UW System Spring Conference on Teaching & Learning

Registration is now open! Early-bird pricing offered through March 5.

The theme for this year’s conference is The Joys of Teaching and Learning : Centering Students. 

From the classroom to department meetings and from learning management systems to addressing mental health and wellbeing, students are the focus of our professional lives.  In the past few years, we have increased our attention to centering our teaching practices around the “whole student.” Re-examining assessment strategies, updating curriculum, exploring teaching methods and modalities while increasing flexibility and compassionate responses to students’ needs are just a few examples.

Centering Students is what we do as educators and is tied to our goals, challenges and the rewards of teaching and learning.  As we deal with the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have an opportunity to explore what we have learned, and what we still need to learn, about connecting with and supporting students.  How might we consider what we need in terms of self-care and care for colleagues so we can feel a sense of well-being and enable us to better care for others around us? How do we cultivate relationships and create a sense of community with our students?  How do we bring student voices into our face-to-face, online, and blended learning environments?  What opportunities are there to cultivate connections both within and external to our class environments?  How can we meet students where they are, while advising and mentoring them to succeed beyond our learning contexts?