Conference Program
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Welcome, Keynote & Q&A
Time: 9:00 - 10:45 AM
Location: Agnes Varis Lecture Hall
Modality: hybrid
Keynote
We are pleased to welcome Sarah Rose Cavanagh as the keynote speaker for the 38th University-Wide Teaching Conference.
Sarah Rose is the Senior Associate Director for Teaching and Learning in the Center for Faculty Excellence at Simmons University, where she also teaches in the Psychology Department as an Associate Professor of Practice.
She is the author of four books, including The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion (2016) and Mind Over Monsters: Supporting Youth Mental Health with Compassionate Challenge (2023).
In this keynote address, Sarah Rose will reflect on the meaning and purpose of teaching and invite participants to consider how educators can sustain curiosity, connection, and care in their work with students.
Session 1A: At the Crossroads of Classroom and Career: Exploring Mutual Learning Opportunities between Students and Industry Partners
Time: 11:00 - 11:45 AM
Modality: online
Authors: Amy Hirschfeld, Jane Seminara
Looking to better connect your teaching to real-world careers? This panel brings together faculty, industry partners, and students to explore how partnerships with industry can enrich your courses. You’ll hear practical examples of bringing industry professionals into the classroom as co-instructors or guest speakers, and leave with ideas for creating more meaningful, career-connected learning experiences while building mutually beneficial partnerships.
Session 1B: Using Campus as a Classroom: Engaging Faculty in Tufts’ Stormwater Management Planning
Time: 11:00 - 11:45 AM
Modality: online
Author: Tina Woolston
Looking for ways to connect your courses or scholarship to applied, place-based work? This session explores how Tufts’ developing Stormwater Management Plan for the Medford/Somerville campus can open up opportunities for teaching, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration. From GIS mapping, hydrological modeling, and green infrastructure design to policy analysis, monitoring, communication, and civic engagement, discover ways to integrate real campus data and challenges into your courses. Exchange ideas with colleagues and help shape a multiyear “campus-as-classroom” initiative. Leave with new ideas and connections, whether you’re already working in this area or just beginning to explore it.
Session 1C: The Power of Dialogue: Meaningful Connection & Engagement in the Classroom
Time: 11:00 - 12:00 PM
Location: Jumbo Dome
Modality: in-person
Authors: Sarah Rosenberg-Scott, Deborah Donahue-Keegan,
In this experiential session, you’ll step into the role of a learner and engage in a structured dialogue process you can bring directly into your classroom. Through guided prompts, intentional pauses, and questions rooted in genuine curiosity, you’ll experience how this approach supports deep listening, reflection, and more equitable participation. You’ll leave with practical strategies to facilitate richer discussions, navigate challenging conversations, and create space for all students to contribute meaningfully.
Session 2: Simulating High Stakes Communication and Debriefing through a VR Puzzle Game
Time: 12:15 - 1:45 PM
Location: Sim Lab
Modality: in-person
Authors: Ariana Hinckley-Boltax, Michael Santasieri
Looking for ways to increase student engagement, collaboration, and real-time problem-solving? Experience it firsthand through a team-based virtual reality game, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, where communication and coordination are essential under pressure. You’ll see how structured debriefs and a social constructivist approach turn activity into learning and how to translate that into your own teaching. Leave with practical strategies to design experiential activities that deepen engagement, build collaboration skills, and make learning stick. Please register; space is limited. (Content Warning: The game used in this session makes reference to bombs and explosions.)
Session 3A: Small Group Teaching in a Large Class - A Panel Discussion
Time: 12:45 - 1:30 PM
Location: Agnes Varis Lecture Hall
Modality: in-person
Authors: Jennifer Grady, Erin King-Podzaline, Lauren Paduch, Alexandra Pfaff, Angela Simoneau, Kelsea Studer, Adam Ward, Julia Wilkinson
Managing engagement and meaningful discussion with 100+ students can feel challenging. This panel shares practical, field-tested strategies from the Clinical Relevance Thread Team at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Learn how to structure and facilitate small-group learning that builds clinical reasoning, strengthens communication and collaboration skills, and helps students apply foundational knowledge in real-world contexts. Panelists will offer adaptable approaches you can use in your own courses. Bring your questions and leave with concrete ideas to create more interactive, student-centered learning experiences.
Session 3B: The Most Rewarding Teaching You Will Ever Do
Time: 12:45 - 1:30 PM
Location: Jumbo Dome
Modality: in-person
Authors: Andrew West, Hilary Binda, Heather Nathans
Join this panel to explore how teaching through the Tufts University Prison Initiative (TUPIT) is reshaping faculty perspectives on student engagement, equity, and the purpose of higher education. You’ll hear firsthand from Tufts faculty, a Medford-campus student, and a formerly incarcerated graduate about the realities of teaching in correctional settings and how these experiences challenge assumptions about learning, access, and impact. Leave with new insights you can bring back to your own classroom, including approaches to fostering deeper student motivation, navigating constrained learning environments, and reconnecting your teaching to purpose and relevance. Ample time for conversation and questions will allow you to engage directly with panelists and colleagues.
Session 4A: Authentic Oral Assessments in Mid-Sized Science and Engineering Courses
Time: 1:45 - 2:30 PM
Location: 106 Kohnstamm Room, Admin Building
Modality: hybrid
Authors: Sandra Huffman, Kristen Wendell
How can we design assessments that remain meaningful in the age of AI? This session highlights authentic oral exams as a flexible approach to promoting real-world problem-solving, strengthening the student-instructor connection, and supporting technical communication. Review insights from two years of classroom use, then participate in a guided activity to create and practice an oral assessment tailored to your discipline.
Session 4B: Listening Across Worlds: Global Perspectives on Who Defines Relevance in the Classroom
Time: 1:45 - 2:30 PM
Location: Jumbo Dome
Modality: in-person
Author: James J. Fisher
How can you make your courses feel more meaningful and relevant to students? This interactive session explores how “relevance” is shaped not just by what we teach, but by whose perspectives are included. This interactive session invites you to rethink relevance through a global and classroom lens. Participants will engage in a structured listening exercise and leave with a practical “mapping” tool to identify new entry points for meaning-making in their own courses, helping students connect more deeply with content and purpose.
Session 4C: Between the Lines: The Human Work of Teaching in the Age of AI
Time: 1:45 - 2:30 PM
Modality: online
Author: Amy Schlessman
Students are skipping class, turning Zoom cameras off, and using AI for instant explanations. How do we keep our teaching meaningful and engaging? This session helps you respond with clarity and confidence. Discover how AI can sharpen—not replace—your role by focusing on connection, trust, and the moments that bring learning to life. You’ll try two ready-to-use strategies (for both in-person and online classes) and leave with a Human-Centered Teaching Toolkit. Walk away with practical ways to re-engage students and reconnect with what makes your teaching impactful.
Teaching Tips 1 & 2
Time:
Tip 1: 11:00 - 11:20 AM
Tip 2: 11:25 - 11:45 AM
Location: Agnes Varis Lecture Hall
Modality: in-person
Getting Students to Think Critically and Master New Knowledge Through Study Groups
How can we design writing and learning experiences that remain meaningful in the context of Generative AI? This session introduces an alternative to traditional papers, centered on discussion, note-taking, and in-class presentation, that supports deeper engagement and authentic learning. Hear what’s working so far and consider how these strategies might translate to your own courses.
Moving Through Art: Using Visual Arts and Dance to Enhance Human Interaction Skills in Occupational Therapy Students
How can you help students build confidence with sensitive, hands-on skills? This session shares an arts-based approach—using visual arts and movement—to support students’ comfort and readiness with therapeutic touch in OT practice. Participants will explore how creative, experiential methods can deepen learning, increase student confidence, and be adapted to teach complex or nuanced skills in their own courses.
Teaching Tips 3 & 4
Time:
Tip 3: 11:55 - 12:15 PM
Tip 4: 12:15 - 12:35 PM
Location: live-streamed at Jumbo Dome
Modality: online
Development and Implementation of a Competency-Based Assessment of Clinical Reasoning and Patient Care in Case-Based Scenarios
How do you know students are ready for high-stakes clinical practice? This session shares a practical, simulation-based approach to assessing whether DPT students can safely evaluate and mobilize patients with cardiac and pulmonary conditions in acute care settings. Participants will walk away with a clear model for defining competencies, translating them into observable performance criteria, and building structured rubrics that support meaningful, practice-aligned assessment. Through real examples from simulated patient encounters, you’ll gain ideas you can adapt to strengthen assessment, increase student readiness, and align evaluation with professional expectations in your own courses.
Teaching Tip 4
Tech Playgrounds
Time: 12:45 - 1:30 PM
Modality: online
PICO Pathfinder Live: An Experiential AI-Guided Simulation for Teaching Feasible Systematic Review Topic Development
Want students to engage more critically with research rather than rely on AI for quick answers? Step into the student role and experience an AI-guided activity you can adapt for your own teaching. Using the PICO Pathfinder chatbot, you’ll refine a research question, build PICO elements, and test topic feasibility, while seeing how structured prompts can guide (not replace) student thinking. Leave with practical ideas for designing hands-on, AI-supported activities that strengthen critical thinking across disciplines.
AI-Facilitated Case Scenarios to Foster Student Engagement, Professional Communication, and Clinical Reasoning in Hybrid Education
Struggling to create meaningful, hands-on learning experiences in hybrid or online settings? This session shows how to deliver high-quality patient communication and history-taking practice using AI-supported simulations. Learn how the Doctor of Physical Therapy program uses the AI-CARE format and PlayLab tools to engage and immerse students in safe, simulated patient experiences. See how these approaches build confidence in skills like history taking and applying trauma-informed care. Leave with adaptable strategies to create immersive, practice-based learning experiences that prepare students for real clinical interactions.
Same Symptoms, Different Stories: Using Chatbots to Teach Medical History-Taking
Poster Sessions & Lightning Talks
Time: 2:45 - 3:15 PM
Location: Jumbo Dome
Modality: hybrid
Students as Original Researchers: Exploring Methods of Extracurricular Teaching
How can you support students’ research skills without adding more to your syllabus? This poster highlights pilot initiatives that build students’ information literacy and research data management skills outside the traditional curriculum. Explore practical, scalable approaches—including micro-credentials and badging—that strengthen students’ research capabilities while easing the load on individual courses.
Teaching with Technology Award
Time: 3:15 - 3:30 PM
Location: Jumbo Dome
Modality: hybrid
Presenter: Kristin Ziska Strange
The Teaching with Technology Award
is presented by Tufts Technology Services (TTS) and recognizes instructors whose creative and thoughtful use of technology enriches teaching and learning.
These awards celebrate educators who use digital tools to foster engaging interactions, expand possibilities for learning, and create dynamic and intellectually stimulating online and multi-format learning environments.
For more information, go here.
Paws for People
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