CoTL 2024
14th Annual South Alabama Conference on Teaching and Learning
Monday, May 6 | 6pm - 8pm (CST)
Dinner and performance by the South Alabama Indian Music Ensemble (SOLD OUT)
Tuesday, May 7 | 9am - 3:30pm (CST)
Wednesday, May 8 | 9am - 3:30pm (CST)
Theme: Relevance, Reflection, & Relationships
Whether we are ourselves in the classroom or supporting the success of those actively engaged in teaching and learning, we collectively lead students to make connections and identify the value of what they are learning, such as the skills and competencies to support their journey beyond the classroom. This year’s theme challenges you to investigate and share practices related to Relevance, Reflection, and Relationships, aligning educational content and activities with building community, self-efficacy, and self-awareness. Guiding questions include:
- How do you incorporate skills and competencies in your courses and programs that are valuable to students beyond the classroom? How do you advertise the relevance of these skills?
- What instructional practices help students make connections between the target content and their previous experiences to become more self-directed learners? How have you used reflection to lead students to see the value of their experiences in your class or program?
- What relationship-building practices do you utilize in your institutional role?
Contributed presentation topics may include practices related to Relevance, Reflection, and Relationships within your instruction, such as designing learner and value-centered courses, alternative assessments that incorporate reflections and connections with employer-valued skills, group activities that intentionally include trust-building to boost students’ comfort level and a welcoming environment, and transparent course design and lessons. As our courses span face-to-face, hybrid/blended, or fully online teaching environments, you may also wish to highlight the overlap between educational technology, generative AI, and this year’s theme, such as intentional uses of AI, social annotation tools, and discussion-based software.
As a partnership between USA, Spring Hill College, University of Mobile, Bishop State, Coastal Alabama, and Mississippi Gulf Coast, this conference reaches a diverse audience, all of whom are engaged in a variety of ways of supporting students. This year’s theme, “Relevance, Reflection, and Relationships,” allows us to highlight practices that boost learner success inside and outside of the classroom.
Through a variety of presentation formats including workshops, panels, research talks and a poster session, we invite you to share your scholarly work in an inviting, supportive, and peer-reviewed conference tailored to the needs of instructors along the Gulf Coast.
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Marjorie Hass, President
Council of Independent Colleges
Marjorie Hass is a philosopher, leader, award-winning teacher, mentor, author, and one of the most influential thinkers in the independent higher education sector. She has led the Council of Independent Colleges since 2021. She will expand on the theme of Relevance and the role of higher education in preserving and promoting the value of the liberal arts and sciences as foundational to a civic education.
Dr. Clausell Mathis, Assistant Professor
Physics, Lyman Briggs College
Science Education, Department of Teacher Education
Michigan State University
Clausell Mathis is a physicist and science educator at Michigan State University where his research focuses on understanding how science teachers can effectively incorporate culture-based pedagogical approaches to instruction. His work spans teacher identity, student sense-making and utilizing cultural resources towards achieving understanding, especially in the sciences.
Presentation Types
Interactive Workshops | Panels | Research Talks | Roundtables | Poster Exhibits
This year, we are weaving in-person and virtual options together on the first day of the conference. When submitting a proposal, please indicate if you prefer to present in-person or online. Virtual presentations will be shared with our in-person and virtual audience via Zoom in one room in the student center. Virtual presenters and participants will be able to view other virtual presenters and the keynote speakers.
Points of Contact
Dr. S. Raj Chaudhury, Innovation in Learning Center, schaudhury@southalabama.edu
Dr. Lisa LaCross, Innovation in Learning Center, lacross@southalabama.edu
2024 Conference Partners
