Innovations in Pedagogy 2026
Conference Schedule
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Tanner Health School of Nursing Building
| Time | Session Title |
| 8:30 a.m. | Registration and Coffee |
| 9:00 a.m. | Welcome to IIP 2026 and Need-to-Know with Dr. David Newton in Room 106 |
| 9:15 a.m. | Concurrent Session 1 |
| 10:05 a.m. | Break |
| 10:15 a.m. | Concurrent Session 2 |
| 11:05 a.m. | Break |
| 11:15 a.m. | Keynote Session in Room 106 |
| 11:55 a.m. | Break |
| 12:00 p.m. | Conference Remarks with President Johnson and Provost Preston in Room 106 |
| 12:30 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:15 p.m. | Concurrent Session 3 |
| 2:05 p.m. | Break |
| 2:15 p.m. | Concurrent Session 4 |
| 3:05 p.m. | Break |
| 3:15 p.m. | Concurrent Session 5 |
| 4:05 p.m. | Conference Wrap-up & Ice Cream with Dr. Brian Mosier, Associate Vice President of Innovation and Research |
Post Conference Schedule
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Teal Classroom, Biology Building
| Time | Session Title |
| 9:00 a.m. | Part I: Build Knowledge & Brainstorm |
| 10:30 a.m. | Part II: Application & Articulation |
Concurrent Session 1 - 9:15 a.m.
Shared Texts, Shared Learning: Reading The Anthropocene Reviewed in General Education
Room 106 (Panel)
Jenna Harte; Bonnie Jett; Amy Ellison; Crystal Shelnutt, & Melissa Jackson, First-Year Writing
There’s a quiet magic in discovering that someone else loves the same film or book as you do. That feeling is also present in the collective, even bodily, feeling of being at a concert and singing your favorite songs with the crowd. As writing teachers, we want to cultivate that sense of connection with our students, and we're doing so by assigning a "shared text" across sections of General Education courses. This presentation will discuss the revitalization of a shared text initiative within General Education through an “Author Spotlight” model featuring John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed and related works. Building on collaborative efforts already underway in our program, we will demonstrate how Green’s blend of narrative reflection and quantitative “five‑star” assessment supports writing instruction, mixed‑methods thinking, and engagement across disciplines, including mathematics, humanities, and social sciences. The session highlights assignment models and early pedagogical outcomes from faculty currently implementing the text. We also connect this initiative to the institution’s QEP focus on experiential learning, emphasizing how students may create, analyze, and reflect on artifacts in ways that deepen learning. Finally, the presentation outlines opportunities for campus-wide events and undergraduate research that align with institutional goals related to belonging, literacy, and relevancy, concluding with an invitation for colleagues to collaborate in the expanding initiative.
Enhancing Presentation Instruction with AI Feedback
Room 112 (TenTalks)
Mariana Sanchez & Samantha White, Management
As AI tools have become increasingly embedded into our daily lives, we as educators have new opportunities to strengthen student learning through practical low-stakes assignments. This Ten-Talk highlights an assignment that uses Microsoft PowerPoint’s Presentation Coach to help students rehearse and improve their oral presentation skills. During this activity, students conduct a brief rehearsal with the AI coach and receive immediate and specific feedback on their delivery. They then reflect on the results and set goals to refine their presentation. This session will demonstrate how the tool works, walk through a simple assignment implementation, and share observations on student engagement and outcomes. Participants will leave with a ready to use activity that can be used across all class sizes and disciplines. This session will also address the importance of enhancing students' presentation skills, building confidence, and encouraging more intentional rehearsal habits. This approach offers a practical way to integrate AI into the rehearsal process while effectively supporting instructor-led teaching.
Beyond AI: Authentic Video Presentations to Demonstrate Core Competencies
Room 112 (TenTalks)
Sonal Patel, First-Year Math
With the rise of generative AI tools, students often rely on automation instead of developing their own technical, communication, and problem-solving skills. This TenTalk presents an innovative teaching approach piloted in Fall 2025 in a first-year mathematics course. The project introduces a video presentation assignment designed to foster authentic learning, strengthen real-world skills, and reduce dependence on AI-generated work.
In this assignment, students: Select a course objective to explore; Create an original PowerPoint presentation; and Record a 15- to 20-minute continuous video explaining and applying the concept in their own words
This process engages students in designing slides, mastering presentation software, recording content independently, and sharing videos via platforms such as YuJa, Zoom, or YouTube. These tasks build practical technical skills directly relevant to STEM careers, including visual communication, software management, and digital content creation.
Because the assignment relies on students’ own voices, reasoning, and insights, opportunities for AI-generated work are minimized. The grading rubric emphasizes understanding, clarity, organization, visual quality, and professional delivery, rewarding originality and authentic thinking.
Participants receive step-by-step guides for creating slides, recording videos, and uploading files. Student feedback collected through surveys highlights the challenges faced, skills gained, and reflections on authentic learning. After a successful Fall 2025 pilot, when the assignment accounted for 5% of the final grade, it is continuing in Spring 2026 with a 10% weight as part of an ongoing experimental teaching project.
This TenTalk demonstrates how a non-AI, student-centered assignment can promote technical competence, communication skills, and problem-solving abilities. Faculty participants will see how simple, thoughtfully designed tasks empower students to take ownership of their learning and prepare effectively for careers in STEM fields.
Using Google Forms to Create Instructional & Interactive Modules for Students
Room 112 (TenTalks)
David Miranda, Special Education
This presentation will provide a brief demonstration about how Google Forms and Qualtrics could be used to create online interactive modules for students to learn about course concepts and topics. This presentation will also provide some information about how these modules can be structured to support student learning and embed opportunities to practice using/applying the course content.
Beyond ChatGPT: 10 Hidden Gems of Free AI Tools for Educators
Room 112 (TenTalks)
Sunil Hazari, Marketing
Based on my experience with teaching the 'AI Essentials of Business' course for over two years, I have evaluated many AI tools that can help with teaching, research, and productivity. While all the big AI players, such as ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini etc. get the most attention, these lesser known AI tools are overlooked as they are not advertised but are able to offer specialized and practical value to educators.
The criteria used for selection of these hidden gems will be: it should be free, easy to use, and offer pedagogical value. Attendees will be given information about these tools for specific use cases to help integrate AI in their workflows, enhance student experiences, and improve productivity. This session will be suitable for educators who are seeking practical solutions to solve problems using AI resources.
Higher Education and the Responsible, Ethical, and Effective Use of AI for College and Career
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Tijan Drammeh, Civic Engagement and Public Service
Artificial Intelligence (AI has rapidly become embedded in every sector of society, and higher education is no exception. Students are increasingly integrating AI into their academic work—sometimes appropriately, sometimes not. Given AI’s growing influence, higher education must adapt intentionally and ethically. As the saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Rather than resisting AI’s presence, academia must leverage its benefits while guiding students toward responsible and effective use.
This session will detail a course grounded in responsible and career-oriented AI practice. The course will emphasize four central themes. 1) AI Do’s and Don’ts: Understanding appropriate, ethical uses of AI in academic and professional settings; 2) Opportunities and Drawbacks: Examining how AI can support learning, creativity, and productivity, while also addressing concerns such as misinformation, bias, and overreliance; 3) Guidelines and Strategies: Developing discipline-appropriate frameworks for responsible AI use; and 4) Personal Accountability and Best Practices: Encouraging transparency, integrity, and critical thinking when engaging with AI tools.
Will AI Destroy My Field???
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Walter Riker, Philosophy
I describe an assignment I use in my Professional Ethics course. Students ask a GenAI (e.g., Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude) how it will impact their chosen field of work. Students are encouraged to push the AI on whether developers of these tools are doing enough to ensure they promote the goals of the field and protect clients/consumers from harm. Students then morally assess the GenAI’s claims. The assignment starts with students reading transcripts of two conversations with ChatGPT. In one, the AI admits it may have lied. In the second, the AI concedes that it spins its responses in the interests of its owner. Guidance on moral assessment is provided to students, as this is the first moral philosophy course for many.
The Champ Is Here! Engaging Students Through Class Challenges
Room 121 (20-minute presentation)
Davia Lassiter, Mass Communications
Need ways to build community in the classroom within the first two weeks of the semester? This is where class challenges come in. This session will provide strategies on how to engage students EARLY in the semester and keep them active through final exams. Examples include engaging students through department-themed scavenger hunts and helping them apply key terms and concepts via friendly competitions where they can wield their creativity. Attendees will see examples of these challenges from the School of Communication, Film, & Media and how to facilitate these activities using CourseDen.
Finding Fun in Teaching Through Experimentation, Exploration, and Experience
Room 121 (20-minute presentation)
Keith Pacholl, History
Looking for ways to rejuvenate your teaching? This presentation will offer three tips on how to tinker with your teaching that will benefit both you and your students. The tips can be applied to both in-person and online courses. Sometimes all it takes is just a fresh new look at one's courses to make meaningful changes that will restore the fun back in teaching!
Using AI to Support Differentiation and Accessibility
Room 122 (50-minute workshop)
Kenneth Holman, Special Education
This interactive workshop focuses on practical, pedagogy-driven ways faculty can use artificial intelligence tools to differentiate instruction while preserving academic standards, instructor voice, and existing course materials. Rather than positioning AI as a replacement for teaching, the session frames AI as a support for accessibility, clarity, and instructional flexibility across disciplines.
The workshop begins with NotebookLM as an entry point because it allows faculty to work directly with materials they already use, such as syllabi, readings, assignments, and lecture notes. Participants will see how a single source document can be transformed into multiple instructional supports, including concise summaries, alternative explanations, multimodal study aids, and revision supports, without rewriting content from scratch. NotebookLM is used to establish foundational workflows that emphasize control, transparency, and alignment with course goals.
Building from this foundation, the session expands to additional AI tools that support differentiated instruction in targeted ways. Examples include revising language for clarity and accessibility, generating multiple examples or non-examples, creating alternative explanations for complex concepts, and supporting students who benefit from repetition or varied formats. Tools are introduced selectively, with emphasis on instructional purpose rather than tool novelty.
Audience engagement is central to the workshop. Participants will be invited to bring a course artifact, such as an assignment description, reading, or lecture outline, and apply one or two guided AI-supported workflows during the session. Structured prompts and examples will be provided to ensure the activity remains focused and pedagogically grounded.
The session concludes with a discussion of instructional boundaries, including academic integrity, accessibility considerations, and transparent use with students. Participants will leave with concrete, reusable workflows they can immediately apply to their courses.
External Grants for Teaching Innovations: Past Successes and Future Opportunities
Room 200 (50-minute workshop)
Farooq Khan; John Hansen; Anne Gaquere-Parker, Chemistry, & Rebeca Peacock, Educational Technology and Foundations
External grants have historically fueled teaching innovations at the University of West Georgia. In this Workshop, facilitated by Farooq Khan, an ORSP Fellow, a panel of participants will share their experiences. The participants and topics are:
Professor John Hansen: Teaching Innovations in Chemistry coursework and undergraduate research - Funded by the NSF and Department of Defense
Professor Anne Gaquere-Parker: Chemistry and Art – Funded by the NSF and the BOR
Professor Rebeca Peacock: Low-cost, no-cost textbooks and their integration in teaching – Funded by ALG
Concurrent Session 2 - 10:15 a.m.
Ready to Launch: From Role-play to Real Skills through Scalable Experiential Learning
Room 106 (Panel)
Melissa Jackson, First-Year Writing, & Brian Brodsky, First-Year Math
The Interdisciplinary Mars Expo is a new experiential learning opportunity designed to transform education from passive consumption into active discovery by engaging students in the complex challenges of Mars colonization. Framed within Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle, which posits learning as a process of knowledge creation through the transformation of experience, the Mars Expo aims to strengthen experiential learning and career readiness through roleplaying and interdisciplinary problem-solving. The project addresses current gaps in supplying authentic experiential learning, at-scale, to early undergraduate students. During the presentation, the audience will design an “Expo” of their very own.
Transforming Introduction to Programming Analytics with Python to HIP-designated course
Room 112 (TenTalks)
Ahmad Mobariz, Economics
This session aims to transform ECON 3804: Business Programming with Python into a model experiential learning course that blends technical skill development with career readiness reflection. By having students conduct self-directed, data-driven projects and reflect on their learning, the course will connect academic learning to real-world applications and professional growth.
Self-Disclosed Struggle: Existential-Psychoanalytic Pedagogy for Student Engagement
Room 112 (TenTalks)
Noah Cochran & John Roberts, Psychology
As college teachers, we often lean heavily on technical explanation and planned content that would be transmitted and assessed, even as we attempt a deeper and more relevant form of engagement with students as persons. Existential-humanistic psychological and psychoanalytic perspectives suggest that we are more credible when we disclose our own stakes in teaching, when our historically embodied suffering manifests through our speech.
In this talk, I will argue for a limited form of instructor self-disclosure – that is, a willingness to own struggle, uncertainty, and suffering as manifested in our particular disciplines. Fundamental to this practice is the avoidance of undisciplined and unboundaried personal confession (or “trauma dumping” as it spoken of nowadays). I will draw on the work of Sydney Jourard on genuineness and transparency, Irvin Yalom’s work on the existential givens (death, freedom, isolation, and meaning/lessness), as we as psychoanalytic understandings of transference, affect, and identification. I will then outline the principles that will guide the overall practice, such as: relevance, restraint, re-grounding, and disidentification. The overall bent is not to squander precious classroom moments with long personal narratives, nor is it to introduce distracting or disturbing intensity into the already complicated lives of students. Rather, the practice is to invite students to contemplate their own stakes in learning, and what is addressed by their own being beyond their intellect or vocational competence. Finally, I situate this practice within the Greek rhetorical model (ethos, logos, pathos) as a way of apprehending the kairotic, opportune moment in learning, where felt relevance, personal and collective significance, and intellectual development return through their confluence.
Many Facets of Critical Thinking
Room 112 (TenTalks)
Kim Green & Samantha White, Management
This presentation discusses different components of and perspectives for helping students understand the multi-faceted concept of critical thinking. While critical thinking is often listed as a singular learning competency or workplace skill, it consists of multiple behaviors that can be considered separately. When instructors or employers discuss critical thinking, they could be referring to different perspectives and focusing on a variety of behaviors. This presentation discusses these component skills and varied expectations. Because artificial intelligence gives the appearance of analyzing and thinking, AI offers a useful comparison to highlight components of critical thinking by humans. A current concern with AI is whether users recognize the difference between thinking for themselves with AI as a support tool rather than letting AI think for them. This presentation will include examples showing how AI errors can be used to help students understand critical thinking skills.
Enhancing Student Focus and Productivity in First-Year Writing Using the Pomodoro Method
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Britney Harris, First-Year Writing
In FYW courses, students often struggle to focus and manage mental fatigue due to increased screen time and multitasking. To help, I adapted the Pomodoro Method—a time-management strategy traditionally used independently—for the classroom. This method breaks work into structured intervals followed by short breaks. During essay drafting sessions, students completed 30-minute work periods with 5-minute breaks, a cycle chosen collaboratively. While shorter 15-minute intervals may work for some, students voted for the longer sessions, indicating that extra time was necessary for sustained focus and productive drafting.
This presentation will introduce the Pomodoro Method, share student outcomes, and offer practical strategies for using timed work cycles in First-Year Writing classrooms. By highlighting benefits for both students and instructors, this session demonstrates a simple, low-cost approach that improves learning, productivity, and focus while supporting students’ developing time-management and self-regulation skills.
Six Seasons and a Thesis: Teaching Group Communication via Community
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Amy Mendes, Mass Communications
Students in undergraduate group-communication courses often struggle to connect abstract frameworks to lived teamwork. This paper presents an applied pedagogy that pairs each unit of a semester-long COMM 3320 course with a curated episode of Community (NBC, 2009–2015). Units are mapped to core models—from Tuckman’s stage framework (1965; Tuckman & Jensen, 1977) to Poole’s Multiple Sequence Model (1983) and Ting-Toomey’s Face-Negotiation Theory (1988)—using television narratives as living case studies.
Qualitative assessment artifacts (reflections, peer-evaluation data) indicate increased use of precise theoretical vocabulary, higher metacognitive awareness of group processes, and stronger perceived relevance of theory to experience. The approach offers a replicable model for teaching group communication: integrating popular culture with narrative case studies to translate theory into practice and to enhance engagement, conceptual retention, and applied group-learning outcomes.
Community-Based Practicum Experiences in Psychology
Room 121 (20-minute presentation)
Jacob Glazier, Psychology
What strategies can educators employ to effectively engage students with community agencies while fostering meaningful professional development? This presentation outlines the pedagogical framework and instructional materials used in teaching PSYC 4887 - Practicum: Experiences in Human Services. The session will describe the processes through which undergraduate psychology students identify and secure community-based practicum placements, as well as the logistical considerations involved in coordinating these experiences. Particular attention will be given to the preparatory steps implemented at the beginning of the semester to support student success, including orientation procedures, expectations for professional conduct, and foundational training. The overall structure of the course will be examined, with emphasis on the supervisory model used to guide students throughout their placements. This includes the integration of a practical workbook on professional boundaries designed to engage students both didactically and reflexively as they navigate real-world human services settings. The presentation will also discuss the assessment mechanisms used to evaluate student progress, including midterm and final evaluations completed by site supervisors, and the feedback processes used to support student growth and professional identity development. Finally, the session will conclude with a facilitated discussion inviting participants to share their own approaches and strategies for designing and supervising community-engaged practicum experiences in psychology and related disciplines.
Connect, Extend, and Challenge: Strategies for Every Classroom
Room 121 (20-minute presentation)
Natasha Ramsay-Jordan & Rebecca Bowman, Early Childhood through Secondary Education
Grounded in experience and guided by what it means to engage in relevant and responsive teaching, this presentation shares instructional strategies for connecting, extending, and challenging students in ways that promote critical thinking. During the presentation, participants will engage in interactive discussions about using the Connect, Extend, Challenge (CEC) strategy as a transformative teaching approach that works in various learning environments. Through small-group, inquiry-based activities, attendees will reflect on their own instructional practices and identify ways to connect and apply the CEC strategies introduced during the session.
Ethics in the Classroom
Room 122 (50-minute workshop)
Walter Riker, Philosophy
Ethics Bowl is a game that draws attention to key aspects of constructive moral deliberation. It offers a fun way for participants think together about our shared moral problems, while also helping them see their own strengths and opportunities for growth. Preparing for and participating in this activity engages nearly all of the USG’s Career Competencies. Workshop participants will be introduced to Ethics Bowl, some case-study repositories, the score sheet and associated rubric, and will walk through a mock competition round. Ethics Bowl can be scaled for the classroom and is a great way to help students think and talk productively about moral problems.
Reconceptualizing the Student Research Assistant Program (SRAP): Expanding into other areas of experiential learning
Room 200 (20-minute presentation)
Lisa Connell, French, & Nate Lawres, Anthropology
This presentation aims to showcase how the Office of Undergraduate Research has been working to reconceptualize the Student Research Assistant Program (SRAP) in a way to maximize its potential to support experiential learning opportunities for UWG students beyond traditional research to also include career readiness and experiential learning projects. With this presentation we hope to position faculty to best pursue this unique student success opportunity on campus. SRAP has been instrumental in providing more than on-campus employment to students; it represents a High Impact Practice that directly corresponds to national indices of student success, such as the Gallup Bix Six and NACE Career Competencies. For example, because SRAP students work closely with faculty members on a research project, they meet three of the Gallup Big Six standards that UWG pursues: (1) I had at least one professor who made me excited about learning; (2) I had a mentor who encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams; (3) I worked on a project that took a semester or more to complete. Moreover, in the process of working on guided projects with a faculty mentor, students develop skills aligned with at least four of the six NACE career-readiness competencies that help them successfully compete in the marketplace: Critical Thinking, Leadership, Professionalism, and Teamwork. In these ways, SRAP not only serves to deepen the connections between students and faculty, it stands out as an exemplary model of student success in which faculty can take part.
While participants will learn about the ways that SRAP benefits students and faculty alike, the presentation will focus primarily on changes to the program that are designed to increase support for students and faculty, facilitate the application process, and improve the review process of applications. The presenters will share draft rubrics and applications, and how these instruments reflect both qualitative and quantitative feedback from UWG faculty and members of the SRAP Committee. Upon leaving the session, faculty will not only know about a key program that fosters undergraduate research at UWG but will also be better positioned to put forward an effective SRAP application of their own.
Keynote Session - 11:15 a.m.
Teaching at the Speed of Change: Linking Student Intrinsic Motivation and Long-term Success
Room 106
Claire Ezekiel, French
How do we prepare students for a world that changes faster than a syllabus can be printed? In an era of rapid technological shifts and evolving career landscapes, our greatest constant is the need to adapt alongside our students. This talk will examine the dual challenge of adapting our teaching to cultivate student-centered relevance and future success while finding ways to sustain our own professional motivation amidst constant change.
Concurrent Session 3 - 1:15 p.m.
From Blank Canvas to Classroom-Ready: AI-Enhanced Visual Learning Design
Room 106 (50-minute workshop)
Stephanie White, First-Year Writing & Prison Education
This session showcases practical strategies for using AI as a brainstorming and design partner in creating Canva-based course materials that maintain visual accessibility while reducing preparation time. Participants will learn how AI can generate lesson plan outlines aligned with Core IMPACTS competencies, suggest visual metaphors for abstract concepts, and create consistent slide decks that balance aesthetic appeal with readability requirements. The session emphasizes that AI handles structural and creative labor—generating frameworks, suggesting layouts, and offering design alternatives—while instructors apply disciplinary expertise and pedagogical judgment. By documenting a complete workflow from initial AI prompting through final Canva production, this presentation demonstrates how technology serves as a legitimate pedagogical resource that enables instructors to "work smarter, not harder."
Level Up Your Classroom: Using Evidence-Based Debriefing to Teach Student Thinking Across Disciplines
Room 112 (50-minute workshop)
Susie Jonassen; Cindy Johnson, & Mandy Bowman, Nursing
Across disciplines, faculty share a common challenge: students can often arrive at an answer but cannot explain how they reached it. Traditional feedback focuses on correctness, yet meaningful learning occurs when students examine their reasoning. This interactive workshop introduces structured reflective discussion strategies adapted from healthcare education and translates them into practical, classroom-ready techniques for any subject area.
Attendees will work in small interdisciplinary groups to analyze a short case, make a decision, and justify their reasoning. Facilitators will then lead a live debrief using three adaptable frameworks: PEARLS, Advocacy-Inquiry, and Plus-Delta. Participants will actively practice questioning strategies that uncover misconceptions, explore student thinking without embarrassment, and guide learners to identify both strengths and areas for improvement. Advocacy-Inquiry techniques shift classroom dialogue from evaluating answers to understanding reasoning.
Although demonstrated with a sample case, the method is intentionally universal and applicable to courses across the university. Attendees will leave with practical strategies they can implement immediately to improve engagement, reasoning, and student confidence while transforming feedback into a meaningful learning experience.
Community Building through Experiential Learning in the Core
Room 115 (50-minute workshop)
Carrie Carmack, First-Year Math, & Brittney Beth Baxter, First-Year Writing
First-year courses such as Mathematics and English have traditionally been seen as separate disciplines of knowledge, where course activities and practical applications are remarkably different. But over the past four years, we have been rethinking these traditional representations and challenging traditional pedagogical approaches by combining sections of Mathematics and English through common course themes and interdisciplinary projects. This year, we have expanded our efforts to include the current QEP learning outcomes by asking students to engage in community service projects and develop their career readiness skills through experiential learning activities using the campus community garden. Students have responded well to innovative approaches demonstrating increased overall engagement. In this session, we will share course details and the student outcomes we have experienced, followed by an activity where participants will have the opportunity to pair with a colleague from another discipline and create a shared assignment or approach that aligns with career readiness goals of the QEP.
The Role of Relationships in Retention and Recruitment
Room 121 (50-minute workshop)
Kayla Myers; Tiffany Jacobs; Paige Williams; Ann Cox; Rebecca Bowman; Ashley Poole, & Stacey Britton, Early Childhood through Secondary Education and Reading
Relationships matter, in every classroom from preschool to graduate school. As teacher educators, we emphasize the importance of building relationships with students, in course content as well as our own pedagogical practices. Thus, we propose a focus on finding ways to build relationships early with fresh UWG undergraduate students as a response to low retention rates.
This roundtable workshop session is designed with the intention of sharing ways to increase student retention and expand recruitment efforts, not only within our department of early childhood through secondary education but across campus as we strive to cultivate relationships with and between students. Topics of discussion will include our own initial efforts—the formation of the Undergraduate Success Committee in the UWG College of Education, a commitment to nurturing every student’s journey by providing early and supportive guidance, meaningful connections across campus and within our own college, and experiences that empower students to thrive both academically and personally. Our current focus is on relationship-building, a foundational concept in pedagogical best practice, through on-campus events and social opportunities that are designed to introduce prospective education majors to current students and professors.
Our workshop session will welcome collaborative discussions to share our continuing work with student recruitment and retention, practice responsive reflection on our own innovations in pedagogy as effective efforts, learn from our peers’ worthwhile endeavors with pedagogical innovations in student retention and recruitment, and anticipate possibilities for future data collection and research as we grow this project and extend our reach.
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: Incorporating an AI Requirement Into a Research Assignment
Room 122 (20-minute presentation)
Mary Kassis, Economics
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot are transforming higher education, forcing faculty to adopt new teaching and assessment methods. The traditional research paper is one popular assessment tool that has been made almost obsolete by AI. It is now possible for AI tools to produce a research paper for a student in mere minutes, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to definitively detect this use of AI. Additionally, students will use AI in many jobs, and the effective use of these tools is a skill needed to succeed in the workforce. Rather than continuing to fight against AI, it can benefit both instructors and students to incorporate effective and ethical use of AI into courses. This presentation will examine one faculty member's experience integrating a requirement for students to use AI in a research assignment. The process of developing and implementing the assignment will be described, as well as some lessons learned from the faculty's perspective.
Human Presence Matters: Designing AI-Resilient Assessments in Mathematics
Room 122 (20-minute presentation)
Sonal Patel, First-Year Math, & Veena Paliwal, School of Computing, Analytics, and Modeling
The rapid development of generative and agentic AI tools is transforming higher education. New systems can integrate with learning platforms, review course materials, complete assignments, participate in discussions, and generate submissions automatically. These advancements raise important questions about academic integrity, assessment design, and the purpose of learning in mathematics education.
In Fall 2025 and Spring 2026, a video-based presentation assignment was implemented as a pilot initiative in First-Year Mathematics courses. Students selected one course objective, developed a PowerPoint presentation using instructor-provided resources, and connected mathematical concepts to real-world examples and explanations. They recorded a 15 to 20 minute video presentation with audio and webcam, explaining the material in their own words. The requirement for live recording and personal explanation reduced opportunities for automation while strengthening communication and technical skills.
Beyond this implemented model, the session highlights additional AI-resilient assessment strategies, including multi-stage projects, redesigned discussion boards, “teach someone else” assignments, and viva voce oral assessments with structured question-and-answer components.
Participants will leave with practical frameworks and adaptable examples for designing assessments that emphasize human judgment, conceptual mastery, and meaningful engagement in the age of agentic AI.
"They Know What to Do. So Why Don't They?" Structural Scaffolding for Online Discussion Participation
Room 200 (20-minute presentation)
Danilo Baylen, Educational Technology and Foundations
Online discussion forums are a cornerstone of graduate education, yet participation quality often falls short of instructor expectations—even among students who can articulate exactly what effective engagement looks like. This presentation reports findings from a study examining graduate student reflections on online discussion participation, surfacing a persistent and instructive awareness-action gap: students demonstrated sophisticated understanding of best practices—post early, pose probing questions, synthesize across peers' contributions—while simultaneously admitting to late posting, surface-level responses, and minimal engagement.
Rather than treating this gap as a knowledge deficit, the study reframes it as a structural and motivational challenge. When competing academic priorities, procrastination, and the absence of concrete implementation strategies intervene, knowing what to do proves insufficient. Cross-semester analysis of student reflections yielded five evidence-based participation strategies: staggered time-blocking, strategic question frameworks, cross-post synthesis, structured documentation, and targeted response to unanswered questions.
Three implications for instructional design emerge from the findings. First, course structures must be engineered to align with desired behaviors—staggered deadlines, rubrics that reward synthesis, and explicit participation frameworks provide the scaffolding that knowledge alone cannot. Second, timing is consequential; early-semester intervention capitalizes on students' openness to habit formation before counterproductive patterns take hold. Third, and perhaps most strikingly, the most sophisticated and actionable strategies were generated by students themselves, suggesting that peer-sourced solutions carry accessibility and credibility that instructor prescriptions often lack.
Together, these findings argue for a shift in how instructors approach discussion design—away from exhortation and toward architecture.
Fostering and sustaining an authentic community in an online doctoral program: A humanistic approach
Room 200 (20-minute presentation)
Rebecca Free & Reena Viswanath, Counseling, Higher Education, and Speech-Language Pathology
This presentation explores how faculty and student well-being can be enhanced through intentional community-building by taking a humanistic approach to teaching. A humanistic approach enables both faculty and students to experience a sense of belonging that not only supports deeper learning and sustainable progress in the classroom, but strengthens relationships among working professionals outside the classroom. The presenters will share research that illustrates the importance of building online learning communities and discuss how to create psychologically safe environments. Further, they will highlight ways to build authentic relationships for both students and faculty through the humanistic approach.
Participants will learn about the importance of building community between faculty and students. For example, participants will be introduced to the concept and importance of psychological safety and how it relates to student and faculty well-being. As such, participants will see how the integration of faculty into the student community, and vice versa, can benefit both parties. Although the session will focus on an online classroom, participants will also learn tangible ways to build community for an in-person classroom.
Concurrent Session 4 - 2:15 p.m.
A Unique Collaboration: Computing, Theatre, and Animation Create a BIS Pathway in Gaming
Room 106 (Panel)
Shelly Elman, Theatre; Lewis Baumstark, School of Computing, Analytics, and Modeling; Amy Cuomo, Theatre, & Dominic Nguyen, Art
Panelists will discuss how a potential collaborative project of creating a video game became a BIS degree pathway. Additionally, the panelists will discuss the collaboration process of creating a game in three different courses, as a beta trial for the Gaming Pathway. Discussion will center around how students are collaborating on the project of developing one level of a new video game based on the Ancient Greek play, Antigone. Audience members will be taken through collaborative pen and paper game design and character development exercises.
Teaching Smarter, Not Harder: Using AI to Design Interactive, Engaging, and Career-Ready Courses
Room 112 (50-minute workshop)
Sonal Patel, First-Year Math, & Veena Paliwal, School of Computing, Analytics, and Modeling
Faculty today balance multiple responsibilities—teaching, grading, lesson preparation, professional development, departmental and university service, research, and administrative duties. Managing these competing demands often leaves limited time to design dynamic, engaging courses that promote meaningful learning. This hands-on workshop demonstrates how simple, accessible artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help faculty streamline routine tasks, enhance teaching effectiveness, and create interactive, student-centered learning experiences that connect classroom activities to real-world skills. Aligned with UWG’s Classrooms to Careers theme, the session highlights how AI can support both faculty efficiency and student success while preparing students for a technology-driven workforce.
The workshop will be co-facilitated by Ms. Sonal Patel, Mathematics Lecturer at University College, and Dr. Veena Paliwal, Professor at the Dr. James “Earl” Perry College of Mathematics, Computing, and Sciences. Together, they will guide participants through practical demonstrations of user-friendly AI tools that can be immediately implemented in the classroom. Participants will explore tools such as NoteGPT for summarizing readings and generating transcripts, Gamma for designing visually engaging and interactive presentations, Mentimeter for creating polls and live feedback activities that promote participation, and Otter.ai and Read AI for capturing lecture discussions and meetings to support documentation and review.
Through guided activities and discussion, participants will explore how these tools can reduce repetitive tasks, support creative course design, and foster active learning environments. Each participant will redesign one existing lesson, assignment, or discussion activity using AI to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes.
By the end of the session, participants will be able to identify AI tools that simplify teaching and administrative tasks, apply AI to redesign course activities for deeper learning, and develop practical strategies for ethical and transparent AI integration. This workshop demonstrates how AI can help faculty work more efficiently while creating meaningful, career-connected learning experiences.
Using Backward Course Design to Implement Competency-Based Education
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Tanya Naguszewski; Pam Dunagan; Katie Morales, & Quetina Howell, Nursing
Aim: The purpose of this presentation is to apply backward course design to quality and safety competencies and provide a practical example for implementation.
Background: To help address the nursing crisis in competency, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) introduced competency-based education and the Essentials. Simulation-based experiences (SBEs) provide a safe learning environment to develop and assess competencies using progression indicators. Leveling SBE across the curriculum allows faculty to assess students’ progression toward competency. However, there is a gap in nursing faculty knowledge of the process of developing assessments for competency-based educations (CBE) using progression indicators.
Method: The SBEs were created following Wiggins and McTighe’s (2005) backward course design framework for an undergraduate nursing population in a fundamental nursing course setting. Learning outcomes were created based on the Essentials competencies, assessments of students' competence were designed based on the learning outcomes, and learning activities were developed to ensure student competence.
Results: Four detailed SBEs were created to measure student medication safety competency. Facilitation processes include a detailed summative assessment plan, including progression indicators, detailed rubrics based on the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR), and the debriefing process utilizing the Debriefing for Meaningful Learning (DML) method.
Implications: This presentation equips faculty with the knowledge needed to develop SBEs for summative assessment of competency. Leveling progression indicators across the curriculum provides multiple opportunities to assess student competency. The SBEs include reflection and debriefing, facilitating student understanding, and competency.
Bridging Classroom to Career: Integrating Career Readiness in CourseDen through a Low-Stakes Asynchronous Module
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Hope Ridley, Career Services
How can faculty and other campus stakeholders help students translate classroom learning into workplace confidence without sacrificing valuable course time? Wolves Ready for Work, a collaborative online initiative from UWG’s Office of Career Services, offers an innovative answer. This self-paced, non-credit CourseDen module equips students with essential professional competencies before they enter internships, practicums, or on-campus employment.
Grounded in NACE career readiness competencies, student development theory, and experiential learning principles, the module immerses students in topics such as professionalism, workplace communication, ethical conduct, timeliness, and navigating feedback and conflict. Designed as a low-pressure, asynchronous experience, it allows students to explore and apply career-relevant concepts in a flexible, reflective format.
This session will unveil early results from the first year of implementation, including participation metrics, completion trends, and student feedback that reveals how learners are perceiving and applying their new skills. Attendees will also see how tracking tools and survey assessments are being leveraged to measure impact and identify growth opportunities across diverse majors.
Attendees will walk away with practical insights into how this scalable, data-informed model can be embedded into their own courses, experiential learning programs, or advising collaborations, enhancing students’ career confidence while complementing existing academic outcomes.
Based on a True Story: Case Studies Beyond The Book
Room 121 (50-minute workshop)
Davia Lassiter, Mass Communications
Case studies are great ways to illustrate practical and theoretical concepts while also providing foundations for best practices. For example, public relations students often review case studies to analyze how strategic communication has evolved over time.
But what about what's NOT in the book? How can faculty members go beyond the text, explore ideas for more case studies, and curate in-class activities to engage students in real-time analysis AND problem-solving strategies?
This session will introduce you to methods for implementing active-learning strategies using case studies that YOU create. Be prepared to put on your thinking caps ... there will be a case for you to crack!
From Early Development to College Success: Understanding Executive Function
Room 122 (20-minute presentation)
Lantz Ferrell, Management; Samantha Wadsworth, University of Alabama Birmingham, & Kathy Young, University of Southern Mississippi
Function (EF) skills are the key to career success. These skills begin in infancy, progress rapidly during early childhood, and continue to develop until approximately twenty-five years old. This presentation will share a three-part example of these skills.
After discussing the elements and inviting participation of experiences, attendees will better understand why EF matters and leave with practical action items to help students learn, grow and thrive beyond their college years.
Harness The Nervous System for Optimal Learning: An Experiential Session
Room 122 (20-minute presentation)
Susana Velez-Castrillon, Management, & Cyle Bohannon
Dr. Stephen Porges (2022), developer of the Polyvagal Theory, states that “when humans feel safe, their nervous systems support the homeostatic functions of health, growth, and restoration, while they simultaneously become accessible to others without feeling or expressing threat and vulnerability.”
The neuroscience of safety, an interdisciplinary field, informs how to foster psychological safety and create a culture where people feel secure, leading to better performance.
Participants will learn about the emergent field of the neuroscience of safety and experience five somatic psychological safety practices appropriate for the classroom. They will also take away directions for the somatic safety practices, learning to integrate them into their own teaching and create safe environments. Ultimately, they will improve student learning by helping students’ nervous systems feel safe.
NUDGE-ing Students Toward Success
Room 200 (20-minute presentation)
Jeff Reber, Psychology; Jason Milam; Russ Denney, & Meggie Miller, UWG Online
UWG’s NUDGE (Notifying Undergraduates about Due Dates and Grades Electronically) program was designed to increase student engagement and reduce missed assignments by encouraging consistent interaction with coursework throughout the semester. The session explores the NUDGE program’s development with CCC (Common Course Components), implementation processes, challenges encountered, and overall impact on student success. Developed in response to concerns about incomplete and late work, the initiative leverages timely communication and behavioral insights to motivate students to stay on track. CCC, and by extension, the NUDGE program, was developed in an effort to reduce student cognitive and technical load as they traverse an ever-diversifying educational experience. Grounded in the concept of negative reinforcement (similar to a car seatbelt alarm that persists until addressed) the program uses automated reminders to prompt action and reinforce accountability.
Presenters will facilitate an interactive discussion, inviting participants to share innovative engagement strategies from their own courses. Attendees will examine the mechanics behind the program and consider how similar approaches might be adapted to different class structures, formats, and student populations. Key insights, tools, and strategies emerging from the conversation are synthesized into practical takeaways.
Leveraging Library Resources to Support Student Success through No-Cost Textbook Alternatives
Room 200 (20-minute presentation)
CJ Ivory & Jean Cook, Ingram Library
Rising textbook costs remain a significant barrier to student success. This session highlights practical strategies for redesigning courses using licensed library resources as high-quality, no-cost instructional materials. Participants will explore how eBooks, scholarly articles, streaming media, business cases, and discipline-specific databases can replace or supplement traditional textbooks without compromising rigor.
Through brief course-based examples, the presentation will demonstrate how faculty can align learning outcomes with accessible materials already available through the library. Emphasis will be placed on scalability, ease of implementation, and maintaining academic quality while reducing financial burden for students.
Participants will leave with a worksheet to help map course learning outcomes to relevant licensed library resources, supporting intentional, no-cost course redesign.
Concurrent Session 5 - 3:15 p.m.
Radical Relationality: Cultivating Dialogical Classrooms Through Humility, Language, and Guided Participation
Room 106 (Panel)
Neil Korobov, Psychology; Joseph Chamberlain, Psychology Ph.D. Student; Natalie Pena, Psychology Ph.D. Student, Artemiy Leonov, Psychology Ph.D. Student, & Gatlin Jordan, Psychology Ph.D. Student
This panel explores what it means to cultivate radical relational spaces in the classroom, which are learning environments in which teacher, student, and content exist in dynamic, dialogical tension rather than in hierarchical transmission. Across our approaches, we argue that meaningful learning is not delivered but co-constructed through guided participation, intellectual humility, and shared inquiry.
Central to this vision is the intentional use of dialogical prompts that invite students to articulate, examine, and refine their thinking. Through active listening, mirroring, and linguistic scaffolding, instructors can seize organic classroom moments and translate everyday vernacular into disciplinary language, helping students move from intuition to conceptual clarity. Rather than correcting from above, the instructor listens to understand, guiding students toward deeper engagement while preserving their agency and voice.
This relational posture requires humility. The teacher is neither the sole authority nor a passive bystander, but a facilitator and disciplinary expert who makes space for students and for the content itself. When balanced well, the classroom becomes a collaborative encounter in which all participants are shaped by the currents of the material under study. Who the teacher is—particularly their disposition toward listening and shared meaning-making—matters as much as what they do.
At the same time, radical relational teaching demands intellectual rigor. Students are invited to “speak the language” of the discipline, situating ideas within their historical and theoretical development. Through peer-to-peer “open systems” practices such as collaborative myth-busting and applied inquiry, learners move beyond passive reception into critical, experiential engagement. Together, these practices foster classrooms that are neither competitive nor coercive, but transformative spaces where relationships become the medium through which thinking deepens and knowledge comes alive.
Invisible Barriers to Effective Pedagogy: Reclaiming our Mission
Room 112 (Panel)
Thomas Peterson, Educational Technology and Foundations; Aliyah Walton, COE Graduate Student Assistant; Savannah Bevington, COE Undergraduate Student, & Leonard Cochran, Carrollton City Schools
What are some of the seemingly invisible barriers that appear in classrooms between teachers and students? Can we name them and what can we do about them? While both teachers and students long for personally meaningful learning to take place in their classrooms, students often find themselves disengaged and even bored, while teachers look for ways to energize and motivate them. Or teachers may simply go through the motions of teaching and may even lose heart.
While the barriers may seem hidden, if not invisible, with some effort we can easily discern many of them. Some of the obvious barriers are lack of caring, lack of passion for the subject, lack of real authority, lack of understanding of what really motivates students, not knowing who your students are, students’ background and environments, and lack of awe to mention a few.
What we will be focusing on in our presentation will be what role vulnerability plays in removing a huge barrier to engaging students. Our panel members have all had first-hand experience working with youth to uncover many of their barriers. Something we may not have been aware of is that many of our students have experienced the trauma of rejection, abandonment, bullying, physical and mental abuse, including shaming. Their mental readiness to embrace and enter into deep learning is hampered by years of depression, engaging in inappropriate behaviors, relying on “remedies” such as alcohol, drugs, and self-harming to numb the pain.
It is critically important that we engage in dialogue to address the power to be found in vulnerability even if it is one of the bravest things we will ever do. Everyone will leave with a new understanding of the power of vulnerability to growing connections, acceptance, openness, trust, healing and growing a vibrant learning community.
Using D2L Discussions for Cooperative Learning in Online Courses
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Ruslan Galyamov, Economics
Since teamwork skills are essential for career readiness, early-stage students—i.e., dual-enrolled students and freshmen—benefit most from cooperative learning activities such as Think-Pair-Share or team projects. However, their effectiveness in asynchronous online modalities, which expanded significantly after the COVID pandemic, remains unclear. Although the pedagogical literature provides extensive guidance on cooperative learning in course design (e.g., McGoldrick, 2012; Strenio, 2023) and documents student satisfaction (e.g., Johnson et al., 1998), empirical evidence in asynchronous online settings is lacking. In this presentation, I poll the audience on their use of cooperative learning elements and introduce a D2L discussion activity designed to train problem solving in groups. I then share feedback from dual-enrolled students who completed this training in my financial literacy course. This segment concludes the first 10 minutes and opens the floor for a discussion of current findings and next steps for evaluating the effectiveness of cooperative learning methods.
Reframing Clinical Judgment for Higher Education
Room 115 (20-minute presentation)
Kim Crawford, Nursing, & Robin Kern, Nursing Ed.D. student and Valdosta State University Nursing Faculty
Across disciplines, faculty face a persistent challenge: students who perform well on examinations often struggle to apply knowledge in complex, ambiguous, real-world situations. In professional fields such as healthcare, this gap is described as a failure of clinical judgment—the ability to recognize meaningful cues, interpret data, prioritize responses, act effectively, and reflect outcomes. However, this phenomenon is not unique to healthcare. It reflects a broader pedagogical problem in higher education: how to cultivate professional judgment rather than mere content acquisition.
This session reframes clinical judgment from a discipline-specific expression of a universal educational goal to the development of adaptive expertise. Drawing on constructivist learning theory and the Lasater Clinical Judgement Rubric, the presentation explores how learning environments can be intentionally designed to promote contextualized learning. Using examples from health professions education as a model, participants will examine strategies such as case-based learning, structured reflection, and scaffolded feedback that make student thinking visible and support deeper reasoning. Attendees will be invited to consider how these approaches translate to their own disciplines, whether in business, engineering, education, or the humanities.
Mentorship Matters: Creating Spaces for Students to Thrive
Room 121 (50-minute workshop)
Paige Williams; Rebecca Bowman; Tiffany Jacobs; Kayla Myers; Ann Cox; Ashley Poole; Elizabeth Burbridge, & Stacey Britton, Elementary through Secondary Education and Reading
Mentorship is often discussed as a support structure, yet within educator preparation it can also function as a powerful pedagogical practice that strengthens belonging, persistence, and professional identity development. This workshop is designed to explore mentorship as an innovative and proactive approach to student success within the Department of Early Childhood through Secondary Education and Reading. The session will highlight intentional mentorship structures developed to cultivate connection, encourage reflective practice, and support student growth across undergraduate programs.
The session is designed as a collaborative space to share our ongoing mentorship work, reflect on successes and challenges, and gather insight from students and colleagues across disciplines. We welcome feedback, questions, and shared experiences as we collectively explore how mentorship can continue to grow as a meaningful and responsive pedagogical practice.
Building Bridges and Fostering Connection: Insights from Members of the Ombuds Reading Group
Room 122 (Panel)
Julia Farmer, Ombuds Office; Katie Morales, Nursing; Richard LaFluer, Psychology; Tanya Thomas, Management; Danilo Baylen, Educational Technology and Foundations, & Deon Kay, Mass Communications
In this panel, faculty members from five different colleges will share insights and takeaways gleaned from their participation in the Ombuds Reading Group. Over the years, this book group has tackled a variety of texts related directly or indirectly to topics around conflict management, interpersonal relations, navigating feedback, and other skills that are key for success in the classroom and beyond. Panel participants will share their thoughts on how what they've gained from the readings and discussions can be applied to their work as faculty. Texts to be discussed include but are not limited to The Feedback Fix by Joe Hirsch, The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker, and Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen.
Post Conference Workshop
The CourseDen Lab: 5 Principles for Effective Modules
Teal Classroom, Biology Building
Claire Ezekiel, French
You asked, we listened! Building CourseDen modules can feel overwhelming. Adapting them successfully across modalities can feel like there’s never enough time. This post-conference workshop is designed to help you develop effective module content in CourseDen using 5 transferable principles. Forget long lectures! This is a hands-on working session. Participants will leave with a new or modified CourseDen module and gain concrete ways to articulate how your design work enhances learning and student success (perfect for your annual evaluations and P&T portfolios!).