TLC – Behind the Scenes of a “Host” The Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) at Ashford University is planned year-round. Just as one TLC concludes, evaluations collected, feedback synthesized… the theme, calendar, and agenda are being set for the next. It is a tremendous undertaking that brings together thought leaders from AU faculty, staff and students, and those industry leaders and thinkers from the academic community as a whole. Joining the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) team at AU just over a year ago, I was tasked with the role of hosting TLC sessions throughout the three-day conference. I quickly learned this was a “hurry up and wait” role. We plan, set, and

As a humanities scholar and teacher, I often struggle with how to impart to my students the importance of what Bob Daugherty, Dean of the Forbes School of Business, calls “power skills”: writing, rhetoric, understanding history and context, speaking, etc. I struggle because these skills are powerful and are attributed both to academic and career success (see the book by former Forbes magazine tech reporter, George Anders, You Can do Anything: The Surprising Power of a Useless Liberal Arts Education). But often the promise of immediate professional advancement in, for example, STEM programs overshadows the fundamental benefit of strong interpretation and communication skills. Consequently, wh

H5P: Interactive Content Creator for Canvas and Beyond. I had the opportunity to host a presentation today by Dr. Dan Tinianow and Dr. Adam Gutschmidt as they introduced a new learning and creative software program designed to help instructors create interactive content in the Canvas classroom. I was so excited to learn from our faculty a new and exciting software that will help all instructors create content that inspires our students. I loved how both Dan and Adam showed us examples of how they have used this software tool in their course work. Dan first explored the different functions and abilities of the software itself. Then Adam took time to show off how he had created a sample Guidan

As I listened to President Swenson’s afternoon keynote with the challenge to think about the process of learning rather than just focusing on the process of teaching, I realized something significant that I probably wouldn’t have keyed on so specifically without his prompt: It seems like these TLC 2019 conference presentations showed a marked shift from thinking from the instructor’s teaching perspective towards thinking from the student perspective. Is it my selective attention? Over-interpretation? A real difference from previous years in how we spoke about practices in our learning contexts? Do other conference participants notice our shift? I have a feeling it’s “all of the above.” The

As a participating member of this year’s conference, I am glad to see the intention of bringing a real student center approach environment to the conference has been on point thus far. Keynote Speaker, Scarlett Lewis Taking Your Personal Power Back by Choosing Love as a Thoughtful Response, In Every Circumstance A great opportunity to lead by example. Her presentation was very personal, she allowed us to come into her life and see how she practices choosing to love despite the circumstances. Lewis talked about being in the moment with her son as they are both facing a very difficult time and how this helped her with her own healing process. She took the opportunity to teach her son how to co

Jessica Guire’s presentation, “You Don’t Outgrow Autism: Supporting a New Type of Learner,” really hit close to home for me, so I made sure I didn’t miss it. As the parent of an adult with autism who is considering college and what it might offer for him, I was very interested in what Jessica had to say. When you have a kid with special needs in school, you at least know where to start asking questions. Once that kid becomes an adult, however, where to find those answers becomes much less clear. Jessica quoted Dr. Stephen Shore, “Once you’ve met on person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Of course, this fact complicates the support of an adult with autism, because what works

What a tremendous start to the 2019 Teaching and Learning conference (TLC)! The diverse variety of sessions to choose from as TLC kicked off today demonstrated the careful attention that was taken to the achieve the Ashford University TLC theme: Vision 2020: Students at the Center. Educate. Connect. Inspire. I would like to focus on this idea of connection; creating connections with one another, connecting with students and best practices for doing so. In her session; Empathy in Education: Online Teaching through a Person-Centered Approach, Dr. Cara Metz provided best practices using empathy and personalization which she has honed and currently utilizes to create connections in her classroo

Two of the things that I like most about Ashford’s annual Teaching and Learning Conference are that travel is always a piece of cake and that I never have to over pack to anticipate the climate and how everyone else will dress. Conferences, at least when done well, provide refreshing energy and perspective for me and the work that I do. Leading up to this year’s conference, Ashford University is in the midst of even more change than usual. Smack dab in the middle of one of these big changes we had an early Midwest snow the week before Halloween. There was an abundance of mumbling and cursing from many (myself included) about this, but the white blanket on the ground gave me the opportunit

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Day 2 of the 2019 Teaching and Learning Conference got off to a great start with our highly-anticipated Dean Panel with Bob Daugherty and Dr. Iris Lafferty. One question that really resonated with me, and went on to be a prevailing theme in several sessions throughout the day, was centered on Career Readiness. How does Ashford address skill gaps in career readiness? This is, after all, a very serious question. Our students have very specific goals in mind when they enroll – students want to improve their financial situation. They want a paycheck! Maybe they are already working and want a better paycheck. Anyone who has had to look for a job in the last 10 years knows that in addition to a pr

Our very first keynote speaker, Scarlett Lewis, kicked off TLC Tuesday morning with her incredible presentation on the Choose Love Movement. Her moving story about how she lost her son, Jessie, to the shootings at Sandy Hook brought emotion out of anyone watching. But the most amazing part is what she created out of that tragedy. She thoroughly went over Social Emotional Learning and the premise that when you choose love, you take your personal power back. Lewis started her journey to spread this message when she came home following her son’s death and found three words he had written on a chalkboard in their kitchen prior to the event that had taken place; Nurturing, Healing, Love, this was