Center for Teaching and Learning staff Teresa Focarile (director of educational development) and Sarah Lausch (educational development consultant) presented some of their recent projects at the annual Professional and Organizational Development Network conference in Chicago, Illinois. The POD Network is North America’s largest educational development community and aims to advance the research and practice of educational development in higher education.
Focarile, with KC Culver from the University of Alabama, co-facilitated an interactive session on “Designing Accessible and Inclusive Professional Development Programs for VITAL Faculty.” The session discussed how sustained professional development programs like faculty learning communities are increasingly open to VITAL faculty (visiting, instructors, teaching, adjuncts, lecturers and other contingent faculty) but often without intentional design to meet their needs.
Lausch, in collaboration with Jessica Stansbury from the University of Baltimore, presented research on two introductory, asynchronous, five-week courses on generative AI, one geared toward faculty and one towards students. Each course seeks to enhance understanding and responsible use of AI among the audiences. Mixed-method assessments measured knowledge change, attitudes and course usefulness as reported by the participants.
Lausch also presented a poster on the creation of a graduate instructor learning community that aims to enhance graduate instructors’ feelings of belonging, teaching confidence and reflective teaching practices. The project is the outcome of a POD Network research grant Lausch and Megan Frary, a senior educational development consultant in the Center for Teaching and Learning, received in 2023.