Workshops and Events

Are you looking to learn new teaching practices, enhance student learning, or sharpen your teaching skills? Our events create an interactive and welcoming space where OU faculty, staff, and graduate students come together to share ideas, explore strategies, and engage in meaningful discussions. You'll find support, a sense of belonging, and a community where you can exchange teaching practices, scholarship, and ideas.

Register now or mark our events on your calendars! If you are looking for a place to share teaching practices, try out a strategy, or present scholarly teaching work join us, we welcome you to join us. Plus, don't miss the opportunity to view past events and gain insights from previous sessions.

Workshops

Our events take place in 430R Kresge Library with an online attendance option, unless otherwise noted.

Ready to lead a session? Fill out this form, and we'll be in touch!

Teaching Talks by OU Faculty

Looking for a place to share teaching practices, try a new strategy, or present your scholarly teaching work? Be inspired by your peers—sign up to attend or lead a teaching talk by OU faculty!

Teaming Up for Teamwork in STEM Classes and Beyond. Explore and register online.
Fay Hansen, PhD., Associate Professor, Biological Sciences.
Thursday, February 6, 3-4pm

Managing the Grading Load: Strategies for Helpful Feedback on Writing Assignments. Explore and register online.
Nick Sanders, Assistant Professor of Writing.
Wednesday, February 12, 12-1pm

Teaching with Purpose: Activities to Spark Curiosity and Build Community. Explore and register online.
Mary Tracy-Bee, Special Lecturer in Biological Sciences and Physical Therapy.
Thursday, March 6, 12-1pm

Neurodiversity

This event is part of the Neurodiversity in the Classroom program, which offers many different ways to deepen our knowledge of the many ways the human mind works, understand the experiences of neurodivergent learners, and how to design inclusive learning environments accordingly. To access all related learning activities, plus earn a certificate and badge for sustained engagement, visit the Neurodiversity in the Classroom eSpace.

Kickoff Event with Lillian Nave: Teaching Neurodivergent Students. Explore and register online.
Friday, January 24, 10:30-11:30 am

Helping Autistic Students Thrive in a World Not Designed for Them. Explore and register online.
Facilitated by OUCARES Director Alicia Garcia
Tuesday, March 4, 3-4pm

TILTing Your Assignments: Make Your Teaching Life Easier and Help Your Students Succeed. Explore and register online.
Monday, March 10, 12-1pm. Online only.

Graduate Student

A four-part series which aims to equip graduate students with the foundational tools to gain employment and develop successful careers in academia as well as the private and public sector.

Resume as a Guide for Career Planning and Development. Explore and register online.
Facilitated by Yejie Lee, Career and Life Design Coach at OU
Wednesday, January 15, 5-7pm

Telling Your Professional Story through Service, Teaching, and Research in Academia and Beyond. Explore and register online.
Panel composed of Dr. Kelly Berishaj, Associate Professor of Nursing; Dr. Tomoko Wakabayashi, Associate Professor, Department of Human Development and Child Studies Coordinator, Early Childhood Education Ph.D. Program; and Dr. Caress Dean, Chairperson of Public and Environmental Wellness, Associate Professor of Public Health at OU.
Thursday, February 20, 5-7pm

Using a Teaching Statement to Guide Effective Teaching Explore and register online.
Facilitated by Dr. Marc Thomas, Dean of Teaching and Learning Excellence at OCC, and Dr. Kate Bowers, Special Instructor and Academic Programs Coordinator for Computer Science and Engineering at OU
Wednesday, March 19, 5-7pm

Sustaining Yourself Throughout your Career. Explore and register online.
Facilitated by Dr. Michelle Hammond, Associate Professor of Management at OU
Wednesday, April 9, 5-7pm

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Growing as a Teacher-Scholar: Foundations in Educational Research

This new four-part workshop series helps educators translate teaching experiences into meaningful educational research. Faculty and graduate students will explore the foundations of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and discipline-based education research (DBER) while developing their own research projects. Through collaborative sessions, hands-on activities, and personalized feedback, participants will move from initial ideas to well-designed research proposals. Faculty at any stage of an educational research project are encouraged to join. Attend all or one of the workshops.

Foundations and Professional Identity in Educational Research. Explore and register online.
Wednesday, March 12, 3-4pm

From Teaching Experiences to Research Questions. Explore and register online.
Wednesday, March 19, 3-4pm

Education Research Design and Ethics. Explore and register online.
Wednesday, March 26, 3-4pm

Studying Your Teaching, From Design to Implementation. Explore and register online.
Wednesday, April 2, 3-4pm

Events Beyond CETL

CETL collaborates with and helps promote OU events related to teaching and learning. If you would like to add an upcoming event, please contact Christina Moore.

Teaching with Technology, Online Teaching, and Moodle (e-LIS)

e-Learning and Instructional Support offers one-hour Zoom workshops on best practices, teaching presence, and advanced tools in Moodle. View all upcoming e-LIS workshops.

From the Center for Excellence in Medical Education, OUWB School of Medicine

Browse a full calendar of CEME faculty development events.

Teaching Symposium

2025 Teaching and Learning Symposium: May 16

Date & Time: Friday, May 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Theme: Imagining Inclusive Futures through Teaching
Location: Oakland Center, Gold Rooms (with Zoom option)
View Flyer: 2025 Teaching & Learning Symposium Flyer

What new possibilities can we shape together? In times of uncertainty and change, we find hope in preparing students for the future. Join us at this year's OU Teaching Symposium, where educators, researchers, and students will gather to explore how we can cultivate and sustain creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration across diverse learning environments. Event co-sponsored by e-Learning and Instructional Support.

Keynote Speaker: Todd Zakrajsek, PhD

Making Every Voice Count: Rethinking Engagement in Higher Ed

When planning a discussion or asking questions in class it is not uncommon to be thinking implicitly about how quick thinking, risk taking, extroverts participate. Lack of engagement is often thought of as why students are not participating rather than what might be making it challenging for students to participate. In this session, faculty will gain practical tools to create learning environments that foster confidence, accessibility, and meaningful participation for a diverse range of learners.

About the speaker:
Todd D. Zakrajsek, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at UNC - Chapel Hill and President of the International Teaching Learning Cooperative, which leads five annual Lilly Teaching Conferences. Todd’s recently co-authored books include Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, 5th Edition (2023).; The New Science of Learning, 3rd ed (2022); Teaching for Learning, 2nd ed, (2021); Advancing Online Teaching (2021); and Dynamic Lecturing (2017). Learn more about Todd Zakrajsek.

Concurrent Sessions 1 (9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.)

Forging Paths to Partnership - Exploring Ways to Deeper Faculty and Student Pedagogical Partnerships at OU
Presenters: Cynthia Miree (SBA), Red Douglas, Payton Bucki, Dominique Hormillosa (students)
The Pedagogical Partnerships Program fosters meaningful dialogue between OU students and faculty to enhance student engagement. This presentation highlights the program’s growth, key components, and outcomes from the past year. Presenters will share their experiences, insights from faculty-student collaborations, and future directions for strengthening these partnerships.

Engaging Student Learning with Public Service Announcement
Patricia Cameron (Nursing)
This presentation showcases an interactive assignment in Nursing Care of Communities and Populations, where students create 30-second public service announcements on public health topics. Working in teams, they develop impactful messages using storyboarding and multimedia storytelling. This activity enhances communication skills and fosters engagement in public health advocacy.

Queering Curriculum: Integrating LGBTQ+ Perspectives into Teaching
Brie Desmond (CEME)
Fostering meaningful discussions in online courses is challenging. To address this, I integrated Breakout Learning into my Introduction to HRM course, replacing traditional forums with AI-facilitated, team-based discussions.

The Power of Stories: Transforming Composition I through Inclusive Storytelling and Creative Collaboration
Brittany Kelley (English)
In this presentation, I'll show how my Composition I class uses identity, voice, and storytelling themes through Personal Narrative, Fairy Tale Comparison, and Film Review units. The session includes interactive activities to help you understand storytelling's role in composition, learn strategies for identity reflection, explore methods promoting diversity, and gain insights on creating inclusive environments through creativity.

Building Interactive Classrooms: Evidence-Based Strategies for Adaptive Learning and Real-World Skill Development
Sai Deepthi Yeddula (Computer Sciences)
In this era of technological change, the Interactive Learning Framework promotes engaging, inclusive education for diverse learners. Based on research and Confucius's wisdom "I do and I understand," it creates adaptive experiences through interactive forums, hands-on projects, and real-world simulations. With continuous feedback and data-driven strategies, IL transforms traditional models into inclusive classrooms preparing students for our evolving global landscape.

Team Learning Outside and Inside: A Synergistic Approach to Student Engagement and Skill Development
Suzan Kamel-ElSayed (Medicine)
This presentation introduces Self-Directed Team Learning (SDTL), which blends self-directed learning (SDL) and team-based learning (TBL) to enhance knowledge acquisition and teamwork skills. SDTL fosters independent inquiry, collaboration, and problem-solving. Student feedback highlights increased engagement, motivation, and teamwork readiness. The session explores SDTL’s design, implementation, and impact in medical education.

Concurrent Sessions 2 (1:15 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.)

Reviving Classroom Discussions with AI: Implementing Breakout Learning in ORG3310
Hanna Kalmanovich-Cohen (Management & Marketing)
Integrating Breakout Learning into my online HRM course replaced traditional forums with AI-facilitated, team-based discussions, enhancing engagement and inclusivity. AI analytics ensure all voices are heard, fostering real-world decision-making skills. This session explores how AI-powered discussions improve learning outcomes and create equitable, meaningful dialogue in online and hybrid courses.

Starting College During COVID: Examining Whether Summer Bridge Programs Translate to a Remote Environment
VaNessa Thompson (Organizational Leadership)
This study examines the impact of remote summer bridge programs during COVID-19 on student persistence, retention, and belonging. Using mixed methods, it compares remote and in-person cohorts, revealing benefits in preparedness and community-building. Findings offer insights for future program design and suggest longitudinal assessments to evaluate long-term student success.

Innovative Pathways to Inclusive Global Learning: Enhancing Accessibility and Intercultural Competence through COIL VE
Hana Moudallal (DIS/SBA)
Collaborative Online International Learning Virtual Exchange (COIL VE) expands global education access by connecting students and faculty worldwide through digital tools. It fosters intercultural competence, digital literacy, and collaboration. This session explores COIL VE’s integration into curricula, its benefits for accessibility and engagement, and strategies to overcome technological and logistical challenges.

Eradicating Racism through Community-University Partnerships
Danielle Ligocki, Greg Bartley (Teaching & Learning), Robert Martin, Chaunda Scott (Organizational Leadership)
This talk explores the impact of campus-community partnerships in antiracism efforts. The Initiative for Eradicating Racism and Pontiac Collective Impact Partnership collaborated on education and activism, fostering dialogue among political leaders, community members, and schools. A three-part event series strengthened connections, advancing shared goals for racial justice and inclusion.

Concurrent Sessions 3 (2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.)

No Textbook Required: Converting courses to no-cost course materials
Julia Rodriguez (OU Libraries)
High textbook prices harm student success, with 66.6% forgoing purchases despite grade impacts. Converting to open educational resources (OER) not only saves money but improves outcomes—showing lower DFW rates and better grades. OER supports diversity and equity by removing financial barriers and allows faculty to incorporate inclusive content and innovative pedagogies. This presentation will cover approaches to replacing textbooks, finding OER, using AI tools, and implementing student-centered learning strategies.

From Static to Dynamic: Elevate Your Moodle Course with H5P
Nic Bongers (e-Learning and Instructional Support)
Make your Moodle course more interactive with H5P’s Smart Import! OU’s Instructional Design Team can convert your existing content into dynamic activities like quizzes, flashcards, and interactive videos. This session explores H5P features, teaching strategies, and timelines to help you create engaging learning experiences with minimal effort.

Reimagining Accreditation: Faculty-led Strategies for Moving Beyond Compliance
Virgina McMunn (SEHS)
Accreditation is often seen as a compliance task rather than a tool for faculty-driven change. This workshop repositions accreditation as a means to support teaching, research, and student success. Through real-world examples and a theory-to-practice framework, participants will explore strategies to integrate accreditation with meaningful institutional improvement and faculty priorities.

Creating a Community of Learners through Reading
Greg Allar (Political Science)
Reading complex texts is challenging for students, but active engagement improves retention. This presentation explores using Hypothes.is for digital annotation alongside instructor feedback to deepen understanding. Anchored discussions in texts enhance learning, while shifting from grades to feedback helps students focus on improvement rather than assessment, fostering deeper comprehension.

Data Talks: Evidence That Current Online Assessments Lack Integrity
Charlene Hayden (Chemistry)
In high-enrollment chemistry courses, traditional online quiz security measures are failing. Recent data shows no correlation between quiz and exam scores, with quiz averages 15-20% higher than previous years. Causes likely include AI tools, solution websites, and group messaging. Online assessments should be improved, eliminated, or given less weight.

Transparent Teaching in Three Simple Steps
Molly Gustafson (Management, SBA)
Have you noticed students misunderstanding assignments or presenting disorganized work? The "task, purpose, criteria" framework makes teaching explicit, helping students learn how to learn—a lifelong skill. This transparent approach promotes equity, motivates students, and helps them connect concepts. After five years of implementation, I've seen benefits across various course formats.

Past Editions of the Symposium

2024 Teaching and Learning Symposium

Cultivating Inclusion Through Connectivity

The 2024 symposium brought together teaching and research faculty, graduate students, and staff to explore strategies for fostering student connections with their community, classroom, and campus. The event featured engaging keynote presentations, insightful faculty talks, and discussions on inclusive and innovative teaching practices.

Keynote Highlights:

Dr. Julie Dangremond Stanton: Shared research on metacognitive development and the academic experiences of underrepresented students in STEM.
Birook Mekonnen: Discussed his work as a health services officer and contributions to public health emergency preparedness.

Faculty Presentations:

How to Train Your Algorithm: Responsible AI in the Classroom — Dr. Bridget Kies
Promoting College Readiness in Low-SES Learners — Dr. Kyeorda Kemp
Interviews as a Learning Activity — Dr. Helena Riha
Campus Farms: Teaching STEM Through Food and Farming — Dr. Fay Hansen

For recordings, session slides, and additional resources, view the Symposium Handout.

2023 Teaching and Learning Symposium

Friday, May 5, 2023

Over 70 people joined us throughout the day to reflect on teaching, learn about the engaging teaching work happening on our campus, and evaluating our assessment and grading practices. If you missed part or all of the day, or would like to revisit a talk or activity, look through our symposium handout, which includes links to a YouTube playlist of the day’s events plus resource documents and slides associated with each event.

Past Workshops and Events

Missed a workshop? View workshop recordings and resources.

A Competency Approach to Graduate Education

Wednesday, February 8, 3-4pm, 200A Elliott Hall.

Marvin Nieman, PhD, Vice Dean for Graduate Education and Professor, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University will be sharing insights into the reform of graduate education using his work on competency-based graduate training programs. To achieve the goal of training professional scientists, graduate programing can be strengthened by using competencies to focus on both knowledge acquisition and skills, such as critical thinking and communication. View Resources.

Diversity Challenge 2022

The Winter 2022 Diversity Challenge celebrates the expertise, talent and experience of university faculty, staff and students dedicated to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. While challenges can be completed at any time, weekly challenges began in January and continue through March. Visit the Diversity Challenge 2022 eSpace (OU login required).

Instructional Fair

Co-sponsored by the Senate Teaching and Learning Committee

Browse a variety of posters and displays with faculty's best ideas on effective instructional strategy, active learning, learning resources, classroom activities that they use to promote student success. The poster presentation format allows attendees to collect guides to these ideas and network with faculty and staff.

Share what works well in your classroom, tips on how to design engaging assignments, or tools and resources that have been helpful in teaching and learning. Presenting with your students is highly encouraged!

View 2019 event video, Instructional Fair Booklet, event photo album, presentation list, plus quotes from faculty and student presenters.

Past Event Resources

Browse the 2018 Instructional Fair Booklet. This includes handouts for all presentations featured at the event.

Download the 2017 Instructional Fair Booklet
Download the 2015 Instructional Fair Booklet
Download the 2013 Instructional Fair Booklet

Guest Speaker Events

In partnership with offices on campus such as Student Affairs & Diversity and OUWB Center for Excellence in Medical Education, we regularly offer special events on teaching and learning. Below are recordings and resources from our past events.

Cheating Lessons, with Dr. James Lang. Postponed until further notice.
The Promise and Practice of Inclusive Pedagogy, with Dr. Bryan Dewsbury on June 10, 2019. Resources include keynote video, audio, and his recommended resources.
What Faculty Can Really Do to Promote Student Learning, with Dr. Diane Ebert-May on June 5, 2018.

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Kresge Library, Room 430
100 Library Drive
Rochester, Michigan 48309-4479
(location map)
(248) 370-2751