Modality: P (In Person)
The Faculty Center holds monthly professional development events during the semester. These events offer two or more concurrent sessions in each of three time slots, much like a mini-conference. They are held in person only, with remote options only available when the entire event is held online.
Each Teaching and Learning Day is announced several weeks before the event, and participants sign up to reserve a spot; participation is capped at 75. This event is for full-time faculty only, and we provide lunch in the form of pizza, salad, and subs. Since participation is limited, we ask that faculty only sign up if they can attend at least two sessions.
We do not record these sessions since we prioritize the networking and sharing elements of the face-to-face experience. You are always welcome to contact presenters to see if they would be willing to share materials with you separately.
Fall Dates
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Thursday, November 19, 2026
Teaching and Learning Day, Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Session 1 — 9:00 a.m.
- Speaking with Students About Academic Misconduct: Conversations that Promote Accountability — Jennifer Wright; CB1 205
Learn effective strategies for having productive and educational conversations with students about academic misconduct. This session explores communication techniques that promote accountability while reinforcing course expectations. What if the student denies they did it? How do I prove they used AI? How do I enforce grade penalties? You will leave with practical approaches for navigating such difficult situations when academic misconduct is discovered. - Designing an Outcomes-Centered Course — Eric Main; CB1 202
Effective course design begins with a clear vision of what students should be able to do by the end of the course. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn an outcomes-centered approach to identify significant learning goals, articulate clear and assessable student learning outcomes, and align those outcomes with course activities and assessments. The session will provide practical guidance and structured opportunities for participants to begin designing or redesigning a course that supports meaningful, coherent, and measurable student learning.
Session 2 — 10:10 a.m.
- Vibe Coding for College Professors (Non-Programmers): Build AI Tools for Your Classroom — Carlos Valdez; CB1 205
What if you could build a custom tool for your course, like a quiz, a tutor, or a simulation, just by describing it in plain English? That’s vibe coding, and it’s already being taught at Harvard, Clemson, and Cincinnati. In this hands-on session, you’ll see how the interactive labs for two published textbooks were built and used by students today, without writing a single line of code. You’ll leave having created your first working web app, plus a clear path to build chatbots and agents for your own discipline. No programming experience required. No cost to start. - Keep Students in the Learning: A Week 3 Reset for Engagement, UDL, and Strategic AI Use — Liz Giltner; CB1 202
By Week 3, patterns are beginning to emerge: uneven participation, missed work, confusion about expectations, or students beginning to do the minimum. It is also early enough to respond. In this practical one-hour workshop, faculty will distinguish observable student behaviors from assumptions about motivation, identify barriers using a UDL lens, and clarify when AI can support teaching and learning. Participants will apply these ideas to an upcoming class, module, or assignment without lowering academic expectations, and develop a concrete seven-day action plan that may be used across courses and course modalities. Note: interested faculty should identify one course and one current or anticipated engagement challenge to focus on during the session.
Session 3 — 11:20 a.m.
- “I Don’t Get It”: Teaching Students to Sit with Ambiguity — Laurie Uttich; CB1 205
Ambiguity tolerance—staying with an open question instead of rushing to close it—is a learnable skill, not a personality trait. Grading anxiety and time pressure push students toward quick, safe answers…and AI has made this “quick fix” instinct even worse. This session covers where that certainty-seeking comes from and concrete, cross-disciplinary practices for building productive struggle back into your courses. - Developing a Professional Disposition in Students through 21st-Century Soft Skills — Anastasia Bojanowski, CB1 202
This workshop explores the four branches of Kubátová et al.’s (2025) framework centered on 21st century soft skills to develop a professional disposition in students—intrinsic, navigational, connectivity, and visionary skills. Participants will explore four key soft skills, resilience, coping with uncertainty, collaboration, and creativity, each representing a distinct branch of human-centered development in an AI-driven world. - Connecting Your HIPs to Career Readiness — HIP/Career Services, Kim Schneider, Emily Flositz, and Sharon Woodill; CB1 207
High-Impact Practices (HIPs) naturally build students’ career-ready skills and foster the NACE competencies employers value most. However, students often don’t recognize, or cannot articulate, the full scope of the skills they have gained through these experiences. In this session, we will review the UCF HIP landscape and examine national research demonstrating the role HIPs play in preparing students for their next steps academically and professionally. Faculty will then map their current HIP activities (e.g., HIP-designated courses, undergraduate research, study abroad) to specific NACE competencies and identify opportunities to enhance instruction and mentorship. Faculty will leave with practical strategies to help students better understand, articulate, and showcase the career skills they develop through HIPs.
Lunch will be served at 12:20 p.m.
Registration is limited to 75 participants. To sign up, please fill out the form at this link.