The session will feature three members of the WCU Community Engaged Learning Faculty Work Group, Gerardina Martin, Linda Stevenson, Angela Lavery, with moderator, Tina Chiarelli-Helminiak, Faculty Associate for the Center for Civic Engagement and Social Impact. The session will begin with the Faculty Work Group members sharing their experiences with community engaged learning activities. Participants will then be engaged in small group discussions on how to create community engagement activities related to their courses, learning outcomes, and assignments. Throughout the discussion, participants would complete a worksheet (artifact) guiding them through the initial process of designing a community engaged activity. The session would conclude with a discussion on next steps and with action items to finalize their ideas for implementation. *Please note, participants are encouraged to bring a syllabus with them to the session. 

Join Dr. David Barry as he presents an engaging workshop introducing the Professionalism Multiplier, a dynamic tool designed to emphasize professionalism alongside academic performance in grading. Participants will explore how to assess and reward students’ professional behaviors, such as engagement, communication, and attendance, with customizable point systems. Through guided activities, you’ll create a tailored Professionalism Multiplier for your course and see how it can holistically reflect student performance. The session also includes mid-semester intervention strategies to help students improve their professionalism scores and maintain a growth mindset. Leave with a fully developed multiplier table, ready to implement in your syllabus, and resources to explain its purpose to your students.

Discover how alternative grading practices, such as ungrading and standards-based grading, can create a more inclusive and student-centered learning environment. This workshop will provide practical examples across different disciplines from facilitators Ashley Patriarca (English), Meghan Ramick (Kinesiology), and Rick Howard (Kinesiology) showcasing how these methods can be effectively implemented. Participants will engage in a hands-on activity to revise one of their own assignments or class policies with guidance from the facilitators. The session will conclude with a debrief and actionable steps to incorporate alternative grading into their teaching. Attendees will leave with concrete examples and a personalized, revised assignment or policy ready for immediate use.

Professors have observed and noted concerns with what can be considered “disengaged learners”, who are overcoming financial struggles, mental health concerns, navigating technology, post-COVID-19, and the uncertain political climate in our learning spaces. These “Gen Z” challenges can make it difficult for professors to engage learners and require the implementation of unique and updated approaches to grasp student attention. Emmaline Ellis, Anne Gill, and Brittany Severino will highlight evidence-based engagement strategies that can be applied to all aspects of the face-to-face or virtual classroom, including community-building techniques, diverse course readings, and assessment procedures that participants will get to practice and apply to their courses.

• Shannon McQueen – Capstone 2.0: Integrating AI Literacy
• Kim Johnson – Improving Student Engagement in Math with Open Educational Resources
• Tom Kwiatkowski – Exploring Protein Structure and Function with Virtual Reality
• Laura Brown – Using Padlet Forms for Discussion
• Danielle Kronmuller – Specialty Dietetic Internship Rotation with Nemours Children’s Health
• Christopher Roemmele – Implementing Mastery Grading
• Pauline Schmidt – Incorporating Arts-Based Experiences to Practice Curricular Connections
• Subarna Basu – Sketchnoting in Education
• Michelle Dasilva – Ethical Debates with Kialo
• Michael Di Giovine – Extended Reality Virtual Exhibitions
• Eunice Park-Clinton & Jean Herb – Empathy Through Art: Nursing Students’ Clinical Reflections
• Jake Mann – Generative AI as a Learning Support Tool
• Naomie Nyanungo – Teaching Excellence Framework
• Megan Nolan – Lead Well: A Leadership Competency Workshop
• Lynn Zubernis – Video Casebook for Teaching Case Conceptualization

Grading as we know it is significantly broken. The traditional approach involving one-and-done assessment, points, partial credit, and averaging is demotivating for students, demoralizing for faculty, time-consuming, disconnected from science, and of questionable statistical validity. But it is changeable, and in fact there is no better time than now to explore alternatives that prioritize student growth and align better with how humans learn. In this talk, we will explore the history and issues of traditional grading, propose a framework for “alternative” grading practices, and see how to implement alternative grading without massive requirements of time or energy.

 The TLC invites proposals for two Celebration of Teaching events.

40-Minute Workshops

Workshops are practical sessions with participants engaging with technical tools, practicing a teaching strategy, or creating something for use in their course. They are NOT “talk at” sessions with little to no participant activity. The session should end with the participants walking away with a partially finished or finished example relevant to their context. Up to four proposals will be accepted. 

For example, a session might  

• walk participants through how to create an interactive H5P activity. Participants would leave the session with a partially built or fully built activity.  

• Have participants practice making a five-picture story relevant to a concept they teach.  

• Ask participants to take a Panopto video and insert quiz questions.  

• Get participants to find a relevant quote in their discipline to use for a quote minus one activity and prepare them to run said activity in a course.

Teaching Excellence Showcase

The showcase is a poster style presentation of an innovative teaching approach, eligible for the chance to win the People’s Choice or Judges’ Choice awards. You will present from a high-ball table to folks as they encounter your station. No idea is too simple or common. We want to see excellence in all the forms it takes. Up to 25 proposals will be accepted. 

  The submission form will ask for your name, email, and department. You will indicate if you are submitting for a 40-minute workshop or the showcase.

Workshop Submission Questions

We will evaluate the quality of proposals on a five-point scale for participation as a workshop based on the following criteria:

• Proposal outlines how participants will be working with the presented topic or tool during the workshop.
• The artifact a participant will leave the session with is evident.
• Encourages inclusivity and equity-minded teaching through student interaction with others, content, and/or self.
• Applicability of tool or technique across disciplines.

Please keep the responses for each question below short. A few sentences is sufficient.

1. What teaching strategy or tool will be the focus of your workshop?
2. What artifact will participants be able to leave the session with connected to your teaching strategy or tool?
3. How will you engage participants during the workshop on the teaching strategy or tool?
4. What artifact will participants be able to leave the session with connected to your teaching strategy or tool?

Showcase Submission Questions

We will evaluate the quality of proposals on a five-point scale for participation in the Teaching Excellence Showcase based on the following criteria. Proposals do not need to address all criteria to be considered.

• Encourages inclusivity and equity-minded teaching through student interaction with others, content, and/or self
• Applies universal design for learning concepts
• Improves a lesson or content objective in ways that add value above and beyond what could be done with other resources.
• Demonstrates an idea, style, teaching concept, or tool that can be applied or utilized by other WCU stakeholders

Briefly describe your teaching approach that you would like to highlight during the Teaching