Series Schedule

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Learning from Teejop: Indigenous Education for Our Shared Future

Omar Poler, Indigenous Education Coordinator, Office of the Provost / School of Education  

Perhaps more than ever, place matters. We’re fortunate to call Teejop home. Yet few educational opportunities intentionally foster our personal relationships with this exceptional place. And fewer still help us understand the relationships and responsibilities that Indigenous peoples––especially the Ho-Chunk––have had here since time immemorial. Through an orientation of “land as first teacher,” Indigenous Education calls on us to carefully listen to our place. What do we still have to learn from Teejop? And, by centering Indigeneity in teaching and learning, how can we prioritize the restoration of right relations for our shared future?

Omar Poler Bio:

Omar Poler, enrolled member of the Sokaogon Chippewa Community, serves as Indigenous Education Coordinator in the Office of the Provost and the School of Education. He supports the integration of American Indian topics in education, including the histories, cultures, and tribal sovereignty of the 12 First Nations of Wisconsin. Omar also provides place-based teaching and learning through UW–Madison First Nations Cultural Landscape Tours. Previously, he co-created the Tribal Libraries Archives and Museums (TLAM) project and served as an Outreach Specialist at the UW–Madison Information School, where he worked with tribal librarians, archivists, and museum curators in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota for nearly 10 years. He has two sons, Rowan and Fen, and his interests include Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) language revitalization, tribal histories, and the music of the Great Lakes region.

Included with proceeding program registration

Join your colleagues for a post-session reflection and facilitated discussion of the presentation. There will be an opportunity in smaller breakout groups to reflect on how topics addressed might influence instructional practices as well as conversation about how to translate into teaching and learning.

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Fostering Connections to Help Online Students Engage and Learn

Flower Darby, Author & Columnist 

Online courses and interactions are often characterized by a feeling of disconnect for all involved. Yet we know that feeling connected can help us engage, persist and learn in any educational context. We’ll explore practical and efficient ways of building relationships with students and helping them to connect and build relationships with each other in order to deepen and improve their learning. Based on cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience, we can support students in online spaces in a way that fosters their success and our wellbeing, too. You’ll leave with practical strategies to enhance social connections and improve students’ motivation, focus, memory, and overall learning.

Flower Darby Bio:

Flower speaks, writes, presents and consults on teaching and learning theory and practice both nationally and internationally. She has helped educators all over the world become more effective in their work. She is the author, with James M. Lang, of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes, and she’s a columnist for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her new book on emotion science and teaching with technology is forthcoming from West Virginia University Press.

Flower Darby celebrates and promotes effective teaching in all class formats to include, welcome, and support all students as they learn and succeed. As faculty and an instructional designer, she’s taught community college and university classes for over 24 years in a range of subjects including English, Technology, Leadership, Dance, and Pilates. A seasoned face-to-face and online educator, Darby loves to apply learning science across the disciplines, and to help others do the same.

Included with proceeding program registration

Join your colleagues for a post-session reflection and facilitated discussion of the presentation. There will be an opportunity in smaller breakout groups to reflect on how topics addressed might influence instructional practices as well as conversation about how to translate into teaching and learning.

Register here

Supporting First-Year Students: Adapting to Disruption, Embracing Lasting Change

Lead Speakers: Alfonso Morales, Vilas Distinguished Professor for Food Systems, Marketplaces, and Public Policy / Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture 

and Kathleen Culver, James E. Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics Professor / Center for Journalism Ethics Director / School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Panel Speakers: Carren Martin, Director, Center for the First-Year Experience / Student Affairs

Nathan Phelps, Director, First-Year Interest Groups Program / College of Letters & Science

André Phillips, Director, Admissions and Recruitment / Division of Enrollment Management 

Additional program details pending

Included with proceeding program registration

Join your colleagues for a post-session reflection and facilitated discussion of the presentation. There will be an opportunity in smaller breakout groups to reflect on how topics addressed might influence instructional practices as well as conversation about how to translate into teaching and learning.