This year, 81 faculty members made their way to Mount Magazine for ENGAGE Teaching Camp 2023 for three days of networking and faculty development.

Rodica Lisnic, teaching assistant professor in sociology, wrote, "This camp is special for me because it, first of all, helps me develop a sense of community and belonging, which motivates me to be a better teacher and equips me with the tools to pay it forward and create classroom environments where students can feel like they can flourish and belong."

This year's speaker, Jose Antonio Bowen, is nationally recognized for his work in faculty development.

Bowen has long been a pioneer in education, classroom design and technology, featured in The New York Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Newsweek, PBS News Hour and on NPR. His books include Teaching Naked, Teaching Naked Techniques: A Practical Guide to Designing Better Classes with G. Edward Watson, and the recent and the new Teaching Change: How to Develop Independent Thinkers using Relationships, Resilience and Reflection. In addition, he has two TED Talks and is currently a Senior Fellow at the Association of American of Colleges and Universities.

In his opening session, Bowen talked about Teaching Change with a New Three R's: Relationships, Resilience and Reflection. He shared recent and wide-ranging research from biology, economics, psychology, education and neuroscience on the difficulty of change can guide us to redesign an education of transformation and change. On the second day, he conducted a workshop on Teaching Change and Inclusive Teaching and Reaching Students and another workshop on Leveraging Artificial Intelligence.

Lynn Meade, TFSC co-director, said, "We chose student engagement as our topic because it is one thing that all teachers, regardless of department, have in common — they engage students. Engagement is at the heart of student success. This camp was not only about engaging with students, but also about engaging with other faculty. One of our goals of the camp was to build bridges by developing interpersonal and professional relationships between faculty in different departments." One way that was accomplished was by faculty making joint presentations at camp.

In addition to the headline speaker's presentations, 23 faculty presented teaching topics related to the topic of student engagement.

Maslow before Blooms: Creating Space for Dialogue and Inquiry: I've Noticed, I Wonder, What if?  Lynn Meade, teaching assistant professor, Student Success, TFSC co-director

In a Sea of Faces, How Do You Engage Individual Students?
Robert Mortenson, instructor, Department of Sociology & Criminology; and Faith Lessner, teaching assistant professor, Department of Biological Sciences

Effective Engagement in the Online Environment
Jack Kern, teaching professor, Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation; and Hope Ballentine, teaching associate professor, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing

Engaging Students Through Backward Design: Beginning at the End
Amanda Troillett, clinical assistant professor, Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program; and Kandy Salter, clinical assistant professor and program director, Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program

Building Buy-In for Your Students: Beginning with the End in Mind to Motivate and Drive Learning Outcomes
Sarah Denison, director of career initiatives for Fulbright College; and Laura Virginia Gray, Creative Writing, teaching assistant professor, English

Understanding Emerging Adulthood to Increase Engagement and Meaningful Connections
Jamie L. Frala, lecturer, Department of Psychological Science; Stephanie K. Hubert, instructor, School of Human Environmental Sciences; and Heather L. Walker, teaching assistant professor and associate department head for the undergraduate program, Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering

YOUniveral Design: Engaging All Students with Universal Design
Brett Nachman, assistant professor; Department of Counseling, Leadership and Research Methods; and Rachel Glade, clinical associate professor; Department of Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy

Crafting Captivating Assignments and Assessments
Dylan Girodat, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; and Ninette Sosa, instructor, School of Journalism and Strategic Media

Strategies for Group Engagement
Susan Bristow, teaching associate professor, Department of Information Systems; Brandon Crisel, instructor and undergraduate advisor, Department of Industrial Engineering; and Monty Roberts, instructor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Engaging Students by Improving Belonging: Strategies for In-Class Peer Interaction
Will Doss, assistant professor, Agricultural Education Program; and Emily Woodruff, clinical assistant professor, School of Social Work

Student Discussion: From A(nimals) to Z(ippers)
Erica Westerman, associate professor, Department of Biological Sciences; and Leigh Southward, School of Human Environmental Science

Engaging with Technological Tools: Blackboard Ultra
Kathryn Zawisza, director of academic technology and innovation

Painting with a Pedagogical Twist
Lynn Meade, teaching assistant professor, TFSC co-director

Lessons from Legos
Richard Cassady, University Professor, engineering, TFSC co-director

Five Minute Teaching Tips led by the TFSC co-directors
Lynn Meade, teaching assistant professor, Student Success; Carole Shook, teaching assistant professor, Department of Information Systems; Richard Cassady, University Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering; Hope Ballentine, teaching assistant professor, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing

Another goal of teaching camp was to connect faculty with resources. During meals, faculty had presentations from key faculty support services on campus — Teaching and Faculty Support Center, Teaching Academy and Faculty Affairs.

Teaching Camp is an annual faculty teaching development program sponsored by the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. The TFSC covers all expenses (travel, lodging and meals) for participating faculty. 

Be sure to look for the Teaching Camp announcement, and apply next spring so you can join us for camp in August 2024!