Teaching & Learning Innovation (TLI) hosts several events throughout the academic year to provide professional development opportunities for all University of Tennessee faculty.
Calendar of Events, Spring 2026
Advance Your Scholarship at the 2-Day Writing Challenge
Tuesday, January 13 & Wednesday, January 14
9:00 am – 1:30 pm | Denbo Center (Cherokee Mills)
The 2-Day Writing Challenge on January 13–14 at the Denbo Center (Cherokee Mills). There will be structured writing time and opportunities for collaborative reflection and connection with colleagues across campus. This retreat offers faculty a dedicated, distraction-free space to make meaningful progress advancing their work.
Register by January 6 at tiny.utk.edu/WritingChallenge to connect with faculty in a supportive environment. Space is limited to 30 participants. Questions? Contact Amy Gilliland at amygill@utk.edu.
The event is sponsored by the Office of Community Engagement and Outreach is proud to collaborate with the Denbo Center for Humanities & the Arts, Teaching and Learning Innovation, and the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center.
Spring Syllabus Together: Design the Course You’ve Always Imagined through Community
Thursday, January 15, 2026
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm | SU 169
Before the semester kicks into high gear, join fellow faculty for a collaborative afternoon. Spring Syllabus Together brings together three kinds of expertise:
- Faculty Consultants from Teaching & Learning Innovation
- Experts from OIT and Digital Learning
- Your faculty peers from across campus
*This is a drop-in event. No registration required.
*Hosted by TLI in collaboration with OIT & Digital Learning.
Cultivating AI Literacy in Online Courses
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm | Zoom
*This series is funded by The College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences’ “Elevate Your Work” grant, in collaboration with Teaching & Learning Innovation.
Lifelong Learning Book Club & Digital Learning Book Club
Thursday, February 5
Zoom
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Digital Learning, the Department of Psychology, the UT Libraries, and TLI invite you to participate in the spring book club. The title we are reading is The Opposite of Cheating by Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger.
The Opposite of Cheating presents a positive, forward-looking, research-backed vision for what classroom integrity can look like in the GenAI era, both in cyberspace and on campus. Accordingly, the book outlines workable measures that teachers can use to better understand why students cheat and to prevent it, while enhancing learning and integrity.
*The author, Tricia Gallant, will join our discussion on March 20.
AI for Faculty Productivity: Local AI for FERPA and Productivity & Faculty Tools for Teaching and Productivity
Monday, February 9, 2026
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm | Zoom
*This series is funded by The College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences’ “Elevate Your Work” grant, in collaboration with Teaching & Learning Innovation.
Faculty Appreciation Luncheon
Thursday, February 12
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Haslam Business Building, 501
Join us for our annual Faculty Appreciation Luncheon, where we recognize our faculty members’ hard work and dedication and express our gratitude for their contributions to our academic community.
Registration TBA
Building Your Own AI Research Assistant Using Open-Sourced Cyberinfrastructure
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm | Zoom
AI Ethics: Can We? Should We? Navigating Ethical Dilemmas of AI in Higher Education
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Zoom
Evidence-Based Leadership Development Symposium
Symposium:
Thursday, February 16
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm | Student Union, Rm. 377
Reception:
5:15 pm – 6:30 pm | Saloon 16 Restaurant
You are invited to the Evidence-Based Leadership Development Symposium hosted by the Jones Center for Leadership and Service (JCLS), Leadership Studies, Teaching and Learning Innovation, and the Office of Community Engagement and Outreach.
This year’s symposium featuresDr. Keyhan Shams.
Dr. Shams is a research assistant professor in the Staley School of Leadership at Kansas State University and oversees the direction of the Third Floor Research Initiative, a partnership between the Staley School of Leadership and the Kansas Leadership Center.
Dr. Shams will share insights from his work on the Adaptive Leadership Behavior, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Awareness scales. These scales have been developed to measure adaptive leadership capacity in civic and organizational contexts.
The focus of the session will be on a global network of scholars and practitioners who are leveraging evidence-based leadership learning to measure the impact of leadership development in civic and organizational contexts through the Global Leadership, Effectiveness, Adaptability, and Dynamics (GLEAD) Assessment and Research Database.
This session will include a presentation by Dr. Shams and be followed by a small-group discussion about how UT, Knoxville, can advance evidence-based leadership development and community engagement.
RSVP is required here: Evidence-Based Leadership Development Symposium – Fill out form
What brings us joy in teaching and learning? How can we create more of it across the educational experience? This year’s conference invites faculty, researchers, practitioners, students, and educational partners to reflect on and share the moments, practices, and ideas that make their work meaningful and energizing. We welcome proposals that explore teaching and learning as joyful, evolving practices, grounded in purpose and driven by care, curiosity, and innovation. We are interested in how joy informs and transforms your approach, whatever your role, context, or contribution to the educational experience. Join us as we reimagine education not just as a system or profession, but as a vibrant, human-centered pursuit, rich with purpose, connection, and possibility. Learn more about the ITLC Conference Digital Learning, the Department of Psychology, the UT Libraries, and TLI invite you to participate in the spring book club. The title we are reading is The Opposite of Cheating by Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger. The Opposite of Cheating presents a positive, forward-looking, research-backed vision for what classroom integrity can look like in the GenAI era, both in cyberspace and on campus. Accordingly, the book outlines workable measures that teachers can use to better understand why students cheat and to prevent it, while enhancing learning and integrity. *The author, Tricia Gallant, will join our discussion on March 20. Digital Learning, the Department of Psychology, the UT Libraries, and TLI invite you to participate in the spring book club. The title we are reading is The Opposite of Cheating by Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger. The Opposite of Cheating presents a positive, forward-looking, research-backed vision for what classroom integrity can look like in the GenAI era, both in cyberspace and on campus. Accordingly, the book outlines workable measures that teachers can use to better understand why students cheat and to prevent it, while enhancing learning and integrity. *The author, Tricia Gallant, will join our discussion.Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference
Teaching and Learning with Joy: Purpose, Connection, and Possibility
Thursday, March 26, 2026
8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Zoom
Lifelong Learning Book Club
Thursday, March 5
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Zoom
Designing GenAI-Enhanced Educational Media with Google AI Studio
Thursday, March 5, 2026
10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Zoom
Lifelong Learning Book Club
Thursday, March 20
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Zoom
Integral Education: A Building Block to Purpose, Connection, and Possibility in Teaching
Wednesday, April 15
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Zoom