Spring Kickoff

Time

Session & Description

8:30am

Check-in & Breakfast

9am-9:15am

CTE Welcome
with Constantin C. Icleanu (CTE Director)

9:15am-9:45am

Online Discussion in the Age of Chatbots

with Justin Fisher (Philosophy) | Spring 2026 CTE Affiliate

Online discussion board assignments once served as a productive opportunity for students and professors to discuss course material outside the classroom.  Now discussion boards are often overrun with AI posts, and students feel ever-greater anxiety about expressing their own thoughts and confusions.  This presentation considers alternative ways of serving the same pedagogical purposes, including having students engage in individual discussion with a professor-created AI chatbot (demonstration included).  Many students have expressed preference for this sort of "discussion" assignment, because it provides responses immediately and with higher quality than what other students often post, and because it allows them to ask more questions without anxiety about what their peers might think.

9:45am-10:15am

A Taste of Active Learning: Transforming Lessors with Genially

with Rodrigo Lopez (World Languages & Literatures) | Spring 2026 CTE Affiliate

Discover how Genially can turn traditional lessons into interactive experiences. This session will showcase how to design engaging activities—like games, quizzes, and escape rooms—that boost participation, creativity, and meaningful learning in any classroom setting.

10:15am-10:45pm

From Surviving to Thriving: How Faculty Can Support Students Under Pressure

with Mea Ahlberg (Economics)

The presentation will focus on the growing stress students face as they navigate independence, academic demands, and life away from their family support systems. It will discuss the role faculty can play in recognizing signs of overwhelm, creating stability through small acts of connection, and offering practical tools that help students manage pressure more effectively. 

10:45am-11:15am

The Instructor's Evolving Role in AI-Infused Higher Education

with Mira Detcheva (World Languages & Literatures)

The session will explore the symbiotic relationship between the human instructor and AI, and how the presence of AI is slowly (or rather rapidly) changing the instructor's role in higher education. The session will focus on the benefits of AI to enhance learning across disciplines, and how we - the instructors - should adapt and learn to thrive alongside AI in academia. 

11:15am-11:45am

Fair & Flexible: Rethinking How We Measure Learning (And Learning Wins!)

with Eva Oberdoester (Biology)

Traditional assessments often emphasize conformity and rote memorization rather than genuine understanding. This interactive workshop explores how principles of andragogy (adult learning theory) can be applied to promote deeper comprehension and engagement. Participants will examine practical examples, including the use of case studies and structured in-class activities that grant students autonomy within a well-defined academic framework. By shifting the focus from earning grades to a shared learning community, students can move beyond memorizing information toward developing meaningful insights. This approach fosters lasting learning that extends beyond what is required for the next exam, encouraging critical thinking, collaboration, and a more authentic connection to course material.

11:45am-12:15pm

Lunch

12:15pm-12:45pm

Meditative Exercises to Help Student Presence, Mental Health, Performance, and Success

with Farnoosh Nouri (Counseling)

Session description to be added soon.

Beyond Participation: Rigor and Belonging in Student-Led Seminars

with Justin Childress (MADI)

Student-run graduate seminars are framed as guided inquiry that develops judgment, leadership, and disciplinary voice. Session content centers on a compact model grounded in discussion theory and research practice: a five-category question taxonomy (clarify, synthesize, challenge, reframe, apply), rotating roles that support equitable participation, and building rhetorical confidence. Emphasis is on evidence-initiated claims, respectful challenge, and brief post-seminar notes that consolidate learning over time. Student outcomes can include sharper argumentation, more transparent citation habits, skill in framing problems and testing claims, and the capacity to revise positions publicly. The approach scales across design history/ethics (the area I've used this approach the most) and similar fields, enabling cohorts to build shared intellectual memory while practicing facilitation, rhetorical listening, and ethical reasoning.

Wrap-Up
with Constantin C. Icleanu (CTE Director)