Agenda Day 1

Breakfast: 8:30 – 9:00

Catered by Palm & Pine

Welcome: 9:05 – 9:20

The Art of Courageous Teaching: Discovering Joy and Adventure in Higher Education: 9:25 – 10:25

Panelists: Kevin Yee, Ph.D., Angela Lindner, Ph.D., Claudia Cornejo Happel, Ph.D., Ed.S., Todd Zakrajsek, Ph.D., and Jasmine McNealy, Ph.D.

Moderator: Alexandra Bitton-Bailey, Ph.D.

Breakout Session A: 10:35 – 11:25

For breakout session details view the accordions below.

Breakout Session B: 11:35 – 12:25 

For breakout session details view the accordions below.

Lunch: 12:30 – 1:20

Catered by Palm & Pine

Keynote: 1:25 – 2:25

Teaching Through the Tempest: Taking Risks, Finding Purpose, and Creating Joy Through Pedagogy in Challenging Times

Kate McConnell, Ph.D.

Today, it feels as if we are teaching through a storm. Budget cuts, cultural polarization, and uncertainty about the very future of higher education swirl around us daily. It would be easy—maybe even rational—to hunker down, closing the proverbial door to hide in our individual offices and classrooms, positioning teaching as simply one more obligation in an impossibly long list. But what if this moment demands something different? What if the storm itself calls us toward pedagogical courage rather than caution? Toward collaboration and cocreation of generative learning spaces with our colleagues and our students? Toward a new, more cogent sense of the value of a college degree? This keynote explores teaching as vocation—not in some romanticized sense, but as a deliberate choice to find meaning, collaboration, connection, and even joy in our work with students despite (and perhaps because of) the challenges we face. Drawing on stories of pedagogical risk-taking and innovation, we'll consider how reimagining our teaching praxis and scholarship can renew our sense of purpose and create the conditions for genuine learning. Together, we'll examine what it means to teach with intention and integrity, and why doing so matters now more than ever.

Resource Fair: 2:25 – 3:35

Breakout Session C: 3:40 – 4:45

30 minute sessions. Please note these breakout sessions have two workshops per room in the given timeframe with break to change rooms. For breakout session details view the accordions below.

Closing: 4:50 – 5:00

What Counts as Evidence?

Presenter(s): Monika Oli, PhD, Soohyoun Ahn, Tonika Jones, Sebastian Galindo, Grady Roberts, Chris Sharp

Room: 2315

Artificial intelligence is rapidly being integrated into higher education, often accompanied by strong claims about improved learning, engagement, and critical thinking. From an evaluation and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) perspective. However, many AI-enabled teaching efforts face a familiar challenge: studies are under-designed, key constructs remain implicit, and critical data are never collected. When evaluation is treated as an afterthought, even well-intentioned innovations yield weak or inconclusive evidence, not because learning cannot be measured, but because the study design does not support meaningful interpretation.
This session begins with evaluators and data analysts, asking a foundational question: What evidence is needed to assess learning, and how must a study be designed to produce it? Panelists examine how early decisions, defining learning goals, articulating constructs such as scientific and critical thinking, selecting comparison groups, and identifying data sources, shape what can and cannot be meaningfully measured. Common flaws are surfaced explicitly, including overreliance on simple pre–post designs, poorly defined outcomes, and unexamined assumptions.

Scientists integrating AI into their courses then ground the discussion in classroom practice. Using prompt writing as a central example, the panel contrasts simple and more explicit, iterative prompts to show how different designs reveal—or obscure—evidence of reasoning and metacognitive engagement. The session emphasizes that assessing learning, especially with AI, is complex and requires intentional, evidence-informed design.

Leveraging AI for Simulated Encounters and Tailored Content Delivery in Healthcare Education

Presenter(s): Michael Hodges PT, DPT, MHS, OCS, Shakeel Ahmed PT, PhD

Room: 2320

The transition from classroom instruction to clinical practice presents a significant challenge for Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students, particularly in mastering the nuances of the subjective examination and patient communication. Additionally, students often must manage large amounts of information across numerous courses which may not be presented in ways that "fit" their unique learning styles. This presentation explores some of the unique approaches to integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) being utilized in the University of Florida’s DPT program.

The first approach is implementation of AI patient simulations through UF Navigator. These simulations allow students to engage in high quality, low-stakes interviews which provide a safe environment to practice these skills while receiving immediate, objective feedback on their communication style. The second approach will demonstrate the use of UF Navigator Notebook (Notebook LM) to create a source-based AI learning environment. By utilizing AI interactions specifically procured from course material such as syllabi, research papers, and lecture notes, students can transform a wide array of material into personalized study formats such as interactive queries, audio and video overviews, customized flashcards, and quizzes that align with their unique learning preferences.
Attendees will leave this session with a practical framework for utilizing these accessible AI tools to foster personalized instruction and better prepare students for the complexities of patient care.

Lights, Camera, Teach! Recording Strategies for Studio and At-Home Recordings

Presenter(s): Brenda Such, Ph.D., Andrew Feigum, Becky Pusta, Ami Blasberg, Isaiah Fetterman

Room: 2325

Need additional support recording lectures in the studio, at home, or across both environments? This session is designed for instructors wanting to improve the quality and effectiveness of their recorded lectures for online courses.

In the session, two specialized groups from the COIP Video Team will focus on best practices for a specific recording environment. For studio-based recordings, a production specialist and production manager will share techniques designed to help instructors feel confident, comfortable, and energized on camera. Topics include physical and vocal warm-up exercises to build stamina, pacing strategies that reduce fatigue during longer recording sessions, and performance tips for delivering content effectively to a camera rather than a live classroom. Instructors will also explore ways to actively engage with their presentation materials while recording—using slides, visuals, or on-screen annotations as conversational cues—to support a more dynamic and natural delivery.

For instructors recording remotely, multimedia specialists will demonstrate practical, easy-to-implement setup and delivery strategies for at-home recording. This portion of the session covers optimizing lighting, audio, and camera placement; effectively sharing screens during lectures; and using notes as a teleprompter while maintaining natural eye contact with the webcam. These techniques are designed to help instructors record independently with confidence while producing high-quality, professional content. Whether you are new to lecture recording or looking to refine your approach, this session offers adaptable strategies and actionable tips to support recordings—both in the studio and at home.

Making Spaces Click: Building Virtual Learning Adventures

Presenter(s): Georgette Kluiters, Allyson Fleischer

Room: 2330

This hands-on session introduces Thinglink, an interactive platform that transforms 360° media into immersive learning experiences. Participants discover how Thinglink can create engaging, accessible, and scalable virtual learning environments across the entire educational journey. From immersive onboarding resources to experiential classroom content and virtual field trips, Thinglink allows educators to simulate real-world scenarios and deepen student engagement.
Participants explore how features such as interactive multimedia, adaptive exploration pathways, and embedded assessments can promote self-directed learning. Thinglink’s interactive features, including clickable tags, embedded quizzes, and analytics, provide immediate feedback and insight into student engagement, supporting data-informed teaching decisions in courses of any size.
After an introduction to 360° cameras and the Thinglink platform, participants record multimedia content and collaboratively create a basic interactive Thinglink experience to develop hands-on familiarity with the platform. Activities follow a choose-your-own-adventure approach, with participants selecting between designing virtual tours of campus facilities or experimenting with Thinglink’s interactive features to suit their instructional goals, such as virtual lab demonstrations, field expeditions, or interactive diagrams.
The session emphasizes practical strategies for designing virtual learning environments across educational contexts. By the end of the session, participants leave with access to a ThingLink account, a clear understanding of the required technology for capturing and stitching images, and hands-on experience building virtual environments.
Participants gain concrete ideas for implementing interactive virtual environments within their own roles, whether as instructors, advisors, or administrators, along with access to curated templates and resources to support continued creation of engaging, interactive educational content.

Panel: Interdisciplinary Safe AI Curriculum

Presenter(s): Ivan Ruchkin, PhD, Sonja Schmer-Galunder, PhD, Bryan Cwik, Hans van Oostrom, Duncan Purves

Room: 2335

Truly interdisciplinary education in AI is currently underrepresented at UF. For example, AI Ethics is taught at the college of law, engineering, philosophy, and business, but these colleges are often working in silos, providing education through the lens of their respective disciplines, when students could be given a more holistic education on highly relevant topics.

This panel will discuss and address the following questions:

-What are the institutional barriers to truly interdisciplinary AI education?
-How can we overcome these barriers?
-What pedagogical approaches effectively bridge technical and humanistic perspectives on AI?
-How can we prepare students to work in teams where engineers, ethicists, lawyers, and policymakers must collaborate?

Panelists from engineering, law, liberal arts, and medicine will share experiences teaching AI-related courses within their colleges and reflect on missed opportunities for cross-pollination. We will present emerging interdisciplinary programs for AI Safety, one of the most pressing topics in AI education.

Let's Get Technical - Tech Tools for Instructors

Presenter(s): Anchalee Phataralaoha, MA, MEd, Tammy Barber, MEd, Hongyan Yang, PhD

Room: 2340

Explore UF-approved and freely available tools to improve teaching in both online and in-person environments. This session will first demonstrate how LinkedIn Learning empowers instructors through curated learning paths, the curator role, AI-driven tools, and content mapping services. Learn practical approaches for integrating personalized content, leveraging AI for skill development, and utilizing practice exams to prepare students for industry certifications—maximizing student engagement and success.

We’ll also introduce Microsoft Clipchamp, a free, beginner-friendly video editing tool that integrates with Microsoft 365. Clipchamp allows instructors to easily create, edit, and share high-quality videos using an intuitive, browser-based interface—no advanced technical skills required. We will introduce the essential video editing features such as trimming and splitting clips, adding text, audio, transitions, background music, and captions.

Finally, discover Copilot Teach and NaviGator Notebook, two AI-powered solutions designed to help with course design and content creation. Copilot Teach generates lesson plans, rubrics, quizzes, and study aids, while NaviGator Notebook allows users to upload their own materials to create podcasts, videos, slide decks, study guides, and quizzes. Both tools improve AI accuracy by grounding outputs in trusted sources.

Join us to learn how these tools can improve your instructional approach, increase course design efficiency, and create engaging learning experiences for students.

Agents and Wizards: Writing with AI

Presenter(s): Emily K. Bald, PhD, Mickey Schafer, Ph.D.

Room: 2315

In this session, we offer a new framework to help faculty across disciplines rethink the meaning of *agency* in human-AI collaboration, both in their classes and in their disciplines. We’ll begin by briefly discussing our process of designing a student-facing AI literacy module—and our shift from focusing strictly on technical skills to addressing the importance of human agency in the AI era. After providing a framework for conceptualizing agency and operator-AI relationships, and after discussing what Ethan Mollick calls “the wizard problem,” we’ll invite participants to reflect on 1) what agency means today in their disciplines and 2) how they can incorporate AI into one of their assignments while supporting the key learning outcomes.

Building Collaborative Practice Through Interprofessional Simulation

Presenter(s): Becky Piazza, OTD, MS, OTR/L, BCPR, Truly Hardemon, M.Ed, Angela Cao, OTD

Room: 2320

Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) students and Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) students participated in a cutting-edge lab, focused on hands-on practice with standardized clients. Licensed occupational therapy and physical therapy practitioners served as these standardized clients, allowing students to practice real-life collaborative patient care. Built upon the IPEC (Interprofessional Education Collaborative) framework, the presentation will explore how shared decision making, collaboration, and role clarity were fostered between therapeutic disciplines through experiential learning. Faculty from UF and Santa Fe College collaborated to deliver this innovative experience. Attendees will learn about the structure, outcomes, and educational impact of the lab, emphasizing practical strategies to enhance teamwork and professional skills. The IPE program included three components: (1) an educational module, (2) a simulation lab, and (3) a debriefing session. The educational module outlined learning objectives and provided content on professional roles, responsibilities, and case studies. The simulation lab was conducted at an inpatient rehabilitation hospital to replicate a real-world setting. Students were assigned to interprofessional groups and provided with a case study in advance. Each group worked with a standardized client portrayed by an therapist who had been informed of the case and lab procedures. Groups participated in a 50-minute patient care session focused on mobility and safety, emphasizing shared decision-making and communication. The session concluded with a structured debrief, where students reflected with the therapist and as a group on their collaboration, roles, and teamwork. These methods allowed quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the program’s impact on interprofessional competencies and perceptions.

Connecting the World in Online Classrooms: Innovative Practices for Large-Enrollment Asynchronous Online Courses

Presenter(s): Soohyoun (Soo) Ahn, Ph.D., Paloma Rodriguez, Ph.D., Larisa Olesova, Ph.D., Feihong Wang, Ph.D.

Room: 2325

How can large-enrollment asynchronous online courses create authentic global learning experiences? This panel brings together three educators from education, food science, and psychology who have successfully integrated global perspectives into courses enrolling 100 to 500 students. Through strategies such as culturally responsive assignments, digital storytelling, AI-enhanced projects, and collaborative global activities, the panelists will illustrate how online classrooms can foster intercultural engagement and global awareness. The discussion will guide participants to identify challenges and opportunities unique to asynchronous formats, examine innovative practices that promote global learning across disciplines, and consider design principles for creating scalable and inclusive experiences. Emphasis will be placed on approaches that encourage meaningful interaction, critical reflection, and cultural exchange despite the constraints of time and space. Attendees will gain evidence-based insights and practical examples to inform the development of globally connected online learning environments that transcend disciplinary and geographic boundaries while supporting student engagement and success.

Global Policy, Local Lives: Leveraging Virtual Exchange to Teach Comparative Education

Presenter(s): Taryrn Brown, Oluyemisi Oladejo, Beatrice Rogers

Room: 2330

Global Policy, Local Lives: Leveraging Virtual Exchange to Teach Comparative Education examines how virtual exchange can serve as an innovative pedagogical approach for teaching international and comparative education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This session positions virtual exchange as a critical learning infrastructure that can connect students across national and institutional boundaries to examine how educational policies are produced, interpreted, and experienced within local contexts. Drawing on reflective narratives and artifacts from both virtual exchange facilitators and participating students, this session foregrounds how virtual exchange supports dialogic, relational, and critically reflective learning. Facilitator reflections illuminate instructional design choices, pedagogical tensions, and the affordances of virtual exchange for teaching complex policy concepts across contexts. Student reflections highlight increased comparative consciousness, strengthened policy literacy, and deeper appreciation for how global policies are lived and contested locally. Together, these voices demonstrate how virtual exchange moves learners beyond abstract policy analysis toward ethically grounded, context-responsive understandings of education, while fostering reciprocal learning, empathy, and sustained global engagement.

More than a lecture: Designing instruction in undergraduate courses for motivation, engagement, and connection

Presenter(s): Shelley Therien, M.Ed.

Room: 2335

Attendance in undergraduate courses is a pressing concern for instructors. For the students who are present, they seem disengaged and disconnected, preferring to attend to devices rather than actively participate in class. Instructors, on the other hand, assume the role of lecturers, facilitating class sessions with passive learners. This session offers an opportunity to rethink undergraduate courses by designing instruction that motivates students to come to class, engage in learning, and connect with the instructor and peers.
This presentation is based on my work as an instructor of undergraduate students studying Elementary Education. As an instructor, I design two- and three-hour morning sessions that have translated to strong attendance, favorable GatorEvals, and meaningful relationships with students that extend beyond one semester. My course design is guided by practitioner inquiry (Dana et al., 2025) grounded in theories of motivation (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Maslow, 1943; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Some of my instructional practices include “Check Ins” at the start of class, in which students express their mood, make connections to pre-class readings, and answer questions that break the ice and build classroom community. We often recognize current events with dress up days and class themes, and I design instruction to include various grouping structures and response methods. These practices and more will be discussed in the 30-minute session, with interactive activities that will provide the audience with actionable strategies for teaching undergraduate students.

From Purpose to Practice: Leveraging the Gators for Good Network to Enhance Student Learning Outcomes

Presenter(s): Alyson Rodriguez, M.Ed., Kennedy Struck, James Agan, Sarah Blanc, M.Ed.

Room: 2340

This interactive conference session introduces participants to the Gators for Good Network as a scalable model for integrating community engagement, service-learning, leadership development, and experiential learning into academic contexts. The session opens with a reflection on current engagement and assessment practices. Facilitators will showcase how to leverage the Gators for Good Network and its adaptability for individuals seeking structured, high-impact ways to connect curricular goals with community-based learning. Participants will explore four concise case studies—Path to Purpose, BCLS Site Leader Training, LeadUF, and Florida Alternative Breaks (FAB)—highlighting distinct approaches to leadership development, student engagement, and learning assessment. Participants will leave with practical ideas and resources for implementing community-engaged learning in academic settings

Voice-Based AI Simulations: Designing Authentic Communication Practice for Students

Presenter(s): Brandon Heinz, PhD, Chris Egan, Oliver Grundmann, Ph.D., FAACT, FCP

Room: Ballroom

Through a combination of pilot data, student feedback, and interprofessional collaboration our team is iteratively designing quality virtual learning experiences for pharmacy students at the University of Florida. Partnering with an AI company, we created a customizable patient simulator for pharmacy students to interact with in a variety of scenarios. Unlike most AI tools, which rely on text-based interaction, our implementation leverages a voice-based AI interface to closely mirror authentic clinical communication. We have collaborated with pharmacy experts to create custom case studies which can be implemented within Canvas courses for students to easily and repeatedly practice their interactions with simulated patients. Feedback and transcripts are automatically generated at the end of each student interaction by the AI program and can be used for formative assessment and guidance of students.

The challenges experienced by our team’s Instructional Designers in developing a private company’s platform to tailor it to a higher education environment for quality virtual learning experiences has yielded valuable insights into the interplay between product development and student learning needs.  Based on student feedback after pilot implementation, our team has adjusted to the evolving needs of students to make the simulation more authentic and user friendly which has led to a new version of the simulation to implement in future courses. With lessons learned from the initial pilot implementation of the AI tool, we look to use the tool to expand on research into the efficacy of an AI simulation of pharmaceutical case studies in graduate pharmacy education.

Beyond Grading: Transforming the Teaching Assistant (TA) Role

Presenter(s): Ezmarelda Humphrey, Katrina Alford, Ph.D.

Room: 2315

With the pressing demands among faculty to conduct work beyond the classroom, Teaching Assistants (TAs) are often an underutilized resource. Traditionally used for grading and possible group discussion, TAs have the potential to step beyond these roles and provide support services in a variety of ways. Join us for a discussion of how we can utilize adult learning theories (Grow’s, Transformational Learning, and Cognitive Apprenticeship) and Kram’s Mentorship Model to transform the traditional TA role. A student intern’s experience will guide the discussion as we follow their journey to self-direction.

 

Designing an Experiential Learning Internship on Recreational Reading to Develop Undergraduate Research Skills

Presenter(s): Patricia Takacs, Hélène Huet, Lisa Campbell

Room: 2320
1st

How can faculty use experiential learning to build research skills and foster student well-being? This session explores an internship model that answers that question. In Spring 2026, we designed a research-based internship that immersed an undergraduate student in the full research process, from conducting a literature review to designing focus groups, collecting data, and synthesizing findings into a professional report. Our goal as a research team was to understand the connection between recreational reading and wellbeing among our students, with the intern's learning experience serving as the priority of the project.

Through this hands-on experience, the intern developed essential skills in research design, data analysis, and academic writing, all skills that will assist them in future internships, graduate study, and their career. The project also deepened the intern’s understanding of the Libraries’ recreational reading collections and how these resources align with student needs and national trends. These insights informed recommendations for future library programming and outreach efforts.

Beyond research skills, the experience built transferable skills in communication, critical thinking, and project management, providing a solid foundation for our intern’s professional growth in academic or applied research settings. More broadly, the recommendations gained through the internship will support individual and community health and wellness by positioning recreational reading as a tool for stress relief, social connection, and mental health support. Faculty attending the session will gain practical strategies for creating research opportunities that align with student wellbeing.

 

From Brainstorm to Presentation: Best Practices for Engaging Project-Based Learning

Presenter(s): Bala ‘Saba’ Rathinasabapathi, Ph.D.

Room: 2325

Plant breeding is a creative activity culminating in new cultivars of useful plants. The instructor teaches a course titled "Genetics and Breeding of Vegetable Crops" using project-based teaching method where students are asked to brainstorm, develop, execute individual projects under the guidance of the instructor. The students then make presentations at the end of the course describing what they achieved. Via this approach, the course creates an environment where the students are challenged and motivated with ideas for new products and provides them with real-world expereince in executing the projects. Experiences from this innovative approach have identified specific aspects that were positive and some that were negative. This presentation will discuss these aspects and propose best practices for student engagement via project-based learning.

 

Building Career-Ready Skills Through Global Collaboration: A Framework for International Learning

Presenter(s): Maria Laura Mecias, Ph.D., Erika Brooke, Ph.D., Sonia San Juan

Room: 2330

Step into the world of purposeful Virtual Exchange (VE) where global collaboration meets career readiness. This session shows how intentionally designed VE goes beyond connecting students internationally; it actively builds the skills employers seek. Drawing from three courses, presenters demonstrate how VE activities develop communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and technology skills while fostering intercultural competence essential for today’s workforce. Attendees will explore concrete examples of VE activities mapped directly to NACE competencies, illustrating how global collaboration can be integrated across disciplines. A practical “how-to” framework equips participants to design their own purposeful exchanges. Real student outcomes and evaluation feedback highlight measurable academic, professional, and intercultural impacts, providing a clear model for replication.

 

AI-assisted experiential learning

Presenter: Zhiyong Cheng

Room: 2335

AI tools have been increasingly utilized at workplaces. However, recent studies revealed a significant gap between the need and availability of college graduates who know how AI works and how to use AI tools. This session will discuss experiential learning via AI-assisted citizen science (ELAICS), engaging students to use AI tools for scientific inquiry and development of lay-term videos to educate the communities. A guiding module for Credential, Collaboration, and Creation (shortened as “CCC” guiding module) will also be discussed to facilitate effective and responsible use of AI.

 

Designing for Choice and Trust: Using Differentiated Assignments to Build Relationships in Mixed-Experience Courses

Presenter(s): Rui Huang

Room: 2340

This session explores how differentiated assignment design can be used as a relationship-building strategy in courses with diverse learner backgrounds and prior experiences. Grounded in Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and scaffolding theory, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, and learning experience design (LXD) approach, this innovative instructional design and teaching project presents a transferable framework that emphasizes choice, transparency, and learner agency.

The session uses a Programming Foundations course as a concrete example, while focusing on instructional design rather than disciplinary content. Students in the course enter with widely varying levels of prior experience, confidence, and professional context. Guided by the LXD approach, the instructional design was informed by pre-course surveys capturing learner backgrounds and expectations, as well as periodic learning reflections used to collect student feedback throughout the course. These inputs shaped the design of multi-level assignments aligned to shared learning objectives for each module, allowing students to engage at different depths while working toward common outcomes.

The presenter will examine how this design supports inclusive learning environments and reshapes instructor–student and peer relationships by reducing anxiety, clarifying expectations, and validating different starting points. A sample assignment will illustrate how the three levels are constructed and how the structure supports more productive and equitable learning experiences.

During the session, participants will be invited to reflect on how differentiated assignment structures grounded in ZPD, scaffolding, UDL, and LXD can be applied in their own teaching contexts to foster trust, inclusion, and engagement in mixed-experience courses.

 

 

 

Reclaiming Connection: Engaging Distracted Learners in the Age of AI

Presenter(s): Shashank Santosh

Room: Ballroom

Student attention is not disappearing — it is fluctuating. In the age of AI and constant digital distraction, sustaining engagement requires more than energy and content expertise. It requires intentional design. This session explores how faculty can structure the beginning, middle, and end of class to better manage cognitive load, sustain attention, and strengthen student persistence. Drawing on learning science and classroom-tested strategies, we examine how pacing, micro-interactions, real-time feedback, and metacognitive framing create environments where students participate actively rather than passively consume information.

Participants will leave with practical strategies for:
-Designing attention-aware lectures
-Building community and accountability around engagement
-Using formative assessment to close equity gaps
-Extending learning beyond class to promote self-regulated learning

This session is interactive and designed to model the engagement techniques it discusses.

Mentorship by Design: Developing Mentoring as a Teachable Skill

Presenter(s): May Mansy, Roza Vaez Ghaemi

Room: 2315

Mentoring is often assumed to be an innate or informally acquired ability rather than a skill that can be intentionally taught. This session reframes mentorship as a teachable, learnable, and assessable competency and demonstrates how structured mentor preparation can enhance both faculty-led programs and student development initiatives. Using the BMEntor program as a case example, the session highlights a training-based mentorship model implemented within an undergraduate engineering context in the Biomedical Engineering department at UF.

Participants will be introduced to key design elements of BMEntor, including explicit mentor training modules, alignment of expectations, guided reflection, and intentional program close-out.  Emphasis will be placed on integrating mentorship training into existing courses, peer programs, or co-curricular structures without increasing faculty workload or administrative complexity.
This 30-minute breakout is designed for faculty, staff, students, and academics seeking scalable approaches to strengthen mentoring practices that support student success and professional development.

Learning ObjectivesBy the end of the session, participants will be able to:
-Describe mentorship as a teachable skill with definable learning outcomes.
-Identify core components of a structured mentor training model.
-Apply at least one strategy for embedding mentor preparation into faculty- or student-facing programs.

 

Beyond the Textbook: Using Digital Tools to Bring Real-World Cultural Experiences into the Humanities Classroom

Presenter(s): Philip Allen

Room: 2320

Humanities-discipline courses often ask students to engage with cultures, histories, and artistic traditions that are geographically distant or temporally removed from their own lived experiences. Digital tools now make it possible to bridge this gap by offering students immersive, authentic encounters with real-world materials without requiring travel, specialized equipment, or paid subscriptions.

This 30-minute session demonstrates how freely available digital tools, such as virtual museum tours, Google Earth, digitized archives, and interactive mapping platforms, can be strategically integrated into humanities instruction to enhance engagement, socio-cultural literacy, and critical thinking. Drawing on examples from language, history, literature, and cultural studies classrooms, the presenter will showcase concrete lesson designs that transform static content into hands-on learning opportunities.

Participants will explore how virtual museum collections (e.g., The Louvre, Museo del Prado, Smithsonian), Google Earth Voyager stories, and open-access cultural archives can be used for tasks such as guided visual analysis, narrative reconstruction, comparative cultural inquiry, and student-generated projects. The session emphasizes pedagogical alignment: demonstrating how these tools support learning objectives, foster interpretive skills, and encourage student agency rather than technology for technology’s sake.

Attendees will leave with ready-to-use activity templates, examples of scaffolded assignments, and strategies for adapting these tools across disciplines and course levels. The session also briefly addresses accessibility considerations and assessment strategies to ensure meaningful implementation for a wide array of learners.

 

Building Rapport in Minutes: How Personal Touches Transform Learning

Presenter(s): Jessica Huston, PharmD

Room: 2325

Building meaningful connections in the classroom doesn’t have to require elaborate activities or additional workload. This interactive session will explore how small, intentional gestures can create a warm, supportive learning environment that fosters student engagement and belonging. While many educators seek ways to connect with students beyond course content, the reality of competing demands and heavy workloads often makes additional engagement strategies feel overwhelming. Research suggests that rapport-building during instruction can positively influence student motivation and participation.

Our approach introduces a simple, sustainable practice: sharing one personal detail at the start of class through a “pupdate”—a brief, lighthearted update accompanied by a photo of a pet. These moments of authenticity humanize the instructor, spark conversation, and create a sense of community without detracting from instructional time. Over time, students began contributing their own pupdates, transforming the practice into a shared experience that strengthened classroom relationships.

This session will highlight the evolution of this strategy, share examples of student feedback and course evaluations, and discuss its impact on engagement and connection. Participants will leave with practical ideas for incorporating low-effort, high-impact personal touches into their own teaching. By demonstrating that engagement can be as simple as a photo and a story, we aim to inspire faculty to embrace small steps that make a big difference in student-centered learning.

 

From Local to Global: Using Collaborative Media Production to Build Student Skills Across Cultures

Presenter(s): Dr. Jamie Loizzo, Pablo Lamino

Room: 2330

Fields & Futuro is a cross-institutional virtual exchange (VE) that connects University of Florida students in Agricultural Education and Communication (AEC) with faculty and student peers at Zamorano University in Honduras. Designed with global learning frameworks and project-based learning (PjBL) pedagogy, the project followed three phases including: 1) an asynchronous UF-led VE with five modules for Zamorano students focused on intercultural communication and podcasting to increase science literacy (fall 2025), 2) presenter team physical travel to Zamorano to further partnerships with potential podcasts guests and contextual course materials for UF students (January 2026), and 3) UF students in a hybrid AEC course co-produced the Field y Futuro – Streaming Science podcast series on global sustainable agriculture and natural resources topics through bilingual interviews via Zoom with Zamorano experts.

This session will showcase the presenter team’s replicable model for designing engaging virtual learning experiences that combine hybrid collaboration for content learning, media production, and digital science communication. Participants will explore how the project integrates technology—Zoom, collaborative editing platforms, LMS, audio tools—to support critical skills: intercultural communication, science messaging, bilingual audio production, and virtual teamwork. Through a mix of facilitation and active participation, attendees will analyze student feedback and preliminary pre/post-assessment outcomes to understand how this approach fosters engagement, skill acquisition, and cultural competence. Educators across disciplines will gain concrete strategies and resources to implement similar virtual collaborations that prioritize cultural responsiveness, scalability, and immersive learning. AEC department seed funding supported the project.

 

Generative AI in Higher Education: Instructor Experiences and Support Needs

Presenter(s): Swapna Kumar, Ed.D., Chris Egan, M.Ed., NRP, CHSE, Margeaux Johnson, Ariel Gunn, Ed.D.

Room: 2335

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies are increasingly being adopted in higher education institutions, and instructors are challenged with integrating GenAI in their teaching while ensuring student learning of disciplinary content and skills. Although GenAI technologies can be helpful to instructors for productivity, class preparation, creative assessments and problem solving, major concerns about academic integrity, privacy, student over-reliance and inappropriate use remain.

We will present the results of our study about how instructors are integrating GenAI across disciplines in various courses and what support they perceive as useful. The sequential mixed-method research design included an initial instructor survey (N=32) about their use of AI in their teaching, followed by semi-structured interviews with instructors about their experiences integrating AI into their courses.
The presentation discussion will provide insight into the design and implementation of activities using GenAI, any challenges faced by instructors, and how they can be supported by higher education institutions.

 

Leveling Up Learning: Gamification Strategies for End-of-Semester Engagement

Presenter(s): Clarissa Carr, Ph.D.

Room: 2340

How can we transform the stress of end-of-semester evaluations into an opportunity for creativity, collaboration, and joy? This session explores how gamification can reframe final course activities to foster engagement and positive classroom dynamics. Drawing from two courses, Explorations in Historic Preservation (undergraduate) and Heritage Design Communication (graduate), I will share how students participated in immersive, game-based experiences as their culminating projects. In the first course, students played Town and Gown, a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired role-playing game where they created character profiles and applied knowledge from case studies. In the second, students competed in a Taskmaster-style challenge, revisiting research conducted earlier in the semester through playful, creative tasks. Both approaches integrated light AI elements for generating prompts and enhancing game design.

Gamification at this critical point in the semester encouraged team bonding, reduced stress, and reinforced learning outcomes in a memorable way. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for designing gamified activities that align with course objectives and promote student agency.