This last week (January 8-10, 2025) I had the great privilege of attending for third time, the ITLC (International Teaching Learning Cooperative) Lilly Conference in San Diego. The theme for this year’s conference was “Teaching for Active & Engaged Learning” with subthemes that presented strategies and research on various topics such as: Assessment, Feedback, Ungrading, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Experiential Learning, Course Design & Instructional Methods, AI & Chat GPT, and more.
While I attended quite a few excellent sessions during the conference, a few really made an impression on my thinking. One such session was Creating Space for Rest in Class Sessions and Course Structure by our own VU colleague Kerry Moore. In her session, Kerry reminded us that pausing to rest and reflect during a class session allows students to consolidate learning, formulate questions, regulate emotions, and prepare for the next period of focused attention. She also pointed out that these principles can also be applied to the overall course structure by thinking creatively about assignment scheduling, email/ communication practices, and varied learning activities. Kerry helped us put these things into practice immediately as we took brief moments of rest during the session.
Another excellent session was Leveraging Generative AI to Improve Your Teaching by Harvard University professor Dan Levy. Levy, co-author of the book Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT (I highly recommend you purchase and use this book as you experiment with AI), presented practical, actionable strategies for integrating AI into our teaching during this very interactive session. Similar strategies were presented in my Spark Session AI for Flexible Courses at the beginning of the Fall 2024 term. For those concerned with student use of AI, check out the How to Foster Academic Integrity series on the Teaching and Learning website.
How to Get your Students to Come to Class Prepared, a session facilitated by Bob Gillette of the University of Kentucky, proposed that getting students to come to class prepared will require a different approach to course design. He presented an interactive teaching and learning model that uses Class Preparation Assignments (CPAs)—graded guided reading assignments before each class session, to prepare students for meaningful conversations in class.
This year’s conference was incredible as always. I had great conversations with my peers, and made new friends that I hope to collaborate with in the near future. I would encourage all faculty, from all disciplines, to consider joining me next year at this inspiring conference.
