CIRTL Network

Panel(s) of Careers Beyond Higher Education
2026-03-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Join panelists from various disciplines to discuss their career paths from graduate degree to professional. Panelists will address how they used their degrees and training to prepare them for their current positions and any advice they can give to current graduate students. Plenty of time will be given for questions. This is the eight and final event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Irfan Alam
Irfanul (Irfan) Alam earned his PhD in Biology Education Research from the University of Colorado Boulder (EBIO), where he developed expertise in mixed-methods inquiry. He previously served as a Program Evaluator at the University of Mississippi’s Center for Research Evaluation, leading grant-funded evaluations of education initiatives. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at North Dakota State University, where his work focuses on strengthening cross-institutional collaboration through mixed-methods research and statewide social network analysis under the SPARK-ND initiative.
Mckenzie Dice
Mckenzie Dice is a former Lead Teaching Assistant and a proud MS and PhD graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. After completing her dissertation on Antarctic atmospheric boundary layer dynamics in 2023, she transitioned from academia into applied climate resilience work. She now serves as an Extreme Weather Resilience Specialist and Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton, supporting the U.S. Department of War on extreme weather related risk. Her work focuses on translating complex environmental data into actionable insights for infrastructure resilience, mission readiness, and long term strategic planning.
Olivia Marrese
Olivia graduated from CU with a PhD in Linguistics, specializing in conversation analysis. She is currently a Conversational Architect in AI and Machine Learning at 66degrees, a Google Cloud premier partner. In her role as a consultant and engineer, she designs, builds, and maintains multi agent systems across a variety of industry verticals, and particularly enjoys operationalizing findings from conversational data. Prior to 66, Olivia worked at Quiq, a startup in conversational AI, and as a PhD student she held internships at IBM Almaden and SoundHound AI.

Carli Brucker
Carli Brucker is a former Lead Teaching Assistant for the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. She graduated in 2023 with her MS and PhD in Hydrology and Water Resources, with a research focus in wildfire impacts on water quality. Since then, Carli has worked as a Water Resources and Resilience Management engineer at Carollo Engineers, using her skills in data science and modeling to develop water supply plans for municipalities, wildfire resilience and preparedness strategies, and climate change impact assessments.
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, March 12th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 1-2pm Pacific/Arizona.
**Gulf: Friday, March 13th at 12-1am**
Audience
This event is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers looking for an introduction to fundamental academic professional development topics.
Registration
REGISTER NOW
This online event is open to the public. Once you register, you will automatically receive Zoom information for the session.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu), who is supporting this event, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the event to support accessibility for all our students:

Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

CIRTL Network Teaching-as-Research Presentations
2026-04-08 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Chicago)
Hear graduate students and postdocs from across the CIRTL Network share the results of their Teaching-as-Research (TAR) projects in this online presentation session. In TAR projects, future faculty explore a specific question about teaching and learning, design and implement some sort of classroom-based intervention to test that question, and consider how they might adjust their teaching practices based on what the results show. TAR is a cornerstone of CIRTL’s work in developing reflective practitioners that support learning for all.
Schedule
This online event meets on Wednesday, April 8th at 8-9:30pm Gulf / 12-1:30pm Eastern / 11am-12:30pm Central / 9-10:30am Pacific/Arizona.
How to attend
This online event is open to the public. Once you register, you will automatically receive Zoom information for the session.
REGISTER NOW
Speakers
This year, 17 emerging educators from 12 institutions will share their pedagogical research. Presentations will run concurrently across six disciplinary panels:

Education
Earth Sciences
Math, Computing, & Engineering
Health
Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences
AI in STEM Education

View the full speaker list and session descriptions here
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact David Larson (dlarson23@wisc.edu), who is supporting this event, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the event to support accessibility for all our participants:

Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.

Johns Hopkins University In Person Teaching Institute
2026-05-27 08:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Learn common themes and challenges of teaching in higher education during this 3-day Teaching Institute. Through faculty presentations and group work, participants will learn about effective teaching practices, with a focus on active learning, backward design, assessment, and applying inclusive, evidence-based practices to developing your own lesson plan. By the end of the institute, participants will be able to:

Explore and test multiple teaching methods that engage and assess diverse students
Develop skills and strategies to continue growing as reflective instructors who employ evidence-informed teaching methods
​​​​​​​Identify strategies that improve student learning outcomes for all students
Create a peer-reviewed lesson plan
Present a lesson plan or facilitate micro-teaching exercise to their peer group

Schedule

This in-person institute meets daily from Wednesday, May 27 through Friday, May 29. Participants can see a detailed schedule upon registration.
Workload
Participants are expected to continue working on their lesson plan and micro-teaching activity outside of daily sessions.
Registration & Enrollment
This institute is at capacity but interested participants can add their names to the waitlist for a chance to attend.
JOIN THE WAITLIST
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience.

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Johns Hopkins University Online Teaching Institute
2026-06-08 08:00 - 11:30 (America/Chicago) | Online in Zoom
Learn common themes and challenges of teaching in higher education during this 5-day Teaching Institute. Through faculty presentations and group work, participants will learn about effective teaching practices, with a focus on active learning, backward design, assessment, and applying inclusive, evidence-based practices to developing your own lesson plan. By the end of the institute, participants will be able to:

Explore and test multiple teaching methods that engage and assess diverse students
Develop skills and strategies to continue growing as reflective instructors who employ evidence-informed teaching methods
​​​​​​​Identify strategies that improve student learning outcomes for all students
Create a peer-reviewed lesson plan
Present a lesson plan or facilitate micro-teaching exercise to their peer group

Schedule

This institute meets online daily from Monday, June 8 through Friday, June 12 at 5-8:30pm Gulf / 9-12:30pm Eastern / 8am-11:30am Central / 7-10:30am Mountain / 6-9:30am Pacific/Arizona. Participants can see a detailed schedule upon registration.
Workload
Participants are expected to continue working on their lesson plan and micro-teaching activity outside of daily sessions.
Registration & Enrollment
This institute is at capacity but interested participants can add their names to the waitlist for a chance to attend.
JOIN THE WAITLIST
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience.

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Pedagogies of Care: Accessible Teaching, Systemic Barriers, & Care in Your Discipline
2026-06-09 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
How can educators sustain care for themselves and their students amid growing institutional pressures, shifting technologies, and increasing demands on their time and attention? In this workshop, participants will reflect on what care looks like in their classrooms, what gets in the way of practicing it, and how their disciplines shape (or neglect) its meaning. Through open discussion and reflective activities, participants will examine tensions between institutional expectations and inclusive teaching values, explore systemic barriers that reproduce harm or hinder access, trace the ethical and cultural lineages that inform their pedagogical approaches, and imagine practices of care that foster more just, accessible, and sustainable teaching and learning environments. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Reflect on how care, identity, access, and classroom climate shape their teaching and learning environments
Identify institutional and systemic factors that support or constrain care-centered and inclusive pedagogical practices
Analyze how disciplinary traditions and cultural lineages inform approaches to care in teaching and learning
Articulate a preliminary “Pedagogy of Care” commitment or set of guiding practices to inform future course design and classroom engagement

Instructors
Kelsey Reeder, Columbia University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Tuesday, June 9th at 7-9pm Gulf / 11am-1pm Eastern / 10am-12pm Central / 8-10am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This session is designed for educators with some teaching experience who have already begun reflecting on their teaching practice. Participants will get the most out of the sessions if they have prior exposure to concepts such as inclusive teaching, course design, or classroom climate, whether through formal workshops or their own pedagogical reflection and experimentation.
Registration and Enrollment
**Registration closed as of Wednesday, May 27th**
Registration opens on Tuesday, May 26th at 10am CT. Cap: 25. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority. Once registration closes, all registrants will be notified of their enrollment status.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Stimulating Student Engagement and Motivation By Asking the “Right” Questions
2026-06-10 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
This workshop explores how purposeful questioning can enhance student engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes. Grounded in frameworks such as Bloom’s Taxonomy and the 5E model, participants will examine how different types of questions promote deeper understanding and active participation across disciplines. The first part will address questioning for engagement during teaching. This will focus on informal, in-class questioning strategies that stimulate curiosity, encourage participation, and promote critical thinking. Participants will explore how to design real-world, reflective, and higher-order questions that connect content to students’ experiences and support inclusive classroom dialogue. The second part of the workshop will address questioning for graded assessment, including question design for assignments and evaluations, and emphasizing a balanced approach that integrates foundational knowledge (recall and understanding) with higher-order thinking. Participants will consider how to align assessment questions with course and program learning objectives to ensure meaningful measurement of student learning. By the end of the workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Differentiate between questioning strategies for in-class engagement and graded assessment
Design questions that balance recall and critical thinking across teaching and assessment contexts
Align questions with course and program learning objectives to enhance student learning and evaluation

Instructors
Sami Mejri, Khalifa University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Wednesday, June 10th at 8-9pm Gulf / 12-1pm Eastern / 11am-12pm Central / 9-10am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This session is designed for educators with some teaching experience that are familiar with assessment and digital technologies, but is generally open to anyone interested in stimulating student engagement and motivation.
Registration and Enrollment
REGISTER NOW
Registration opens on Monday, May 18th at 10am CT and closes on the day of the workshop. No cap.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate/advanced level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Planning Your Teaching-as-Research Project
2026-06-16 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Chicago)
Jumpstart your plans for a Teaching-as-Research (TAR) project in this 6-week flipped course designed to guide participants through developing a research question, identifying project methods and outcomes, and more. Each week, students will watch videos, read articles, and complete assignments on their own time; in weekly sessions, students will refine their work with peer review, work through sticking points with instructors, and build community to sustain their work. Throughout the course, students will also be expected to meet occasionally with a local TAR contact (typically the person at your CIRTL member institution who mentors TAR students and/or runs your institution’s TAR program) to refine key components of your TAR project plan. By the end of the course, students will present a TAR project plan and be well-positioned to implement their project in the coming academic year.
What is Teaching-as-Research?
Teaching-as-Research (TAR) takes a deliberate and systematic approach towards investigating, reflecting on, and improving one’s own teaching. The TAR process follows an inquiry cycle that consists of the following stages: identifying of a challenge within the context of teaching and learning, delving into the relevant scientific literature, designing a project to elucidate why the challenge occurs or designing a teaching intervention to address the challenge, implementing the project, collecting data, analyzing the data, drawing conclusions, and reflecting on the experience. TAR is a proactive and dynamic approach towards improving your teaching and document your teaching effectiveness. A TAR experience will provide a substantial example of your reflective, professional practice applicable to a range of career outcomes.
Instructors
Sophia Abbott, The University of Rhode Island
Jessica Maher, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Course Schedule
This 6-week course has weekly online sessions on Tuesdays at 7-8:30pm Gulf / 11am-12:30pm Eastern / 10-11:30am Central / 8-9:30am Pacific/Arizona from June 16th to July 21st.
Workload
Your instructors estimate students will need to spend 6-8 hours per week on work outside of class sessions including: watching videos, reading articles, completing assignments, meeting with your local TAR contact, and reviewing peer group work so that you can provide in-session feedback.
Registration and Enrollment
This course is limited to 25 students. Registration is closed.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact David Larson (dlarson23@wisc.edu) to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience.

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.

Beyond Efficiency: Reimagining AI’s Purpose in Teaching, Learning, and Research
2026-06-24 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
This workshop explores how artificial intelligence can be used beyond efficiency and automation to support deeper learning, creativity, and human-centered innovation. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, participants will consider how AI can enhance critical thinking, collaboration, and reflective practice in teaching, learning, and research. Through practical examples, the session highlights strategies for integrating AI into pedagogy, such as inquiry-based learning, scaffolded assignments, and competency-based approaches-while maintaining meaningful human engagement, fostering interdisciplinary thinking, and supporting student development in a rapidly evolving academic landscape. By the end of the workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Identify ways to integrate AI into teaching practices that enhance critical thinking and student engagement
Apply at least one AI-supported pedagogical strategy (e.g., scaffolding, inquiry-based learning) in their own context
Evaluate how AI can support interdisciplinary learning and human-centered educational outcomes

Instructors
Sami Mejri, Khalifa University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on on Wednesday, June 24th at 8-9pm Gulf / 12-1pm Eastern / 11am-12pm Central / 9-10am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This session is designed for educators with some teaching experience that are familiar with assessment and digital technologies, but is generally open to anyone interested in exploring and reimagining AI’s purpose in pedagogy.
Registration and Enrollment
REGISTER NOW
Registration opens on Monday, June 1st at 10am CT and closes on the day of the workshop. No cap.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate/advanced level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

The Faculty Inclusive Teaching Survey (FITS) Guidebook: Supporting Current and Future Faculty in Becoming Inclusive Instructors
2026-06-25 12:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)
Despite recent opposition to diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI), effective instructional methods that truly enable all students to succeed are still critical to the success of the U.S. STEM workforce. Inclusive teaching is instrumental in helping instructors reflectively examine how their identities intersect and interact with their students and how they can structure and implement their courses and teaching practices that will uplift and support all students to succeed. Inclusive teaching is about inviting all to enter a learning environment that is safe, inviting, and supportive and that produces learning, thus promoting ongoing persistence into STEM fields and careers.
This workshop will share and synthesize research results from the The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project (ISTP) into a practical, integrated FITS Guidebook that contains validated scales, resources, and recommendations to create reflective and inclusive practitioners that embrace ongoing growth and development. Participants will learn how to utilize the FITS Guidebook to support the development of inclusive instructors in your professional development programs by promoting reflective, relational, and strategic dimensions that are braided together to create ongoing, iterative growth for yourself and your participants. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Developing iterative, reflective, and inclusive practitioners by engaging in deep, reflective prompts and peer-peer learning focused on ISTP research results
Examine the lived experiences of learners (e.g., students, faculty members) and campus constituents that impact and influence the development of inclusive instructors
Advance an inclusive teaching action plan

Instructors
Gina Frey, University of Utah
Kim Weaver, University of Utah
Lucas Hill, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Linden Higgins, University of Vermont
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Thursday, June 25th at 9pm-12am Gulf / 1-4pm Eastern / 12-3pm Central / 10am-1pm Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This workshops is geared towards faculty/future faculty developers that are interested in supporting the development of inclusive instructors in professional development programs.
Registration and Enrollment
REGISTER NOW
Registration opens on Monday, June 1st at 10am CT and closes on the day of the workshop. No cap.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

UDL + AI Design Studio
2026-06-26 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago)
The UDL + AI Design Studio is a six-week redesign studio where instructors improve one real teaching challenge using Universal Design for Learning (UDL)—a widely recognized, research-grounded framework for designing learning experiences. While UDL is highly respected in higher education, it is often presented as a complex set of principles and strategies; this studio reframes it as a simple, practical WHY–WHAT–HOW design cycle that makes redesign manageable and actionable. AI functions as a design partner, helping instructors apply UDL more efficiently to refine activities and assessments with clarity and precision. By the end of this short course, participants will be prepared to:

Analyze a specific teaching challenge using baseline evidence to identify where students struggle and what factors are contributing to the problem
Apply the UDL Learning Design Cycle (WHY → WHAT → HOW), using AI as a design assistant to generate, refine, and stress-test UDL-informed design moves efficiently
Create a cohesive UDL + AI redesign package that strengthens student engagement, improves content clarity or access, and supports meaningful performance
Evaluate the redesign by developing a feasible implementation and evidence plan that identifies indicators of impact and next steps for refinement.

Instructors
V. Blue Lemay, Binghamton University
Kimberly Elsener, Binghamton University
Chris Cain, Mars Hill University
Course Schedule
This 6-week short course meets in Zoom on Fridays at 7-8pm Gulf / 11am-12pm Eastern / 10-11am Central / 8-9am Pacific/Arizona from June 26 to July 31.
Audience
This studio is designed for CIRTL participants who are currently teaching or supporting teaching in higher education (or expect to teach in the next academic term), including graduate students, postdocs, and early-career faculty. Participants should:

Have access to a real teaching context and be able to select one “teaching artifact” to redesign (e.g., an assignment, discussion activity, lesson plan, etc.)
Have access to an AI tool (institution-approved, if applicable) and have familiarity using it for general idea generation
Come with an open, learning-oriented mindset—prepared to experiment with AI as a support for instructional design rather than avoiding it altogether

No prior UDL training or advanced instructional design experience is required.
Workload
Participants should plan to spend approximately 90 minutes per week on asynchronous work, including short readings/videos, drafting components of their redesign, discussion participation, and peer feedback. Total estimated time commitment: 2–2.5 hours per week (live session + asynchronous work).
Registration and Enrollment
**At capacity and closed for registration as of Monday, June 8th**
Registration opens on Monday, June 8th at 10am CT. Cap: 15. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority. Once registration closes, all registrants will be notified of their enrollment status.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the course to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate/advanced level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

The Faculty Inclusive Teaching Survey (FITS) Guidebook: Growing as a Reflective and Iterative Inclusive Instructor
2026-06-30 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
Despite recent opposition to diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI), effective instructional methods that truly enable all students to succeed are still critical to the success of the U.S. STEM workforce. Inclusive teaching is instrumental in helping instructors reflectively examine how their identities intersect and interact with their students and how they can structure and implement their courses and teaching practices that will uplift and support all students to succeed. Inclusive teaching is about inviting all to enter a learning environment that is safe, inviting, and supportive and that produces learning, thus promoting ongoing persistence into STEM fields and careers.
This workshop will share and synthesize research results from the The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project (ISTP) into a practical, integrated FITS Guidebook that contains validated scales, resources, and recommendations to create reflective and inclusive practitioners that embrace ongoing growth and development. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Develop as iterative, reflective, and inclusive practitioners by engaging in deep, reflective prompts and peer-peer learning focused on ISTP research results
Examine the lived experiences of learners (e.g., students, faculty members) and campus constituents that impact and influence the development of inclusive instructors
Advance an inclusive teaching action plan

Instructors
Kim Weaver, University of Utah
Lucas Hill, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Linden Higgins, University of Vermont
Workshop Schedule
This two-part online workshop meets in Zoom on Tuesday, June 30th and Wednesday, July 1st at 9-10:30pm Gulf / 1-2:30pm Eastern / 12-1:30pm Central / 10-11:30am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This workshop is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who are interested in developing as iterative, reflective, and inclusive practitioners.
Registration and Enrollment
REGISTER NOW
Registration opens on Monday, June 8th at 10am CT and closes on the first day of the workshop. No cap.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Critical AI Literacy for Teachers and Students: Prompting, Evaluating, and Ethically Using Generative AI
2026-07-13 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
Surprised by how fast AI is developing, yet still cautious about trusting it? Already using AI but wondering how to encourage students to remain critical of its outputs? As generative AI reshapes the educational landscape, developing critical AI literacy becomes essential for responsible AI use and critical evaluation. This workshop series explores critical AI literacy across various disciplines, with particular focus on AI prompt literacy, critical evaluation of AI outputs, and ethical disclosure practices. Instead of seeing generative AI as a dominant tool, the workshop encourages participants to see themselves as active and independent decision makers in human-AI collaboration. In session 1, participants will engage in hands-on activities to iteratively refine prompts that align with their writing purposes and goals, critically evaluate AI-generated outputs, and draft counter-text to articulate the reasons for accepting, modifying, and rejecting AI outputs. In addition, participants will draft an AI use disclosure statement to maintain academic and professional integrity and transparency. In session 2, participants will reflect on and extend these strategies by adapting the workshop activities to their own teaching, research, or professional contexts. Through collaborative sharing and discussion, participants will explore how critical AI literacy practices can be applied in different disciplines and settings. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Develop AI prompts with clear attention to purpose, audience, genre, and ethical boundaries
Critically evaluate AI outputs for accuracy, bias, assumptions, and alignment with disciplinary values
Decide when to accept, revise, or reject AI outputs and explain their reasoning through counter-text to maintain human agency.
Apply critical AI literacy strategies by adapting workshop activities, prompts, or evaluation approaches to their own contexts

Instructors
Ruonan Yang, The Ohio State University
Erin Mercurio, The Ohio State University
Workshop Schedule
This two-part online workshop meets in Zoom on Monday, July 13th and July 20th at 9-10:30pm Gulf / 1-2:30pm Eastern / 12-1:30pm Central / 10-11:30am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
Anyone with an interest in critical AI literacy is welcome to participate. Participants who have experience teaching as independent instructors may find it especially helpful, as it may be easier to adapt the workshop activities to their own teaching contexts.
Registration and Enrollment
Interested in attending? Fill out this short form to get a reminder when registration opens.
Registration opens on Monday, June 29th at 10am CT. Cap: 60. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority. Once registration closes, all registrants will be notified of their enrollment status.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory/intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Handling Difficult Dialogues In the Classroom
2026-07-15 10:00 - 11:15 (America/Chicago)
Join us for a discussion about planning complex dialogues and handling difficult moments in the classroom, drawing from scholarly frameworks such as Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) and reflective teaching. By the end of this workshops, participants will be prepared to:

Consider common dynamics that arise when teaching sensitive topics
Integrate transparency, course guidelines, and other strategies into course context to help students engage with sensitive topics
Identify teaching tools to address difficult moments or unexpected student reactions during sensitive discussions.

Instructors
Katherine Beydler, University of Iowa
Darren Hoffman, University of Iowa
Allie Brandriet, University of Iowa
Workshop Schedule
This one-part online workshop meets in Zoom on Wednesday, July 15th at 7-8:15pm Gulf / 11am-12:15pm Eastern / 10-11:15am Central / 8-9:15am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This workshop is open to anyone interested in handling difficult dialogues in the classroom.
Registration and Enrollment
REGISTER NOW
Registration opens on Monday, June 22nd at 10am CT and closes on the first day of the workshop. No cap.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory/intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Classroom Ethics in Higher Education: Navigating Dilemmas with Intention
2026-07-15 10:00 - 11:15 (America/Chicago)
Educators at all levels and across content areas navigate daily challenges that emerge from the fraught context of classroom teaching. Apart from the obvious emotional, intellectual, and logistical challenges of providing quality instruction, instructors must also confront intractable dilemmas that pit their own values against the policies and practices of their academic unit or institution at large. This is particularly troubling for graduate and early career instructors who must navigate these spaces without the assurance of institutional protection. In this two-part workshop, instructors and future instructors in higher education are invited to participate in a classroom ethics “bootcamp” that will prepare them for exploring the inherent tensions that arise in the classroom, from issues of fair student assessment to facing controversial topics in discussion. Most instructors teach how they were taught – this workshop will take the first steps in breaking the pattern of status-quo instruction, preparing instructors to practice critical reflection and ethical deliberation. Participants should come prepared to discuss topics like end of semester grade rounding, student emotional disturbance, class attendance, and navigating controversial topics. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Apply ethical theories to resolve abstract dilemmas
Identify and prioritize at-stake values in various ethical case-studies in the context of teaching in the college or university setting
Articulate a reasoned defense of their decisions in resolving an ethical dilemma in the context of teaching in the college or university setting.

Instructors
Walker Ballard, The Ohio State University
Erin Mercurio, The Ohio State University
Workshop Schedule
This two-part online workshop meets in Zoom on Wednesday, July 15th and July 29th at 7-8:15pm Gulf / 11am-12:15pm Eastern / 10-11:15am Central / 8-9:15am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This session is for anyone interested in classroom ethics in higher education, though some experience in higher education classrooms as instructor of record might make the session more meaningful.
Registration and Enrollment
Interested in attending? Fill out this short form to get a reminder when registration opens.
Registration opens on Monday, June 29th at 10am CT. Cap: 30. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority. Once registration closes, all registrants will be notified of their enrollment status.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory/intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.
