Symposium Schedule

Varsity Hall

Varsity Hall

Welcome to the Teaching and Learning Community

Megan Schmid, Associate Vice Provost and Director, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Opening remarks

John Zumbrunnen, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning, Professor of Political Science

Varsity Hall

Active Learning That Revitalizes Instructors in The New College Classroom

Christina Katopodis, Mellon Senior Researcher, City University of New York Humanities Alliance

How do we make the transition from the hierarchical, inequitable, output-driven academy we inherited from the nineteenth century to a higher education that empowers all students to be their own best selves, modeling a more democratic, flourishing, and just society? How do we make this transition in our own classrooms? In this interactive keynote, Dr. Christina Katopodis, coauthor with Dr. Cathy N. Davidson of the award-winning book, The New College Classroom (Harvard University Press, 2022), presents what the latest science of learning tells us about inclusive learning. She shares teaching strategies that anyone can adapt easily and effectively in every field and grab-and-go activities that educators around the world are using successfully every day to ensure their students’ lifelong success–and to revitalize their own commitment to a better world. Participants will come away from the keynote with at least three practical things they can implement in the coming semester.

Room: Northwoods

Connecting TA Training Efforts Across Campus

Lynne Prost, Letters & Sciences Administration
Jessica Maher, Delta Program, Graduate School
Haley Briel, Collaboratory for Engineering Education and Teaching Excellence, College of Engineering

Do you work with TAs? Are you interested in how TAs are prepared to teach – and more? This interactive session will explore TA Training efforts at scales from campus-wide programming to training for individual courses. Presenters from New Educator Orientation (College of Engineering), L&S TA Training & Support, and the Delta Program (Graduate School) will share highlights of their TA training and teaching development programs, especially considering cases of strong alignment between school/college, department, and course levels. Join us for facilitated conversations around how we can work together to better support TAs, so we can ultimately better serve students.

Room: Landmark

Exciting Developments in the New Humanities Classroom

Andrea Samz-Pustol and Pinar Tasdemir, Constellations Program
Nathan Phelps, Constellations Program and First Year Interest Groups (FIGs)

The “new college classroom’s” focus on preparing students for careers in STEM fields has led to growing skepticism about the value of the humanities. Staff and graduate students from the Constellations Program will describe how new humanities-based interdisciplinary courses on AI, social media, the US-Mexico border, and true crime, are drawing strong interest from undergraduates from across campus, including STEM students. Attendees will learn about the program, how course topics are selected, the co-curriculum, and, more broadly, how the “new humanities” classroom is preparing students for careers and life in a contentious, complex, rapidly changing, and heterogeneous world.

Room: 5th Quarter

Sustainability Education: Living System Principles & Inclusive Learning Communities

Kim Wahl, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

In this interactive session, we will discuss sustainability education and living system principles as a framework to strengthen inclusive practices in the classroom. Some key principles of living systems will include nested systems, networks, diversity, feedback loops, dynamic balance, self-organization, and development. This approach more accurately mirrors our natural and social systems as we navigate more sustainable teaching practices. Through connections, reflections, and critical dialogue, we will synthesize sustainability education and systems thinking to support active, meaningful experiences to support inclusive learning communities.

Room: Industry

Breaking Silos: Cross-Departmental Collaboration in the Classroom and Beyond

Ryan Stowe, Amanda Buchberger Jones, and Peter Jaeger, Chemistry
Anna Bierbrauer, Planning and Landscape Architecture

Engaging students in the resolution of real-world problems necessitates innovative and interdisciplinary approaches that connect various fields of study.This breakout session will investigate how collaboration between departments can inspire and motivate students by involving them in complex, real-world challenges encountered by municipalities in Wisconsin. We will focus on the growing partnership between the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture and the Department of Chemistry in collaboration with the City of Madison and Sasaki Associates on the Lake Monona LakeWay Project. Attendees will learn how building relationships across departments can promote equitable and inclusive practices, thereby enhancing students’ educational experiences. Participants will engage in collaborative brainstorming sessions to develop strategies for leveraging campus partnerships and community-based learning to tackle pressing societal issues, ultimately equipping students with the skills, knowledge, and agency necessary to effect meaningful change.

Room: Marquee 

Adapting to Change: Practical Guidance for Implementing Limited Flexibility Accommodations 

Leslie Stilson, McBurney Disability Resource Center

As diverse populations of disabled students change, institutions must adapt how the increasing number of students with mental and chronic health disabilities are accommodated. Limited Flexibility Accommodations support students’ access to the classroom, yet their implementation remains complex. A new Limited Flexibility Plan Questionnaire has been developed to enhance inclusive practices, streamline accommodation implementation, and guide instructors through the implementation process. This session will provide guidance on how to interact with this new tool that simplifies limited flexibility accommodation implementation. Attendees will workshop to create effective reasonable flexibility parameters for courses to meet legal obligations and support student access.

Room: Agriculture

SimLab: Enhancing Professional Practice Through Mixed-Reality Software

Sarah D. Lent, SimLab
Courtney Bell, Wisconsin Center for Education Research and Educational Psychology

By blending AI and live interaction, the SimLab at UW-Madison provides opportunities for pre-professionals to rehearse conversation-based scenarios including high-stakes conversations in supportive, do-no-harm environments. Practice experiences in simulated environments can be leveraged in fields such as nursing, education, social work, occupational therapy, and leadership. The simulations have shown a positive impact on professional practice and offer the opportunity for focused instructor and/or mentor feedback. This session will introduce the SimLab, share current work in professional preparation, and allow dedicated time for participants to interact with our virtual avatars in real time.

Varsity Hall

Grab lunch and join a table. This is an informal time to network with campus colleagues.

Room: Northwoods

Evolution of and Lessons Learned in an Interactive Interprofessional Communication Skills Training

Ruthanne Chun, School of Veterinary Medicine
Beth Martin, School of Pharmacy
Roberta Rusch, UW Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education

The UW-Madison Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education created modules to teach national interprofessional competencies. The Communication Module includes three units that help students build a shared vocabulary around communication skills, raise awareness of personal biases, and practice empathic listening and feedback skills. The fourth unit is a case of a missing patient that has been modified from role playing to a video recording, in which students work through multiple ‘scenes’ by identifying and practicing communication skills to find the patient. We will share the story of Unit 4’s evolution based on learners’ hesitation to role play during class.

Room: Landmark

Wittgenstein’s Ghost Haunts Software Engineering

Scott Swanson, Computer Sciences

We present techniques used in ECE/CS 506, a senior course in Software Engineering (SWE). Throughout a 12-week project, we emphasize communication in professional SWE contexts, including understanding, respecting, and working within the diversity found on a typical SWE team. Collaborative learning spaces facilitate student practice in how to conduct small meetings and how to conduct themselves in small meetings. Unorthodox assignments and grading policies implicitly embed executive function development in the curriculum. The presentation includes demonstrations of my instructions to students and discussion/demonstration of specific techniques I use to encourage participation and engagement.

Room: 5th Quarter

Empowering Curiosity: Scaling Student Agency in Introductory Biology

Sarah Edlund, Alison Marlin, and Jon Breschak, Integrative Biology

In Introductory Biology 152, a class of more than 1,000 students, three lecturers, and more than 40 teaching assistants, we will share how we enrich the Wisconsin Experience for each student and embed professional development for each teaching assistant through the semester-long Independent Project. Starting with backward, universal design from the staff level and in cooperation with over 300 mentors and labs across campus, the project strives to instill relentless curiosity, intellectual confidence, and purposeful actions by prioritizing student agency. We will walk participants through setting up, managing, thoughtfully executing, and integrating this course component.

Room: Industry

Innovative Strategies in STEM Education: Bridging Theory and Practice to Enhance Active Learning Outcomes for Intersectional Student Populations

Hyewon Park, Sarina Strnad, and Ryan Grady, Center for Educational Opportunity
Cheri Barta, Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement

This presentation explores holistic, active learning approaches to integrating chemical and biological education within STEM. Focusing on programs like the STEM 4-Year Plan and the utilization of campus support services such as the Chemistry Learning Center (CLC), ACTS, and GUTS, it highlights spaces that encourage goal-setting, peer collaboration, and interactive problem-solving for diverse student populations. By showcasing Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) and hands-on programs like SCORE and SURF, we demonstrate the importance of real-world applications and career pathway adaptation. The session will emphasize modern pedagogical strategies, case studies, and partnerships that support intersectional STEM scholars, offering actionable insights to create inclusive, engaging educational environments.

Room: Marquee

From SET Scores to Something More: Using Student Evaluation Data and Other Analyses for Course Improvement

Verda Blythe, Marketing, Wisconsin School of Business
Ron Cramer, Colleen Valdez, Nate Kelty, and Adam Huffman, Wisconsin School of Business

This session explores a collaborative, iterative approach to transforming Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) surveys (course evaluations) into actionable insights. Participants will discover how the Wisconsin School of Business redesigned its SET survey, leveraged aggregated and question-level data, and then combined the data with multiple analysis techniques and artificial intelligence to generate impactful reports. We will demonstrate how these reports facilitated data-driven decisions for course improvement, instructional enhancements, and impactful school-level policy changes. Attendees will leave equipped with practical strategies to replicate this process and maximize the impact of their own course evaluation data.

Room: Agriculture

Getting Started with the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) at UW

Megan Schmid, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Abstract coming soon

Room: Northwoods

Unlock Inclusivity: Creating Inspiring and Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

Katy Wong and Carrie Kerska, McBurney Disability Resource Center

Join us for this mini-lesson and Q&A session. We will explore how to enhance PowerPoint accessibility and create a more engaging learning environment. Our focus is on fostering inclusion for all users. Key points include:

• Understanding Barriers: We discuss cognitive load, diverse learning styles, and the impact on inclusion within PowerPoint.
• Tools for Accessibility: We introduce core accessibility skills, such as using tables appropriately, adding alt text to images, ensuring color contrast, and use of templates.
• Creating Achievable Goals: We encourage setting realistic accessibility goals.
• Resources: We provide links to user support, training, and accessibility resources.

Bring a laptop. Make sure to have PowerPoint installed. We encourage you to have a sample presentation to allow for hands-on experience practicing the strategies and approaches we will be covering in the presentation.

Room: Landmark

AI as a Thought Partner: Navigating Conversations and Challenges in a Communications Course

Sarah Clifford Glapa, School of Medicine & Public Health, University Health Services

In this session, we’ll explore how to engage students in critical conversations about the ethical challenges of AI, including its use in generating writing and ideas. Drawing from a classroom model where students first read and discuss ethical concerns about AI, participants will discover how to use AI as a thought partner to enhance creativity and brainstorming while using a critical lens. Through both presentation and group discussion, this session will provide practical tools for integrating AI into coursework while addressing its challenges and opportunities.

Room: 5th Quarter

Cultivating Wellbeing in the College Classroom: Innovative Low-Stakes Writing Assignments and Activities

Abigail Letak, English, Writing Across the Curriculum

Fostering student wellbeing has become a focus of many campus efforts. These efforts usually involve extracurricular activities and referring students to counseling. How can we promote student wellbeing within the curriculum, not just beyond it? This session explores approaches to assigning and assessing student writing that encourage both learning and thriving. Specifically, we’ll discuss sustainable strategies for incorporating low-stakes writing activities and assignments — both during and outside class time — that support student wellbeing. We will consider examples of assignments and activities that incorporate and avoid generative AI, and that can be scaled for small and large class sizes.

Room: Industry

Make It Sensational: Instruction That Taps into Students’ Sensorimotor Needs

Sofia Tancredi, Wisconsin Center for Education Research

Emerging cognitive sciences research suggests that learning is not just “in the head:” the kinds of bodily interaction experiences we offer students impact how they engage and what they learn. This interactive session will distill key principles and practices from research on “embodied learning” and the senses that can support engaging, inclusive instruction. We’ll cover the prospective role of movement in the classroom, from gesture to large scale movements to fidgeting, and explore demos of embodied learning approaches.

Room: Marquee

Click, Learn, Thrive: Exploring Online Course Engagement Through the DEEP Microgrant Program

Katherine Rotzenberg, Ace Hilliard, and Lindy Stoll, School of Pharmacy
Jonathan M. Gallimore, Psychology
Heidi Evans and Andrea Poulos, English/English as a Second Language

In this panel a subset of the microgrant awardees for the 2024-2025 data empowered educational practices (DEEP) program will share their year-long projects. The project teams will highlight how data empowered decision making supports their work inside the classroom and promotes student engagement with their content. They will share lessons learned, discuss the data used and plans for using data to support classroom and program improvements.

Room: Agriculture

Get Talking About Teaching! The Mini Discussions Model

Molly Harris and Laura Schmidli, L&S Instructional Design Collaborative

Does your team or department regularly talk about teaching and learning? Are you looking to connect with peers about new teaching ideas, your teaching philosophy, or questions about student learning? Join our breakout session to experience Mini Discussions, a model for engaging groups in 10-15 minute discussions about teaching. In small groups, you will explore and discuss examples of inclusive teaching practices, like connecting with students and refreshing your course content. You will also consider how short discussions about teaching and learning can contribute to your team or department’s culture. You’ll leave with the materials and skills to get talking!

Room: Varsity Hall

Student-Developed Online Learner’s Manual Addressing Student Needs

Yara Al-Rayyan, Bradley Blochowiak, Leslie Kim, and Anna Kowalkowski, Biology Core Curriculum

Biology Core Curriculum (Biocore) student summer interns discussed student resource needs in an honors biology curriculum. These students collaboratively produced an online living document designed to be a frequently accessed resource used by students. The goal of the guide is to empower students with the resources necessary to gain self-efficacy and thereby improve their learning. Topics covered in the manual include note taking, exam preparation, programmatic and campus resources, and effective textbook reading.

K9s in the Classroom: Real-World Learning Through Psychology and Campus Police Partnerships

Chelsea Andrews, Psychology

This poster highlights a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin Police Department K9 Unit and an honors-level Introduction to Psychology course, merging academic concepts with real-world applications. During an engaging classroom visit, K9 teams – including therapy, single-task trained, and multi-task trained dogs – demonstrate how psychological principles like classical and operant conditioning are applied in training and deployment. Students learn how the K9s are trained and utilized across campus, linking abstract learning theories to practical outcomes. This partnership fosters an interactive understanding of psychology, showcasing experiential learning and interdisciplinary collaboration while emphasizing the relevance of psychological science in diverse professional fields.

Supporting Tomorrow’s Educators: The Sarah and David Epstein Teaching Fellows Program

Eduardo R. Arvelo and Line Roald, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Haley Briel, Collaboratory for Engineering Education and Teaching Excellence

The Sarah and David Epstein Teaching Fellows Program prepares Electrical and Computer Engineering teaching assistants (TAs) to become effective and inspiring educators. Through a collaborative learning community, fellows explore best practices in effective teaching, including active learning, fostering student engagement, facilitating discussions, supporting group work, providing feedback, and responding to students in distress. This poster showcases the program’s design, including weekly workshops and reflective exercises, as well as its impact on TA confidence and teaching effectiveness. We also describe the process of setting up the program, including the recruitment of TAs, to facilitate successful replication in other units.

Implementing Master Adaptive Learning Framework into Pediatric Physical Therapy Education

Natalie M. Blonien, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program

Second-year DPT students had a pediatric clinical experience as a culminating semester assignment where they reflected on concepts of master adaptive learning through self-identifying gaps in knowledge, generated clinical questions relevant for care, and created a learning plan to address opportunities for learning.

Visualizing Acoustics: Simulation-Based Learning in a Graduate-Level Ultrasound Course

Alexandra Christensen and Ivan Rosado-Mendez, Medical Physics

Computer simulations can allow students to dynamically visualize difficult classroom concepts with less set-up than traditional labs. We created a computer simulation lab to help graduate students in the medical physics program visualize acoustic fields generated by clinical ultrasonic devices. This poster explores the first-hand experiences of students and instructors, including the challenges and successes of implementing this technology in a graduate-level classroom.

Navigating Curriculum Change: Reframing Student Feedback to Foster Positive Outcomes

Jessica Coburn, School of Nursing
Timmo Dugdale, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

This poster presents our approach to managing negativity during the initial rollout of a curriculum change in a professional undergraduate program. We analyzed student evaluations from new course offerings, coded the feedback, and compared it to existing literature on academic entitlement and resistance to change. Our findings informed classroom management strategies, program policy adjustments, and future faculty development.

Bioreactor Simulation Activates Improved Student Understanding of Reactor Dynamics

Abigail Cordiner and Quentin Dudley, Chemical & Biological Engineering

Understanding the dynamics of bioreactors is an important skill for students going into biomanufacturing industries. The industry values engineers’ ability to predict the effect of parameters on multiparameter systems. In CBE/BME 560, current teaching methods focused on setting up and solving equations. A set of MATLAB Live scripts was developed based on literature reports to walk students through how different parameters affect a bioreactor system during active learning activities. Students showed an increased ability to predict parameter dynamics in the reactor system in a set of pre/post questions. Students also reported increased confidence in predicting dynamics.

Level Up: Transforming Online Education with Gamification Techniques

Brett Currie, John Oppenheimer, Olivia Poches, and Caressa Young, Division of Continuing Studies

Integrating gamification into educational settings has proven to be an effective strategy for enhancing student engagement, motivation, and achievement. Using AI technologies like ChatGPT and powerful eLearning design tools such as Articulate, educators can create immersive and dynamic interactive learning experiences. This poster session will demonstrate how to design gamified course elements using Articulate Rise, enhanced by AI-powered interactivity and personalized feedback through ChatGPT.

L&S TA Training and Support

B Dowling, Lynne Prost, Danielle Clevenger, and Orion Risk, L&S Teaching & Learning Administration

The L&S TA Training & Support Team is a campus partner dedicated to empowering graduate student teachers to be effective and inclusive. Our poster highlights the continued development of L&S TA training programming, including an annual large training event for 500+ new TAs. The newest developments we want to highlight this year are: the introduction of lead Teaching Mentors, the expansion of the Peer Observation Program (POP), and the further development of training for returning TAs.

Assessing Ungrading: Exploring Challenges and Opportunities of Alternative Assessment

Eric Ely-Ledesma, Information School

The principles of ungrading challenge traditional grading and assessment paradigms and offer opportunities to develop more equitable and inclusive learning environments. Research suggests that ungrading can reduce stress, enhance engagement, facilitate creativity, and improve student-instructor relationships. Additionally, adopting ungrading, or alternative forms of assessment, demonstrates instructors’ desire to connect with and motivate students, while instilling a sense of ownership over their educational experiences. This poster will discuss the implementation of ungrading principles in two graduate-level Library and Information Studies courses and speculate on their implementation in a large undergraduate course, while also addressing specific challenges in doing so.

Investigating Student Engagement in a High Impact ESL Course

Heidi Evans and Andrea Poulos, Program in English as a Second Language

This project explores the relationship between student engagement, course structure, and academic outcomes, specifically focusing on the extent to which course engagement allows students to advance to the final course in the ESL sequence. By analyzing data from two distinct course datasets, such as homework completion and the frequency of visiting Canvas pages, we compare student behaviors and their impact on academic performance. We focus on how students engage differently in the same course with slightly varied content structures and consider to what extent the structure of a course contributes to student completion rates and influences their academic success.

Transforming Fieldwork: A Mobile Application to Enhance Data Collection and Learning for Earth Science Students

Kyungdoe Han, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Hochan Son, Department of Statistics and Data Science, University of California, Los Angeles

This study presents the development of a versatile mobile application designed to enhance the field experience for students and lecturers while providing a robust platform for data acquisition and analysis. By leveraging the computational power of modern smartphones and the widespread availability of cloud storage, the application enables efficient logging, storage, and organization of data. This innovation enhances efficiency and usability during fieldwork by reducing reliance on bulky laptops and eliminating the need for manual transfer of field notes to digital spreadsheets. A preliminary version of the application has been developed, and plans for incorporating additional features are underway. We explore the potential applications of this tool in promoting educational engagement and professional development in field-based disciplines.

Investigating Adult Learners’ Use of Non-Credit, Evergreen Canvas-Based Resources

Ace Hilliard, Anna Palmer, and Lindy Stoll, School of Pharmacy

The curricula of Pharmacy’s professional master’s programs support fully online degree pathways. To promote student success and foster a sense of connection to the programs for both local and remote learners, we have developed three evergreen Canvas-based resources to support learners throughout the student lifecycle: New Student Onboarding, Student Commons, and Academic Resources. Through support from the DEEP Microgrants Program, we explored learning analytics from Canvas to help us understand: How do students utilize Academic Resources for support? How does utilization vary by demographic? How does the Onboarding course impact resource utilization, transition, and academic preparedness?

SPARK Your Video Lectures into Engaging Activities

George Jura, Annicka Rabida, and Noelle Gibeson, School of Nursing

SPARK (a Slide to Pause Actively Reflecting on Knowledge) is a flexible, low-prep strategy that transforms narrated PPT video lectures into active learning experiences. By embedding “SPARK slides” at strategic points, instructors encourage students to pause, reflect, and engage through summarizing key ideas, solving problems, or making connections to broader concepts. This method works with any subject and any video format – no need for interactive streaming platforms. SPARK fosters critical thinking and enhances retention through evidence-based retrieval practice. This simple, low-prep, and flexible approach will SPARK your video-based teaching, promoting deeper, more active learning.

Beyond the Screen: Engaging Virtual Learning with Lightboard Technology

Billy Kardasz and Derek Schneider, Wisconsin School of Business

Want to enhance your virtual teaching? Explore how lightboards foster student engagement through dynamic visualizations and discover best practices for implementing this innovative technology in your own virtual classroom. This poster offers practical advice for using lightboard technology in live, virtual courses. See real-world examples from Wisconsin School of Business instructor Gordon Enderle’s hybrid business statistics course, showcasing the lightboard in action. WSB instructional media specialists will be available to discuss various lightboard setups and answer your questions.

LaTeX to PreTeXt: A Journey to Accessibility in STEM Courses

Mitch Keller, Mathematics

LaTeX has long been the preferred tool for course materials in disciplines that use mathematical notation. However, the mathematical notation in PDF files produced by LaTeX is not accessible. PreTeXt is a robust, open-source system that uses LaTeX syntax to mark up mathematical notation but creates multiple output formats (e.g., PDF for printing, accessible HTML, and even braille). This poster demonstrates key features of PreTeXt for development of accessible digital course materials. It also discusses a Spring 2025 pilot project in the Department of Mathematics to convert course materials for MATH/COMP SCI 240 into PreTeXt.

Developing Microsurgery Competency Using Novel Methods: A Program Evaluation

James King, Emily E. Zona, Maci Fulton, Nnadozie Uchegbu, Esther Wang, Weifeng Zeng, Samuel O. Poore, and Aaron Dingle, Surgery

The Microsurgery and Regenerative Medicine Lab at UW–Madison is conducting a program evaluation which involves an undergraduate student taking a microsurgery skills course (which the lab developed) to gain competency in basic microsurgical procedures. The undergraduate will then deliver the microsurgery course to a wide selection of volunteers (novices, medical students, residents, etc.) to assess whether the course teachings are transitive. The goal of the evaluation is to reinforce the efficacy of the existing microsurgery course and to advance efforts in improving the accessibility of microsurgery, especially to younger individuals pursuing a career in medicine.

Improving Team Dynamics through Structured Curriculum in Engineering Design Courses

Angela Kita and Christa Wille, Center for Innovation in Engineering Education
Amanda Smith, Industrial & Systems Engineering

Team dynamics is a known challenge for College of Engineering students and instructors alike. Teamwork is an integral part of being an engineer, but it is an area in need of curricular improvement. To address this, the Effective Team Dynamics curriculum was implemented in four design courses. While still in development, early success demonstrates the potential for this curriculum to improve team dynamics and lessen the burden of dysfunctional teams. Student perceptions of this curriculum are evaluated via peer evaluations, reflections, and surveys and are correlated to outcome measures such as instructor-evaluated team performance and team-based project grades.

The Scientific Teaching Course: Putting AJEDI into practice in STEM classrooms

Mariah A. Knowles and Sarah Miller, Tiny Earth
Cara Theisen, WISCIENCE

The Scientific Teaching Course (STC) is an interactive digital toolbox designed to help STEM educators integrate evidence-based teaching practices into their courses. Grounded in the principles of Scientific Teaching (Handelsman, Miller, & Pfund, 2007), the STC was developed by a national community of STEM professionals led by UW-Madison. It applies the scientific teaching framework  engaging students in authentic science practices and approaching teaching with the spirit of scientific research — in a series of open-access modules. These modules present research and practical strategies for course design, active learning experiences, and assessment, with a focus throughout on inclusive learning in STEM.

Enhancing Student Engagement and Motivation through Digital Badges

Sarah D. Korpi and Jessica Palmer, Division of Continuing Studies

Establishing student engagement and tapping into intrinsic motivation is an art of well-crafted and meaningful instruction. This poster explores the use of digital badges as tools to maintain engagement and support learner motivation. Digital badges provide a verifiable digital record of demonstrated competencies, skills, and knowledge achieved through learning activities. These badges contain detailed metadata about students’ specific achievements, which can be displayed online. Learners can leverage their digital badges to articulate their unique skillsets to current and potential employers and use them as professional networking tools on platforms such as LinkedIn.

SimLab: Enhancing Professional Practice through Mixed Reality Software

Amanda Kruger, Wisconsin Center for Education Research

By blending AI and live interaction, the SimLab at UW-Madison provides opportunities for pre-professionals to rehearse high-stakes conversations in supportive, do-no-harm, virtual environments. Such simulations have shown an impact on professional practice and offer the opportunity for focused instructor and/or mentor feedback. This poster introduces the SimLab, shares its current work in Secondary Education and Special Education teacher preparation, and allows attendees to view scenarios in our virtual classroom or with an adult avatar.

But Will It Benefit the Students? Informative Lessons from Flipping the Classroom in a Large, Undergraduate STEM Course

Andrew Lokuta, Eric Walsh, and Kelly Koch, Kinesiology
Julie Collins and Dan Pell, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Flipped classroom models promise more time for students to engage in discussion and “productive conflict” with class material. But shifting content  delivery out of the classroom requires a leap of faith: Will students engage? Will they learn? Will they be able to get help? Will they like it? In this poster, we’ll share our experience flipping a large lecture course and highlight student feedback on what makes pre-recorded mini-lessons effective and in-class work meaningful. Bring your own experiences and questions, and discover how the flipped model could transform teaching practices and student success in your own courses!

Include Engage Challenge: An Intensive Course Transformation

Brian McNurlen, Abby Koberstein, and Todd Lundberg, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

We will describe the Include Engage Challenge (IEC) program and outline what the two-year process looks like, along with the roles and responsibilities of participants. We’ll share evidence from the literature about what makes programs like IEC effective. We’ll list the benefits and the reasons for why a department may wish to participate. Finally, we’ll share a few examples from the current cohort of courses along with selected success stories.

Community-Academic Partnerships Enrich the Wisconsin Experience for Health Education Students

Evan O. Nelson, Megan Mendez, and  Izi Knoernschild, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
Emma Cooper, Health Equity and Health Promotion

The purpose of this poster is to describe how a faculty-led, community-academic partnership with the Waunakee High School Track & Field team enhanced the Wisconsin Experience for undergraduate and graduate health education students. From the student perspective, this poster will describe purposeful action to apply knowledge and skills for the good of the community and articulate how the project gave students intellectual confidence in what they learned and inspired students to curiously investigate new areas and respect the perspectives of community partners. The mutual benefit to students, faculty, coaches, and high school athletes enabled UW students to merge their passions and education.

Exploring the Implementation of EES in a Mechanics of Materials Case Study

Atulonio Nil Basu and Jennifer Detlor, Mechanical Engineering

This poster presents a case study for a Mechanics of Materials course using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) to enhance student learning. The study models dental braces as beams with circular cross-sections, allowing students to explore shear force, bending moment, and stress under real-world loading conditions. With EES, students visualize shear and moment diagrams, analyze geometry effects on stress, and compare deflection in materials like stainless steel, Nitinol, and titanium. The study emphasizes design considerations, including safety, cost, and deflection, enabling students to engage with engineering problems without extensive hand calculations, improving both understanding and engagement.

Digital Games in World Language Classrooms: Tools for Enhancing Learners’ Engagement and Interaction

Favour Olaosebikan, French and Italian

This poster presentation highlights the importance of digital games in language classrooms to create an engaging learning environment. It is ideal for language teaching assistants with little or no prior experience, offering insights into the benefits of integrating digital games into instruction. Practical tips will be provided on how to implement these games for warm-ups, class activities, and cultural lessons. During this interactive poster session, I will share student feedback demonstrating how digital games enhanced engagement, improved grammar and vocabulary understanding, exposed learners to French culture, and even inspired some to consider studying abroad.

Promoting Class Preparation, Participation and Engagement through Group Activities

Helen Omuya and Kate Rotzenberg, School of Pharmacy
Jessica M. Maher, Delta Program

We sought to improve student preparation, participation, and engagement in a pharmacy law course, using student assessment to inform teaching practice. Previously, students were not prepared for class and reluctant to participate in this flipped course, so we tried new approaches for both the asynchronous online content and in-class work: online group discussions and in-class activities with assigned group roles and random-draw reporting. Pre/post assessments showed that students increased completion of pre-class readings, and >82% reported improved in-class engagement. While qualitative data suggests we could further refine these strategies, we show how our small design modifications changed students’ experience.

A “Dinner Party” Themed Approach to Constructing Equitable and Organized Literature Reviews

Daniel Pearce and Corrine Henak, Mechanical Engineering

Citations help influence the value of a study, but often contain biases against marginalized authors. We developed new instructional material to teach our students (n = 13; Fall 2023 and 2024) about strategies for writing and organizing literature reviews, as well as the importance of citational justice. Our material prompted increased inclusion of marginalized authors during a literature review rough draft, but these inclusions were not always maintained in the literature review final draft, likely due to assignment requirements. Most importantly, a survey revealed notable increases in awareness of citational justice and tools for writing more equitably.

The Soil Game: A Fun Approach to Soil Carbon Dynamics

Priscila Pinto, Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
Maria-Victoria Piazza, Bruno Bazzoni, Paula Berenstecher, Cecilia Casas, Ximena López Zieher, M Soledad Méndez, Marina Omacini, Gervasio Piñeiro, Lucí­a Vivanco, and Laura Yahdjian, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

We present the rules of a game designed to simulate soil carbon dynamics in an engaging and educational format. Players use carbon tokens to navigate soil compartments, including litter, particulate organic matter, dissolved organic matter, and mineral-associated organic matter. By transforming abstract concepts into an interactive experience, the game provides a versatile tool for education, fostering awareness of soil carbon dynamics and their role in addressing global environmental challenges.

The Community Resource Navigator Program Model of Service-Learning

Ashleigh Ross, Center for Patient Partnerships

The Community Resource Navigator Program (CRNP) is an innovative service-learning course that combines the theoretical frameworks of social determinants of health, systems thinking and liberation with hands-on resource navigation work. Undergraduate students receive training in communications and cultural awareness while assisting patient resource acquisition. The purpose of this poster is to share the CRPN model, which provides a scaffolded opportunity for students to gain interpersonal and leadership skills while providing relevant and available resources for community clients. The Resource Navigation work lends itself well to service-learning because students can gain practical experience using skills gained in the classroom such as verbal communication, research, and writing. Community members are provided with tangible benefits in the form of knowledge about available and relevant resources, and validation that their struggles have complex root causes. The liberation model, which serves as the foundational value system, grounds Navigators and clients as equals, working together to navigate complex social service and benefits systems while building a more robust community resource network. Research has shown that CRNP improved student cultural humility and interpersonal communication while increasing client trust in the healthcare system and improving perceived overall health. Throughout the work, students work with clients on complex cases while gaining hands-on experience finding and sharing relevant resources which can directly improve clients’ lives.

Flexible “In-Class” Activities and Student Outcomes

Kate Rotzenberg and Dave Mott, School of Pharmacy

Each lecture in the 726-608 course includes an in-class Canvas activity that students access via a unique code. The activity engages students through applying or reflecting on course concepts, so it may also be beneficial for students to complete even if they are unable to attend lecture. As such, the instructors allow students to submit the “in-class” activity up to one week after lecture occurs. Through the DEEP Microgrant program, we are investigating whether there are relationships between the timing of when students complete these activities (if they complete them at all) and student outcomes in the course.

Open-Source Software Integration: A Tutorial on Species Distribution Mapping and Ecological Niche Modeling

Zoe Ryan and Nkosi Evans, Botany
Emily Clark and Matt von Konrat, Field Museum; Beatrice Cundiff, University of California-Berkley; Joslyn Nichols, Arizona State University; Maya Mahoney, DePaul University; Thomas Campbell, Northeastern Illinois University; Danny Kreider, University of Illinois-Chicago

Over the last decade, access to global data has become increasingly critical for research, allowing insights into diverse biological, environmental, and societal questions at a macro scale. Digitization has amplified the analysis of species distributions and ecological niche modeling. Yet, sources on modeling and mapping methodology is greatly lacking for beginner students. We have created a replicable and thorough tutorial to visualize species occurrence data and exploratory analysis. This tutorial integrates the open-source programs QGIS, MaxEnt, and R to develop distribution maps, using bryophytes as a case study, to promote the accessibility of open-source software and remote access learning.

Interprofessional Peer Mentorship: A Catalyst for Community Building in Occupational Therapy Program

Aravind Sai Sarathy, Curriculum & Instruction
Daniel James Rortvedt, Occupational Therapy

Incorporating an interprofessional peer mentorship program in an online course “Applied Leadership and Management in Occupational Therapy” positively influenced student motivation and fostered a sense of belonging. Students experienced a shift in communication styles resulting in strengthening relationships with peers. Results indicate that the interprofessional peer mentorship model contributed majorly in creating micro spaces and connections to a broader community network. The online learning environment facilitated peer mentorship connections that wouldn’t otherwise be feasible in a traditional on-campus format. Future research could explore the long-term effects of this mentorship model on professional development and contribution to the interprofessional leadership community.

Madison Teaching & Learning Excellence Fellowship: A Learning Community for Early-Career Faculty

Naomi Salmon, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Madison Teaching and Learning Excellence (MTLE) is a two-semester program in teaching for early-career faculty offered through the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring. Over the course of the year, participants explore evidence-based pedagogy and apply it to their own teaching and mentoring. In weekly gatherings, MTLE Fellows forge meaningful connections with peers across the university and reflect on the ways they motivate learners in and out of the classroom.

Fostering Reflective Learning in a Community-based Learning Course in Computer Sciences

Yiyin Shen, Computer Sciences

A reflective learning module was introduced in the community-based learning course CS402, where undergraduate students lead Scratch clubs for 4th-5th graders. Designed to enhance students’ teaching and soft skills, the module integrates Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle and the DEAL Model for Critical Reflection. Students identify and reflect on challenges in their Scratch club sessions, then design, implement, and refine targeted interventions. These challenges focus on five key teaching areas: learning environment, learning differences, content presentation, instructional strategies, and assessment. Results indicate improved teaching skills through a progression from general to specific, theoretical to practical, and reactive to proactive teaching strategies, with 65% of students completing a full Kolb cycle.

Inquiry-Based Introductory Biochemistry Laboratory Course

Erica Shu and Srivatsan Raman, Biochemistry

This poster outlines the design and implementation of Biochemistry 207: Engineering Bacteriophage Laboratory, an inquiry-based lab course for freshmen and sophomores. The course aims to teach students to think like scientists and motivate STEM-oriented students by fostering hands-on, engaging learning experiences. Developed in collaboration with campus partners, including a faculty research lab and the molecular visualization facility, the course integrates cutting-edge technologies such as VR protein structure visualization to enhance student engagement. This innovative approach connects students to real-world applications, supporting both their learning and success in the biochemistry field.

Unfolding Case Study: Incorporating Clinical Judgement with Hands-On Skills

Jessica Troz, Nursing

Healthcare has become an increasingly complex field. Therefore, creative alternatives must be put into place when teaching nursing students to ensure that they are prepared to provide safe and effective nursing care. An unfolding case study is a unique way to encourage students to develop and implement clinical judgement, improve critical thinking, and practice safe hands-on nursing skills, essential for caring for patients in the dynamic field of nursing. This presentation displays survey results from undergraduate nursing students related to the areas of skill performance and clinical judgement after completion of an unfolding case study.

Course Design for Data Analytics

Katie Vermillion Kalmon, Genetics

This project is part of the DEEP Microgrants program. The original goal was to perform data analytics on student interaction with news articles within Genetics in News online course, and correlate that with student outcomes. This was not possible in the current version of the course and required revisions to the Canvas course to allow us to perform the appropriate analysis. We will discuss some of the obstacles we encountered and discuss the revisions we have applied to Canvas to allow us to investigate our original questions in the future.

The Interprofessional Practice and Education (IPE) Transplant Care Practice Placement: A Pilot to Promote an Intentional IPE Lens in a Medical Specialty Setting and Enhance the Wisconsin Experience

Benjamin Weber, Medical College of Wisconsin
Carrie Thiessen, Department of Surgery
Caroline Hess, nursing student
Firas Hikmat and Hunter Wakefield, medical students
Jennifer Timm and Roberta Rusch, Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education

The Interprofessional Education (IPE) Transplant Care Practice Placement, developed by a fourth-year medical student in collaboration with UW CIPE and a UW Surgery Department faculty champion, enhances the Wisconsin Experience. Four IPE Path of Distinction (PoD) medical and nursing students participated in the 2024 pilot. Students engaged with the multidisciplinary transplant team through rounds, candidate evaluations, selection committee meetings, and introduction to the organ procurement organization. The program included an orientation, midpoint check-in, and a final debrief. Reflective journaling allowed students to analyze their experiences. Participants reported an increased appreciation for the value of integrated, collaborative learning and patient care.

Preparing the Future Workforce in Response to an Aging Population: UW CIPE Healthy Aging Initiative

Sue Wenker, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
Teresa S. Sundararajan, Masters of Genetic Counseling student
Jennifer Timm and Susan Switzer, Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education

This work is completed in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (WI DHS). The poster will identify the need to develop interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum for cross-professional students. The poster will highlight the Interprofessional Learning Community Dementia Caregiver Mini-Course; the Advanced Dementia Interprofessional Clinical Simulation Mini-Course; and the Healthy Brain, Healthy Aging Mini-Course pilot that are housed within the UW CIPE Healthy Aging Initiative. Focus will be on lessons learned, successes, and future programs and on the collaboration with the WI DHS to prepare a workforce for interprofessional collaborative practice regarding brain health, cognitive impairments, and caregivers for people living with dementia.

CTLM Teaching Fellows: A Learning Community for Instructional Academic Staff

Katie Will, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Instructional academic staff are deeply committed to to engaging and inspiring their students, and investing in their professional development means enriching learning environments across campus. To that end, this poster publicizes CTLM’s semester-long, biweekly pedagogy learning community for instructors. The program offers a supportive environment, research-backed resources for equitable and inclusive teaching, and ample opportunity for reflection and discussion.

A Novel 3D Printed Microsurgery Microscope Designed to Decrease Barriers to Training

Elizabeth P. Wu and Emily E. Zona, medical students
Sahand Eftekari, Mayo Clinic
Kristine Carbullido, Aaron Dingle, Samuel O. Poore, Ellen Shaffrey, and Weifeng Zeng, Surgery

Microsurgery is a technique that allows for plastic surgery reconstruction of multiple body parts including limbs, breast and head and neck. However, the cost of training and equipment presents a barrier to training. Our lab has invented a low-cost stereovision microscope (WiscVisionTM) to bridge the gap. This microscope was validated in a recent IRB research study with participants already trained or training in microsurgery. The cost of materials for the microscope is $331. These microscopes have been used to teach the first microsurgery courses in Vietnam and Rwanda.