance and ensure resilience in students and faculty. Educational developers, faculty, and administrators will reflect on how they can use the innovation checklist to focus their work on course and curricula design on topics and pedagogies that will re-engage students and faculty and make education more meaningful and inclusive, that will give students the skills and dispositions they need in a evolving professional environment, and that will best serve our social and ecological communities.

This presentation shares the story about the conversion of a large lecture course into a hybrid active learning experience. This presentation describes the active learning sessions, explains how teaching assistants effectively graded in real-time using rubrics, and provides concrete ways to tackle difficult lecture material in order to enhance student understanding. Exam performance and belonging attitudes are compared between the traditional lecture format and this new structure. This course structure can be easily adopted by other introductory courses by the insertion of active learning elements, keeping existing lecture experiences intact and without adding additional readings/homework.

While there have long been critiques of A-F grading, the pandemic revealed the ways grading perpetuates inequities. In response, instructors across higher education have experimented with alternative grading practices. These practices, which vary in their degree of “ungradedness,” emphasize formative feedback, enhance transparency, reduce students’ anxiety, and shift their focus to learning. In this session, participants will first hear from students about their experiences in courses using alternative grading practices and then explore a Grading Scheme Anatomy capable of systematically guiding instructors toward grading practices that better support deep learning and resilience.

Laboratory courses train students in a variety of skills that transfer beyond the specific use of equipment or application of theories. These courses also provide students with the practice and confidence necessary to recognize and solve problems (troubleshoot) independently. Traditional laboratory assessment tool do not adequately capture troubleshooting skills and few assessment tools have been developed for this purpose. In this workshop, we will share insights from our research into the design of tools to evaluate troubleshooting skills. We invite colleagues to participate in a troubleshooting activity to experience evaluation firsthand, and to share their own perspectives.

Outdoor classrooms hold distinct advantages for reducing mental fatigue, fostering resilience, and supporting learning. This session invites instructors to consider natural areas as learning spaces. Participants will experiment with nature connection activities designed to foster deep reflection, social connection, intellectual curiosity, and creative expression–practices useful in a wide range of subject areas. Session facilitators will draw on their experiences teaching outdoors and help participants discover nature connection as an instructional resource. Note: This workshop applies to small classes (less than thirty) with close proximity to gardens, courtyards, or tree-lined walkways.

Do your students fear failure? What would their work look like if they didn’t? How might we reframe setbacks in the learning process to cultivate student resilience? This interactive workshop draws upon student insights from a writing-intensive seminar that centers around the principles of how we design and pursue significant learning experiences. After a brief introduction to the course practices and its students’ main takeaways, participants will be guided through small breakout group conversations that invite them to consider the way their students’ motivation and resilience work in pursuit of their learning.