2025 UP-TLC: Full Schedule

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1:00pm EDT

Engagement Points: A Learning Buffet

Thursday May 8, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm EDT

For 4 semesters, I have used and refined an engagement system in my very large (>200 student) engineering physics classes. The system gives students substantial agency to choose the learning activities which suit them best. It also dramatically reduces student and instructor time spent on “excusing” specific work. I’ll describe the system and provide data (routinely shared with students) showing that students who meet a minimum threshold of engagement are much more likely to be successful. I’ll also challenge participants to consider how elements of this system might work in their own teaching context.

Speakers

Mike Meyer

Michigan Technological University

Thursday May 8, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm EDT
MTU - Kanwal and Ann Rekhi Hall - Room G06 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931

Preconference Session

1:00pm EDT

Fostering Mental Health Awareness and Balancing Accountability in the Classroom

Thursday May 8, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm EDT

1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931

This session will explore the importance of addressing mental health challenges in the classroom while balancing compassion and accountability. With the increasing prevalence of mental health issues among students, it is crucial that instructors and staff are equipped with the knowledge and strategies to support students' mental well-being while upholding academic expectations. This session will provide practical tools for fostering mental health awareness, setting clear classroom expectations, and reinforcing the instructor's role as an educator—not a therapist. Attendees will learn how to create a psychologically safe and inclusive classroom while ensuring students remain accountable for their academic responsibilities.

Speakers

Christina Hartline

Psychologist/Associate Professor, Northern Michigan University

Jennifer Gorton

Northern Michigan University

Thursday May 8, 2025 1:00pm - 2:30pm EDT
MTU - Kanwal and Ann Rekhi Hall - Room G05 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931

Preconference Session

3:00pm EDT

Explore, Explain, Empower: Leveraging Curiosity to Motivate Learning of Course Concepts and Beyond Through Technology Exploration

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:00pm - 4:30pm EDT

1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931

Engaging first-year engineering students with diverse technical backgrounds presents significant challenges in higher education, particularly in building foundational programming skills and confidence. At our university, nearly 1000 first-year engineering students are equipped with their own Arduino kits from day one of class. Through guided exploration with example code and wiring diagrams, students explore how altering “numbers” and “values” in code affects output, building an operational understanding of MATLAB before formal instruction begins. Every member of the teaching team witnessed new students’ initial, strong hesitation turn into “fist bumps” and “high-fives”. This first exploration fostered growth and accomplishment for new students, helping them develop a personal operational understanding of coding concepts before formal course instruction. Within this model, we have also challenged experienced students with a choose-your-own-adventure style assignment –empowering students to stretch their programming skills. This workshop will present the personal traits known to promote technology adoption and walk participants through an explore, explain, empower exercise designed to leverage these traits. Arduino kits will be available for participant use, although attendees should bring their laptops. Participants will leave with a vision of their own explore, explain, empower exercise they can implement in their own courses.

Speakers

Mary Raber

Department Chair of Engineering Fundamentals, Michigan Technological University

Mary Raber is Department Chair of Engineering Fundamentals at Michigan Technological University. Her research focuses on engineering education and educational innovation. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Michigan Technological University in 2021.

Michelle Jarvie-Eggart

Assistant Professor, Michigan Technological University

Dr. Jarvie-Eggart approaches teaching and research from a liberation pedagogy. She believes in the empowering value of education in both students and faculty and is committed to creating an inclusive campus environment for everyone. Dr. Jarvie-Eggart's research interests lie in supporting... Read More →

AJ Hamlin

Teaching Professor - Engineering Fundamentals, Michigan Technological University

Brett Hamlin

Trouble Maker, Michigan Technological University

Talk to me about connections in the first year.

Matthew Barron

Michigan Technological University

Amber Kemppainen

Michigan Technological University

James Bittner

Michigan Technological University

Gabriel Draughon

Michigan Technological University

Alden Adolph

Michigan Technological University

Amy Monte

Michigan Technological University

Jon Sticklen

Michigan Technological University

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:00pm - 4:30pm EDT
MTU - Kanwal and Ann Rekhi Hall - Room G06 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931

Preconference Session

3:00pm EDT

Guided Workshop on AI Policy Development: Creating a Responsible Use Matrix

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:00pm - 4:30pm EDT

1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931

Building from their forthcoming chapter in the edited collection Artificial Intelligence and Writing Program Administration: Sustainable Approaches to a Rapidly Changing Future, the co-presenters will share the work they have done to develop policy and instructional infrastructure in the first-year writing program at Michigan Tech.

Speakers