Registration is Open - RSVP by Wed., May 6
Agenda at-a-glance
Questions
Co-sponsor: UTS-IT
The TLS program affords us the opportunity to come together as a teacher-scholar community to deepen, diversify, innovate our instructional practices. The program offers an engaging, collegial campus-wide forum to share teaching approaches that support students’ learning and exchange ideas and practices. The keynote speaker, Dr. Peter Felton, Elon University, will examine how fostering relationships drives student success, especially within the rise of AI. Thirty faculty colleagues across disciplines will facilitate concurrent sessions.
Keynote Speaker on Relationship-Rich Education
Peter Felten is professor of history, executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning, and assistant provost for teaching and learning at Elon University. He has published nine books about higher education, including Connections are Everything: A College Student’s Guide to Relationship-Rich Education (2023) and The SoTL Guide: (Re)Orienting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2025). Both of those co-authored books have an open-access online version free to all readers. He is on the advisory board of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and is a fellow of the Gardner Institute
Keynote - Connections are everything: How trusting relationships drive student success
Research consistently shows that students’ relationships with faculty, staff, and peers are crucial to academic success and personal well-being in higher education. With the rise of generative AI, human connections matter even more for learning, motivation, well-being, and meaning-making. Drawing on almost 500 interviews with students, faculty, and staff at colleges and universities across the country, this interactive session examines how fostering relationships – especially educationally purposeful peer relationships – offers a practical, scalable, and humane path to ensuring that all students experience welcome and care, become inspired to learn, and explore the big questions that matter for their lives and our communities.
This session is offered in-person only.
Workshop Session: Relational feedback as a tool for learning, connection, and well-being
In this workshop we will look at how feedback on student work can support learning, connection, and well-being -- even in large classes, and even in a time of generative AI. We will consider both the feedback we give students and also opportunities for structured student peer feedback. You will leave the workshop with practical ideas for how you can use relational feedback to promote learning, connection, and well-being – without devoting all of your time to grading.
This session is offered in-person only.
9:30–10:00 a.m. Registration, Continental Breakfast
10:00–11:15 a.m. Welcome and Keynote with Dr. Peter Felten
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Workshop Session with Dr. Peter Felten
11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m. Concurrent Sessions 1
12:30–1:20 p.m. Concurrent Sessions 2
1:00/1:20–2:10 p.m. Lunch
2:20–3:10 p.m. Concurrent Sessions 3
3:10-4:00 p.m. Jazzy Reception with Kevin Hanson, renowned guitarist, composer, producer, faculty at Temple University and Philadelphian
I always appreciate the timing and content of TLS. It's great to reflect on my teaching over the past year and to learn new ideas from my peers. I like that TLS always has top-notch keynote speakers. My favorite aspect is to talk with fellow faculty members about our experiences with teaching. Most of our work is done solo, so it's nice to check in with others and compare notes.
I appreciate attending sessions with colleagues from different disciplines both as presenters and engaged participants. There is much we can learn from one another.
I found the entire day uplifting. The enthusiasm among the faculty was contagious and renewed my interest in being the best teacher possible.
Sessions raised my awareness of gender issues and micro aggressions and it made me more conscious of the need to create an inclusive learning environment.
I learned more ways to engage students, have them “do more of the work,” and what it means to be a teacher at Villanova. I feel very motivated and encouraged in my role as a teacher.
I always appreciate when faculty are reminded to -intentionally- choose teaching strategies that complement their learning objectives and course goals. We need to hear that message again and again.
Different approaches to building community in class as well as mechanisms for online sharing of course material.
My favorite aspect of the program is the opportunity to listen and talk with others about teaching. It's inspiring and encouraging to see how hard we all work to invite students into a love of learning for something more than just a grade.
I learned some more details about flipped classes pertaining to technical content with details on getting students to watch the videos ahead of class, grading, and best enhancing the video without repeating it.
A colleague gave me an idea for a midterm survey related to participation that I plan to use - have the students evaluate their participation, and explain reasons for their level of participation.
It's great to gather as an interdisciplinary group all focused on teaching at Villanova. The insights shared in networking and the content from the sessions were excellent.
