The SoL Planning Committee is pleased to announce that this year's opening and keynote speakers will focus on student voices and OHIO's innovative approaches to integrating generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in teaching and learning.

Positioned as two "we-notes," the 2025 Spotlight on Learning will kick off with a student presenter group. SoL Planning Committee member Kalyn McDonald, Assistant Professor-Clinical, Communications Sciences and Disorders will serve as moderator for "Student Spotlight: Strategies for Supporting Learners – in Their Own Words." Topics will include "What We Wish You Knew," "Quit Lecturing at Me (and Do This Instead)," "Academic Integrity," "Affordable Education" and more. 

The lunch we-note will feature faculty members who have been actively engaged in the deep questions related to how GenAI affects teaching and learning. They will share assessment findings based on their implementation of GenAI as instructional strategy, course content and personalized learning support. We-note presenters include: Jared DeForest, Environmental Sciences and Plant Biology; Adonis Durado, School of Visual Communications; Jennifer Lisy, Teacher Education; Basil Masri Zada, Art and Design; Marci Shepard, Education Studies; and Paul Shovlin, English.

The Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Committee encourage OHIO faculty and staff to turn out at the 2025 Spotlight on Learning Conference to support colleagues presenting on high-impact teaching practices. SoL is pleased to present the following sessions across four thematic tracks. Sessions are designed as 20-minute talks with Q&A, focusing on strategies all can use in their own teaching.

TIMESTAMPED TECH

• Genuine Thinking and Artificial Stupidity in Algorithmic Culture: Suleyman Gurbanov, Communication Studies
• How to Use AI in Your Classroom for Critical Thinking Assignments: Victoria LaPoe, Journalism
• Gen Z and GenAI: How Students Perceive, Use and Navigate AI in Higher Education and Beyond: Sarah Rist and Jacob Hiler, Marketing, with students Ali Addington, Matthew Sheehan, Lexie Sherman, Julia Welton 
• Beyond Policing, Towards Empowerment: Designing Writing Assignments in the Age of GenAI: Paul Shovlin, English

TEACHING TO LEARN: ENGAGING STUDENTS

• "I Was The One Who Wrote That": Using TopHat in the Humanities Classroom to Foster Community and Engagement: Spencer Smith, English
• Coaching Your Students To Success Through Engagement: Ian Klein, Biological Sciences 
• Using Team-Based Learning: Ann Frymier, Communication Studies
• Collaborative Case Studies: Fostering Student Engagement Through Industry Partnerships: Shawnee Chapman, Management

TEACHING TO LEARN: SUPPORTING STUDENTS

• Teaching Concepts: Five Fixes to Ensure Your Students Build Conceptualizations for the Long-term: David Moore, Education Studies
• Empowering Students by Creating a Predictable and Supportive Online Learning Environment: Joy Cobb and Mike Dombroski, Office of Information Technology
• Supporting College Algebra Students' Transition to OHIO: Corey Boby, Monica Hilverding and Tracy Watson, Mathematics

TEACHING REGIONALLY

• How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Test-optional Policy? Improving Math Placement for Regional Campus Students: Zijian Diao and John Prather, Mathematics 
• Teaching Physical Science Classes Across Campuses: Gabriela Popa and Michael Koop, Physics and Astronomy
• Innovative Learning in Action: Engaging Nursing and Social Work Students in the Management of Child Abuse and Neglect: Christy Watson and Susan Dowell, Nursing, and Leah Vensil, Social Work

For this first time this year, the Spotlight on Learning Conference will feature a Festival of Learning during which time presenters will actively share their teaching strategies with participants on a self-paced and led festival tour. Faculty participants "compete" for first, second and third place as judged by a panel of their peers. Awards of $1,000, $750 and $500 respectively may be used to support student activities in an upcoming course.

The Festival of Learning will feature the following:

• Existential Questions in the First-Year Classroom: Chris Lewis, HTC, and Mary Kate Hurley, English
• Game Design-Based Learning -- A third approach to teaching and learning: Michael Greene, University HR
• Learn to Fly in Marketing /Business: Nicole Byrd, Marketing
• Mindfulness in the Wild: A Student-Driven Immersive Learning Experience: Lisa Martin, HTC
• More Than Speaking Up: Voice Empowerment and Leadership in the Classroom and the Community: Robin Muhammad, African-American Studies
• Phishing for Awareness:  A Collaborative Approach to Cybersecurity Education: Reagan Klinger-Neviska, John Roberts, OIT
• Redefining Space for Learning--Using Story and Drama as Designing Spaces for Learning: Kevin Cordi, Teacher Education
• Second City Success: What Improv Taught Me About Learning: Dan Farkas 
• The Accessibility Habit – Stacking Simple Habits for a More Accessible World: Haley Riwniak, Alicia Porter and Jill Bateman, Accessibility

• Empowering the Next Generation: Strategies for Cultivating Critical Thinking in Hybrid Learning Environments: Fatiha Bazouche, Teaching Assistant, Education

• These tubes can talk? The source-filter theory of speech production: Chao-Yang Lee and Caitlyn Neill, Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences

Ohio University Libraries, the Office of Instructional Design, TopHat, the CTLA and the Office of Instructional Technology will also have staff present to share resources and consult with SoL participants.

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