Join us for registration and a light breakfast at 8:30 am. Opening remarks begin at 9:00 am.

This year we welcome learning design expert Dr. Suparna Sinha, known for her work on fostering collaborative student engagement and facilitating knowledge transfer in technology-rich learning environments. Drawing from the insights of the Fall 2024 TCNJ Faculty Survey, Dr. Sinha will offer tailored recommendations to enhance student engagement and enrich learning experiences across our campus.

Recent research exploring the preparedness of college first year students reveals equity issues as well as what school librarians are doing right, and where we might improve our information literacy instruction. Freshmen from six different colleges reflected on their first year successes and shortcomings as they shared what research skills they found they had mastered and what they still needed to learn. Findings provide solid evidence that students with prior high school research experiences feel better prepared for academic research. Discoveries about the research strategies students learned in high school and that serve them well in college hold implications for instructional design of information literacy skills in high school. Study participants identified how research projects and finding and using information differed between high school and college, and they shared the confidence they felt for performing specific information literacy tasks. Most importantly, these first year students identified what they perceived to be their biggest skill gaps when faced with college expectations.

Keywords: college readiness, research

This workshop explores practical strategies for fostering student success through confidence-building, effective classroom practices, and inclusive approaches to accommodations. We will begin by examining the concept of warm demanders, focusing on how to help students build confidence while maintaining high expectations. Strategies for building trust, encouraging self-discipline, and creating a structured yet flexible classroom environment will be discussed. Next, we’ll delve into techniques for improving student note-taking and study habits, including ways to guide consistent note-taking during class. Finally, we’ll outline best practices for discussing and implementing accommodation memos, with an emphasis on open communication, respect for student privacy, and creating an inclusive learning environment.

Keywords: confidence, students, strategies, note taking, study, accommodations, accessibility

In this session, we will explore the role writing about the environment can serve in college classrooms focusing on three themes:
(1) Writing for personal awareness and consciousness
(2) Writing to cultivate environmental action and interaction
(3) Writing to produce public-facing texts engaging an audience in thinking about a environmentally-related topic
Participants will see samples of student notebooks, environmental “close readings,” a plant study, and several public-facing research projects. Mentor texts will include poetry, picture books, and non-fiction written for teenagers and adults. (We’ll probably write a little, too).

Keywords: writing, reading, multimodality

Sal Kahn and the Khan Academy have developed Khanmigo — an AI tutor that he claims will transform education. The tool was discussed in a recent New York Times article, which reports that it is now being tested in some New Jersey public schools. We will introduce and interrogate some of Khan’s claims about the new tool, including improved learning outcomes and a solution to the plagiarism problem. For those who wish to explore these questions further, we will provide copies of Khan’s recent book about Khanmigo, and host a book discussion group later in the semester.

Keywords: AI

This panel discussion will feature departments that have recently been awarded the Mildred Dahne Award, an annual recognition for academic departments or programs focused around excellence in teaching, academic achievements, and community impact. The award comes with a cash prize of up to $5,000 to augment departmental funds or professional development. Representatives from each department will share specific examples of ways in which the funds have benefitted their department or program, for example, supporting faculty-student collaboration. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the session, along with a brief overview of the 2025 Mildred Dahne Award solicitation.

Keywords: panel, Mildred Dahne

Preparing students for success beyond college requires intentional collaboration between faculty and career professionals. In this session, Audrey Cooper, Interim Director of the TCNJ Career Center, will discuss the importance of integrating career development into the curriculum to equip students with the skills and competencies needed for the workforce. Attendees will gain insights into the NACE Career Competencies framework, which outlines essential skills such as critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership. The session will highlight practical strategies for incorporating career readiness into academic courses and explore opportunities for faculty to partner with the Career Center. Join this interactive presentation to learn how we can collectively empower students to thrive in their professional journeys while enhancing their academic experiences.

Keywords: Career-Ready, Career-Competencies, Career-Integration

Inspired by various readings on grief (and therefore love), as well as ideas of bringing my whole self to transgressive teaching, I invite you to join me for an exploratory session on teaching with grief. Grief is an inevitable feeling and experience that is part of being alive and loving. While it is a common experience, we seldom discuss the ways grief impacts our teaching because it is considered too personal and should not interfere with our work. Yet, there is no escaping the overwhelming impacts of grief. In this session, I share and analyze my experiences with and impacts of personal, collective, and institutional griefs on being a teacher, and then examine ideas and questions that may help us teach with grief.

Keywords; Grief, Love, Humanities

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been one of the biggest buzz words in the past decade. It has garnered intense hype in the past three years, particularly because of chat bot-style AI systems becoming available to the broader public, with lots of positive impact. On the other hand, higher education faced serious challenges to keep academic integrity while maintaining the learning outcome and accomplishing educational goals. This session aims to share some case studies handled by Academic Integrity Officers, collectively discuss and devise ways to reduce students misconduct.

Keywords: AI, academic integrity, case studies

We will present research findings on how students use different forms of capital within a community cultural wealth framework to choose TCNJ and their college major(s). Our research focuses on first-generation college students majoring in Education with implications for students pursuing other programs. Using this assets-based lens, we hope to highlight opportunities for first-generation student recruitment and retention.

Keywords: first-generation college students; Equity, inclusion and justice, student mentoring

Information Literacy Needs in Science and Engineering: A Survey of Undergraduate Faculty | Rebeca Jefferson and Amanda Cowell

This is a study that investigates the information needs of undergraduate students in STEM fields, from the point of view of the university professors and adjunct instructors who teach those students. This study used a survey to ask faculty and instructors questions about what information finding skills students need to have, what kinds of information students need to understand, and, very importantly, exactly when in their degree program or course of study the students need to have those skills.

Keywords: Information Literacy, STEM

Embedding library resources in your course with LibGuides | David Murray

LibGuides allow librarians to curate resources for an assignment, course, or discipline. In this lightning talk, discover how LibGuides are being used at TCNJ to support all of the above. Learn about what LibGuides do well but also their limits, and how to work with your subject specialist librarian if you are interested in a LibGuide for your course.

Keywords: LibGuides, Resource Curation, Library Collaboration

Using source tables to help students summarize, synthesize, and engage | John Oliver

Are you looking for students to get better at integrating evidence into their arguments? Source tables make explicit the processes involved in interacting with research materials, and by doing so they help students create better building blocks for writing. Think of a source table as a supercharged annotated bibliography. This session will include examples from TCNJ instructors and programs who are already using source tables. Attendees will be able to get started quickly with our customizable templates.

Keywords: Source Tables, Evidence Integration, Academic Writing

This workshop offers faculty members an opportunity to explore generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Co-Pilot, Claude, and more. Participants will discover the importance of AI literacy and gain a practical framework for understanding and integrating these tools. The session will include hands-on guidance for crafting effective prompts to achieve desired outcomes and strategies for discussing AI usage with students in the classroom.

Keywords: AI Literacy

This presentation will provide an introduction to TCNJ’s NSF-funded supercomputer, the Electronic Laboratory for Science and Analysis (ELSA), named after the famous “Born Free” lioness. ELSA’s computational resources currently provide 4,000 central processing unit (CPU) cores, 34.8TB of RAM, 99 graphics processing units (GPUs), and approximately 6.3 petabytes of network-based storage. The cluster is housed in the dedicated Scientific Computing Center in TCNJ’s STEM Building. We will give an overview of its capabilities, the types of classroom applications or research problems that it can be used for, and provide time for open discussion with folks interested in thinking about how to incorporate it into their teaching and scholarly/creative work. Some examples of applications available on ELSA include data science tools like R and Jupyter/Python, AI/machine learning tools like Pytorch, Tensorflow, and Scikit-learn, in addition to web-browser based access to tools like Matlab, Mathematica and the ability to use virtual machines.

Keywords: Scientific Computing, Data Analysis

New Allyship Program at TCNJ | Glenn Steinberg

This session provides information about a new initiative at TCNJ to create a cohort of trained allies to support students who have experienced bias incidents on campus. The allies will help students to navigate the bias reporting process, will conduct outreach to student affinity groups and in the residence halls to encourage more students to report bias incidents, and will offer educational programming for students found responsible for committing bias violations.

Keywords: Anti-racism, Allyship

Interdisciplinary Integration: Advancing Health Equity Through Collaboration Between WGSS & PBH | Natasha Peterson and Marla Jaksch

The purpose of this presentation is to showcase how the Women and Gender Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and Public Health (PBH) departments at TCNJ can collaborate to foster interdisciplinary research, education, and community engagement that address gender-based health disparities and promote equity. This could potentially be a model for other departments at the college.

Keywords: Intersectionality, Health Disparities, Interdisciplinarity

Leveraging Icebreakers (Yes, “Icebreakers”!) To Jumpstart Classroom Engagement & Participation Student Affairs | Lindsay Barndt

​Student Affairs practitioners have long studied the importance of community engagement and building a sense of belonging among new incoming students outside of the classroom. Researched less is how traditional “icebreaker” activities could be leveraged inside the classroom, specifically at the beginning of the semester, to support better outcomes in terms of in-class participation and group work. Attendees will walk away with several large and small group options they can easily and immediately implement to increase both faculty to student and peer to peer engagement.

Keywords: Engagement, Participation ​

TCNJ’s Strategic Plan and 2024 updates to the College Reappointment and Promotions Document have multiple priority areas that involve Community Engaged Learning (CEL). Pursuing CEL can be time-intensive and difficult without institutional support, which has broad implications for tenure and promotion pipelines. This session focuses on the integration of CEL and community-engaged scholarship (CES), a valuable strategy for strengthening the quality of student learning, as well as the impact of academic research and creative work. CES involves engaging with and learning from communities, often to find more valid, compelling and informative discoveries. This session will provide examples of TCNJ CES projects from different disciplines (Psychology, Computer Science, Counselor Education, Sociology, Criminology, Economics, WGSS, Political Science). Discussion will focus on the value of partnerships, dissemination of scholarship/creative work, and resources needed. Session information will be used to develop workshops to further develop CES projects and access relevant resources.

Keywords: Community-Engaged Scholarship, Community-Engaged Learning

Incorporating playful practices into college classrooms transforms learning by enhancing engagement, creativity, and social-emotional development. College students, still navigating cognitive and emotional growth, benefit significantly from these methods. Playful practices make learning enjoyable, igniting curiosity and participation. Collaborative activities foster communication, empathy, and community, while creative problem-solving and critical thinking benefit from an environment that reduces fear of failure. Play improves memory and retention through meaningful, interactive experiences. Additionally, playful activities alleviate stress, boost mental well-being, and create a supportive classroom atmosphere. By adopting playful learning strategies, educators empower students with the skills and mindset needed to thrive academically and personally in an evolving world.

Keywords: playful pedagogy, motivation, memory

The incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in 8 year olds increased from 0.6% in 2000 to 2.7% in 2014. Thus, now about 1 in 34 18 year olds in NJ is affected by an ASD. ASD is an extremely heterogenous disorder with a wide range of effects, so many young adults are capable of the intellectual challenge of a college environment. Faculty may thus be encountering students with ASD with increasing frequency. ASD affects communication and behavior, and can thus impact the classroom environment. This session will cover how to better understand ASD, resources for TCNJ students and strategies for success in the classroom; as well as thoughtful conversation about how to proceed if such strategies are not successful.

Keywords: neurodivergent, classroom management, accommodation 

Join us for an insightful session with guest speaker Joe Judge as we explore the vital process of reconnecting with your “why” amidst the ongoing transformations in higher education. Joe, co-author of Leadership Is Overcoming the Natural, will guide us through a reflective journey that fosters growth, both personally and professionally. With his vast experience as a leadership coach and trusted advisor, Joe is known for his approachable manner and ability to provide practical, forward-thinking solutions. In their book, the authors condense decades of knowledge into 52 actionable principles, some of which will be touched upon during this discussion. Note: Copies of the book will be available to attendees on a first-come, first-served basis.

Keywords: Leadership Development, Higher Education Transformation, Personal Growth

As instructors, we often begin the semester by introducing the syllabus as the foundation of our course rules. While some situations require individualized attention, most of us aim to create policies that treat everyone fairly and help students meet learning goals. However, the increasing frequency and variety of accommodations challenge our ability to maintain pedagogical consistency. This can lead some to feel as though students with accommodations are getting an “easier” version of the course and not being held to the same standard as their classmates. This talk proposes Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a consistent pedagogical framework that fosters an inclusive classroom while upholding academic rigor. I will provide an overview of common accommodations, discuss how I incorporate UDL principles to address them, and reflect on the persistent challenges I encounter.

Keywords: Universal Design; ARC; Disabilities

This talk will present the stories that have emerged from a decade of archaeological research into the history of the land on which TCNJ now sits.  The project has uncovered stories of happiness, patriotism, and perseverance, but also those of violence, racism, and pain.  Some of the traces of these stories can still be seen on campus, while other scars lie hidden in the ground.  It is intended that this presentation shares with faculty these stories in the hopes that they will be adapted and used as a tool to engage with students, in your own disciplines, on the events of the past, which stand as a poignant reminder that we are not so removed from historical injustice.