Concurrent Sessions II

Shared Mini-Presentations (25 min.)

*This format features short presentations within the same session block. Each presenter is given 25 minutes to share their work.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Learning: Active Learning in the Undergraduate Motor Learning Classroom

Session Track:

Innovative Practices Across Teaching Modalities

Presenter:

Daphne Schmid, University of Florida

Active-learning approaches provide students with practical ways to apply course material. This presentation showcases movement-based motor learning activities that enhance content comprehension and in-class participation. Student quotes and actionable implementation strategies for incorporating these techniques into your classroom will serve as takeaways for educators.

X-Scapes: Joyful Learning in Landscape History

Session Track:

Innovative Practices across Teaching Modalities

Presenters:

Irene Curulli, Virginia Tech

Paria Hosseini, Virginia Tech

In traditional history teaching, joy and curiosity often wane due to students’ limited attention spans and evolving learning habits, especially among bachelor-level students in multidisciplinary classrooms. This session presents X-Scapes, a thematic, multimodal model with student-led inquiry that moves learning forward fostering engagement, joy and meaningful learning.

___________________________________________________________________________

Engaging Students through Intentional Motivation

Session Track:

Strategies that Foster Student Success and Well-Being

Presenter:

Denise Wilkinson, Virginia Wesleyan University

This session explores strategies to foster student motivation through communication, purposeful rewards, cultivating interest, modeling, shared feedback, and promoting student success. The presenter will share classroom activities and student feedback demonstrating their impact. Participants will engage in an activity to experience the value of the strategies.

Meaningful Moments: Exam Wrappers to Encourage Student Metacognition and Faculty Connection

Session Track:

Student-Centered Teaching Pedagogy

Presenters:

Suzanne Larson, Midwestern University, Glendale

Erin Raney, Midwestern University, Glendale

Laura Hanson, Midwestern University, Glendale

Final year pharmacy students complete a practice licensure examination at six-week intervals. Students review their results and submit an online exam wrapper document. The wrapper serves as a metacognitive tool to help students connect preparation with performance and adjust study methods. Faculty review exam wrappers and provide personalized responses.

From Compliance to Connection: A Framework for Igniting Intellectual Joy with Late Adolescents

Session Track:

Emerging Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Presenter:

Jennifer Cloughly, South Carolina Department of Education

Academic disengagement often surfaces when late adolescents navigate nascent cognitive abilities in a space that demands optimal executive function. Together, we’ll explore a developmentally informed framework that blends structure with autonomy and accountability with support that faculty can use to move students from mere compliance to active, joyful learning.

___________________________________________________________________________

Beyond Box-Checking: Transforming Assessment into a Catalyst for Learning

Session Track:

Emerging Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Presenter:

Hany Zaky, Eastern International College, Jersey City

This session presents the Assessment Integration Model (AIM), a research-based framework addressing why assessment often fails to improve teaching and learning. Through analysis of current practices at diverse institutions, we’ll explore how seven key factors enable transformation from compliance-driven activities into meaningful pedagogical enhancement.

___________________________________________________________________________

Adapting to Gen Z: Creating a joyful community and Lifelong Collaboration through Discord

Session Track:

Innovative Practices across Teaching Modalities

Presenter:

Brian Stevens, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Discover how a vibrant Discord community transformed Gen Z learning into joyful connection and lifelong collaboration. Beyond coursework, students found friendship, purpose, and even career opportunities. This session shares how cultivating joy both inside and outside class builds lasting networks that empower students well beyond graduation.

___________________________________________________________________________

What Should We Do Now? Using AI-Generated Chatbots to Teach Ethical Decision-Making for End-of-Life Nutrition Decisions

Session Track:

Innovative Practices across Teaching Modalities

Presenters:

Rebecca Brody, Rutgers University

Halle Beck, University of Denver

Kiera Hurley, University of Vermont

Across healthcare professions, students rarely receive guided practice in navigating ethically difficult conversations about end-of-life nutrition and hydration interventions. This session introduces an innovative AI-generated role-play designed to help students practice communication, empathy, and ethical reasoning when discussing end-of-life nutrition decisions.

___________________________________________________________________________

The Facets of Game Design: Reframing Research Through Joyful Learning, Collaboration, and Interdisciplinary Play

Session Track:

Innovative Practices across Teaching Modalities

Presenters:

Cary Staples, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Elizabeth Derryberry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Amelia James, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Kira Pegues, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Matt Fecco, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Maija Craddock, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Shomari Taylor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Cohl Rhys, East Tennessee State University

Drawing on a PBL-based studio project, this presentation examines how students from multiple disciplines collaboratively translate faculty research into playable systems, showing how shared language, collective sense-making, and game design reframe academic research as a deeply engaging, collaborative learning experience.

___________________________________________________________________________

Start a Community of Practice to Energize Your Teaching and Support Student Success

Session Track:

Strategies that Foster Student Success and Well-Being

Presenter:

Laura Vernon, Radford University

Attendees will learn how to start a community of practice (CofP) to energize their teaching and support student success. Research shows that CofPs foster learning; encourage collaboration, creative problem solving, and innovation; etc. The presenter will define a CofP and share the steps for forming a CofP and the best practices for maintaining a productive community.

___________________________________________________________________________

Reevaluating Assessment

Session Track:

Student-Centered Pedagogy

Presenters:

Nathan Street, Southern Wesleyan University

Richard Smith, Southern Wesleyan University

This presentation examines innovative assessment design across online undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. Emphasizing mastery learning and competency-based evaluation, it explores digital tools, formative feedback, and authentic assessment methods that enhance learner engagement, ensure measurable outcomes, and align practices with mission and accreditation.

___________________________________________________________________________

Hills, Hollers, and Hopes: Finding Joy in Place, Language, & Culture

Session Track:

Student-Centered Pedagogy

Presenters:

Melissa Comer, Tennessee Tech University

Kristen Trent, Tennessee Tech University

This presentation celebrates Appalachian identity by exploring the intersection of culture, language, and place in teaching and learning. Through oral histories, students collect and present stories that foster pride and connection, amplifying regional voices and promoting empathy and understanding in our shared educational journeys.

___________________________________________________________________________

From Closure to Celebration: Cultivating Joy Through Participatory Evaluation

Session Track:

Student-Centered Pedagogy

Presenters:

Muhsin Michael Orsini, University of North Carolina, Greensboro

Christopher Seitz, Appalachian State University

This presentation explores how the Participatory Training Evaluation Method reimagines lesson closure as a joyful, learner-centered celebration. It contrasts PATEM and other approaches with traditional exams and offers practical strategies to align assessment, closure, and celebration that elevate learner voice, promote metacognition, and sustain engagement.

Learning With Joy: Reimagining Online Experiential Learning Across Modalities

Session Track:

Innovative Practices across Teaching Modalities

Presenter:

Arunava Roy, University of Oklahoma

This session explores how online science labs can be redesigned to cultivate joy, purpose, and connection without sacrificing rigor. Participants will discuss student-centered, inquiry-driven lab practices and instructional design partnerships that transform asynchronous learning into meaningful, engaging experiences across teaching modalities.