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2025 TLI Leadership Teaching & Learning Schedule: Home

2025 TLI Leadership Track Schedule

 

2025 Teaching & Leadership Institute

Teaching & Learning Track


Monday, June 2, 2025  

1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Clayton Center Grand Corridor
Participant Check-in

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Anderson Hall 210

Opening Session: Introductions, Ground Rules, & Goals for the Week

Adapting to the Needs of (Post-)Pandemic Learners

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Clayton Center Foyer
Opening Dinner & Welcome
Tuesday, June 3, 2025

7:30 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall
Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Fayerweather Hall

Keynote Joint Plenary Session:

Dr. Erin Hardin, Professor and Associate Department Head of Psychology & Director of Undergraduate Studies, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Understanding the Path to College: Insights from High School Students and the Hidden Curriculum

In her keynote, Dr. Hardin will share insights gathered over the past decade from thousands of rural East Tennessee high school students about the barriers and supports they perceive in their transition to college. We will explore the “possible selves” they dream of, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities they face as they come to our campuses. She will also link these supports and challenges before college to the concept of the “hidden curriculum” in college, its impact on student success, and what she has learned about the hidden curriculum at her own institution. 

By the end of the session, participants will have a deeper understanding of the experiences some of our students bring with them, setting the stage for deeper exploration in the sessions that follow during the week.

10:00 a.m. –10:30 a.m.

Anderson Hall 140
Break (Drinks and Snacks)

10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Concurrent Session I

Anderson 220

 

Group A:

Mariah Akridge Atwood, Assistant Professor of International Studies & Dr. Matthew Egbert, Assistant Professor of History, Campbellsville University

Active Learning: Adaptive Education and Community Building

Students in the post-pandemic era often arrive in college having missed out on some of the formative social experiences we took for granted as little as five years ago. Because of the altered learning landscape, many have had less consistent in-person interactions with both high school instructors and fellow students. Not only has this created a greater sense of loneliness and isolation, but it has also led to a unilateral classroom experience with very little active learning of student-to-student engagement. This extends outside the classroom as well, as we have seen extra-curriculars (e.g., clubs, on-campus events) suffer due to an overall lack of community.

This workshop will introduce several interdisciplinary active learning methods and idea to foster social skills and community within the classroom. Both presenters have ample experience with interactive activities that draw students out of their shells. These include historical role playing simulations, group construction of original civilizations, and more personable forms of assessment that apply course material to the individual student's unique interests. After presenting our ideas and explaining how we have applied them to our course learning objectives, we will enter the brainstorming phase, as participants divide into small groups based upon academic fields and workshop their own active learning activities. To conclude, we will reconvene to share ideas and provide feedback. Attendees will leave the session equipped to integrate students into the campus culture, both in and out of the classroom.

Anderson 240

Group B:

Dr. Jennifer Furkin, Associate Professor of Communication, Lindsey Wilson College

Communication Renovation: Rebuilding Dynamic Relationships and Skills for the Post-Pandemic Classroom

The pandemic’s shift to remote and hybrid learning left many students with underdeveloped communication skills, impacting classroom engagement and collaboration. This session offers practical strategies to rebuild these essential skills, focusing on three key areas: strengthening professor-student relationships, enhancing group collaboration, and developing presentation and delivery skills.

Participants will explore tools to foster meaningful connections through improved rapport, personalized feedback, and open dialogue, alongside techniques for promoting active listening, role clarity, and constructive conflict resolution in group work. The session also provides guidance on refining students' public speaking skills, including nonverbal communication and audience engagement.

Interactive activities—such as role-playing, guided discussions, and peer feedback—will equip educators with adaptable strategies to foster stronger relationships, more effective teamwork, and more confident public speaking. Attendees will leave with a toolkit to support students' academic, personal, and professional communication growth in today’s evolving educational landscape.

Anderson 350

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group C:

Dr. Christopher Silver, Assistant Professor of Psychology & Dr. Patrick Gauding, Assistant Professor of Politics, University of the South

Syllabus Scaffolding, Addressing Cognitive Load Among Post-Pandemic Students in Curricular Development

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, college faculty are increasingly confronting students with significant deficiencies in memory and flexible thinking skills, including reduced deductive reasoning and inferential cognitive processing abilities. With each new youth cohort, more pronounced academic performance changes have been observed in educational research. This is mainly due to the stage of development where students experienced the pandemic and the limited online school curriculum of the time. Specifically, a positive correlation exists between student performance and socioeconomic status moderated by the age of youth emerging from the pandemic (Tsai, 2024; Wathelet et al., 2022; McCabe et al., 2023; Cannon, 2023). While the research is continuing, these trends continue to emerge in the data with each new cohort of students. Further, student engagement appears to be in decline as college faculty struggle to meet these new challenges. For example, student self-reported priorities have shifted beyond scholarly goals to include an increasing need for "lifeload" management, a sense of belonging, prioritizing psychological well-being, and developing competency in technology use as part of coursework demands (Hews, McNamara, & Nay, 2022).

11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Reflection Time

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall
Lunch

1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Concurrent Session II

Anderson 220

 

Group A:

Dr. Diane Vautrot, Assistant Professor and Chair of Education & Dr. Susan Krebs, Assistant Professor of Education, Young Harris College

Adapting to the New Normal: Addressing Neurodivergent Students’ Needs Post Co-VID

As higher education institutions transition into the post-pandemic landscape, neurodivergent students—those with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety disorders, and other cognitive or sensory differences - are faced with new obstacles in navigating their academic and social lives. This workshop aims to explore the specific needs of neurodivergent college students in the post-pandemic landscape, offering insights into how institutions can better support these students as they navigate their academic and social lives.

Participants will engage with practical strategies for creating inclusive, flexible learning environments that cater to diverse cognitive and sensory needs and support both neurodivergent and neurotypical learners. Key topics will include addressing mental health concerns, building effective support networks, implementing assistive technologies, and fostering inclusive teaching practices. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the barriers neurodivergent students face, along with actionable tools and individualized support strategies to enhance their success, well-being, and sense of belonging in higher education.

Anderson 240

Group B:

Dr. Jacob Tenney, Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Charleston

Really? Another Dry Repetitive Post? Energizing the Online Discussion Forum!

This workshop will focus on increasing engagement, interest, and creativity in online discussion forums. This has become even more critical in the post-pandemic world where online teaching has become more prevalent, and more students remain lurkers in the online classroom. This session will explore experiences using “compounded” discussion forums. In financial literacy students are taught that compound interest can help them more effectively reach future goals because interest earns interest allowing the investment to grow more quickly. Compounded discussion forums can be more engaging by encouraging students to build on what is already there instead of reinventing the wheel with each post.

This session will focus on how compounded discussion forums work, including both the successes and some of the challenges, and student feedback both positive and constructive criticism. There will also be an opportunity to practice using a compounded discussion forum. This session will include a discussion with participants about how experiences we learn from the discussion forum can cross over into the in-person environment. Participants will explore the advantages and disadvantages of compounded discussion forums; evaluate and experience various ideas for encouraging more engaging and creative posts; and brainstorm ways to apply principles from online discussion forums in in-person classes.

Anderson 350

Group C:

Dr. Erin Hardin, Professor and Associate Department Head of Psychology & Director of Undergraduate Studies, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Supporting Student Mental Health

Data support what many instructors know: There have been significant increases in mental health problems among college students over the past decade, which have only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. So what can instructors do to help students succeed and thrive in this context – without adding to our own stress and burnout?  This session will share a menu of evidence-based options from small adjustments in word choice to larger changes in course design, assessment, and policies, many of which can benefit instructors, too.

2:30 - 2:45 p.m. Reflection Time

2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Anderson Hall 140
Break (Drinks and Snacks)

3:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

SNAC (Sharing & Networking among Colleagues) Sessions

During these sessions, participants will have the opportunity to engage in facilitated meaningful conversations with other participants regarding key topics of interest and concern that have arisen before and during the TLI. Participants may spend the entire session engaging in a single conversation or rotate through conversation stations based on their own learning goals. The goal of these sessions is to allow participants to deepen their understanding of what they are learning and hope to gain from the TLI and how it applies to their own teaching practices as well as to foster connections among TLI participants.

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall

Dinner

6:00 p.m. Free Time/(Voluntary) Social Activity
Wednesday, June 4, 2025  

7:30 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall
Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

Concurrent Session III

Anderson 350

Group A:

Dr. Jennifer Furkin, Associate Professor of Communication, Lindsey Wilson College

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 220

Group B:

Dr. Christopher Silver, Assistant Professor of Psychology & Dr. Patrick Gauding, Assistant Professor of Politics, University of the South

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 240

Group C:

Dr. Diane Vautrot, Assistant Professor of Education & Dr. Susan Krebs, Assistant Professor of Education, Young Harris College

(See Abstract Above)

9:45 - 10:00 am Reflection Time

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Anderson Hall 140
Break (Drinks and Snacks)

10:30 - 11:45 a.m.

Concurrent Session IV

Anderson 350

Group A:

Dr. Jacob Tenney, Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Charleston

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 220

Group B:

Dr. Erin Hardin, Professor of Psychology & Director of Undergraduate Studies, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 240

Group C:

Mariah Akridge Atwood, Assistant Professor of International Studies & Dr. Matthew Egbert, Assistant Professor of History, Campbellsville University

(See Abstract Above)

11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Reflection Time

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall
Lunch

1:15 p.m. –2:45 p.m.

Fayerweather Hall

 

Teaching & Learning Track Plenary Session

Dr. Benjamin Van Dyke, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Faculty Director of the First-Year Experience & Dr. Jonna Kwiatkowski, Professor of Psychology, Mars Hill University

Ownership Through Partnership: Fostering Engagement Through Learner Self-Determination

To recognize the needs of (Post-)Pandemic learners is to acknowledge their altered educational experiences directly related to COVID such as online learning and loss of socialization. It also includes the cascade of effects that have changed education expectations, such as skepticism about academia’s value and pressures towards grade inflation. Instructors today want to recognize this current landscape and ensure that student learning is not compromised. We want to incorporate compassion into educational experiences that will help our students reach their goals.

This plenary session will focus on approaches that encourage students to take ownership of their educational goals. These techniques come from psychology- and education-based research where instructors and students have different roles but equal responsibility. The underlying theory from psychology is Self-Determination Theory (SDT) which reasons that motivation is influenced by the fulfillment of the basic needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Feeling in control of our actions, capable, and valued by others generates a strong internalized sense of satisfaction and motivation that drives us toward our goals, even when we encounter obstacles. Instructors can foster student autonomy through individualized goal setting, competence through scaffolded assignments and constructive feedback, and relatedness through opportunities for connection to classmates and the larger university community.

Education-based theories can help implement the objectives of SDT. In this plenary session (and throughout the 2025 TLI) we will explore Ungrading, which minimizes or eliminates formal grading practices and is a good framework for applying SDT. By minimizing grading, the focus is shifted to student-led learning (increasing autonomy), constructive feedback rather than just a number or letter (increasing competence), and student-instructor partnership leading to mutual respect (increasing relatedness).

By the end of this plenary session, participants will be able to: Explain the core concepts of Self-Determination Theory (SDT); Evaluate their own teaching practices with respect to the principles of SDT; Apply the principles of SDT and ungrading to at least one of their own courses; and Develop at least one personal goal related to incorporating SDT and ungrading into their own teaching practices.

2:45 p.m. –3:15 p.m.

Anderson Hall 140

Breaks (Snacks and Drinks)

3:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

Anderson Hall - Various Rooms

SNAC Session

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall
Dinner
6:00 p.m. Free Time/ (Voluntary) Social Activity
Thursday, June 5, 2025

7:30 - 8:15 a.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall

Breakfast

8:30 -9:45 a.m.

Concurrent Session V

Anderson 240

Group A:

Dr. Christopher Silver, Assistant Professor of Psychology & Dr. Patrick Gauding, Assistant Professor of Politics, University of the South

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 350

Group B:

Dr. Diane Vautrot, Assistant Professor of Education & Dr. Susan Krebs, Assistant Professor of Education, Young Harris College

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 220

Group C:

Dr. Jennifer Furkin, Associate Professor of Communication, Lindsey Wilson College

(See Abstract Above)

9:45 - 10:00 a.m. Reflection Time

10:00 - 10:30 a.m.

Anderson 140

Break (Drinks and Snacks)
10:30 -11:45 a.m. Concurrent Session VI

Anderson 240

Group A:

Dr. Erin Hardin, Professor of Psychology & Director of Undergraduate Studies, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 350

Group B:

Mariah Akridge Atwood, Assistant Professor of International Studies & Dr. Matthew Egbert, Assistant Professor of History, Campbellsville University

(See Abstract Above)

Anderson 220

Group C:

Dr. Jacob Tenney, Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Charleston

(See Abstract Above)

11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Reflection Time

12:00 -1:00 p.m.

Dining Hall, Pearsons Hall

Lunch

1:00 - 2:15 p.m.

Various Anderson Hall Rooms

Ungrading Self-Assessment Debriefing Meetings

2:15 - 3:00 p.m.

Anderson 220

Appalachian Colleges Collaborating for Equity (ACCE) Session

Dr. Beth Rushing, President, Appalachian College Association

3:00 - 3:30 p.m.

Bartlett Hall Steps

TLI Group Photographs

3:30-4:00 p.m.

Fayerweather Hall

Plenary Closing Ceremony of the TLI: Presentation of Certificates

Following the ceremony, attendees may depart for home. However, participants who requested Thursday night lodging in their registrations may remain and enjoy dinner and breakfast before departure.

4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Gibson Hall Lobby

Check-out: return keys and linens for those departing on Thursday.

Safe Travels!

Friday, June 6, 2025

7:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Gibson Hall Lobby

Check-out: return keys and linens for those departing on Friday morning

Safe Travels!