CETL Events
Join us for teaching workshops and other events open to all University of Mississippi-affiliated faculty, staff, and students.
Workshops for All
Join us for workshops and events designed to assist instructors and instructional support staff at any level, teaching in any discipline or modality.
Our events are intended to foster a space where instructors and people who support instruction on campus can speak freely and comfortably about issues related to teaching. Because of this, all participants must register. No recordings of any kind, including AI assistants, are allowed without express permission from the CETL Senior Director.
If you are an individual with a disability and need accommodations, please contact Hanna Lee, 662-915-1391, cetl@olemiss.edu, or be sure to include your request when registering. We encourage you to submit your request at least two weeks in advance, if possible, since some accommodations require advance planning.
Spring 2026 Events
Explore upcoming workshops, reading groups, and events for faculty, staff, and students to connect, collaborate, and enhance their teaching and learning this spring.
Watch our website and newsletter for more upcoming events, including a guest talk by author and educator Flower Darby, a panel on analog approaches to teaching in the age of AI, and a workshop introducing a digital platform for class discussions.
Sparking Discussion Early in the Semester: An Experiential Workshop
Date: Tuesday, January 13
Time: 1:30-2:30 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Presenter: Liz Norell
In this session, attendees will engage in a community-building activity they can use or adapt for their own classes early in the semester. The goal is to encourage the group to disagree with one another and to experience being persuaded to see a scenario differently, all without getting angry. Quite the opposite! This activity has been repeatedly shown to build joy and foster greater trust. By using this exercise early in the semester, instructors can help build a culture of engagement and discussion with their students.
Information Session: Introducing CETL’s Umbrella IRB Protocol for Teaching-Related Research at the University of Mississippi
Date: Wednesday, January 14
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Presenter: Josh Eyler
Come to this session to learn about the new umbrella IRB protocol that makes the approval process for your teaching-related research projects much simpler and more streamlined. We will explain the process, provide attendees information on how to join the program, and answer any questions you have about this exciting new opportunity!
Large Courses 101: Building Community
Date: Wednesday, January 28
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Emily Pitts Donahoe
Panelists: Carla Carr (Biology), Nathan Davis (Physics), and JT Thomas (Sociology)
Students often feel isolated in large courses, disconnected from their peers and their instructor. And they aren’t the only ones: instructors often wish they could get to know their students better as well. Research tells us that relationships are an important foundation of a successful learning experience, but building community in big classes can be challenging. From learning students’ names to facilitating group work, this session will suggest a range of practical strategies for making connections with and among students in large courses.
Lunch will be provided for registered participants. Please register by January 21.
Doing Research on Our Own Teaching: Getting Started with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Date: Wednesday, February 4
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: J.D. Williams Library, Room 106D
Presenter: Josh Eyler
Are you interested in doing a research project related to your teaching but are wondering where to begin? Or are you juggling a lot of different ideas for teaching-related research projects and want some devoted time to think about which might be the most feasible? Or are you just curious about what the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is all about? Then this is the session for you! We’ll provide you with a framework for developing research questions and for taking the opening steps to launch your SoTL projects.
Lunch will be provided for registered participants. Please register by January 28.
Celebrating International Graduate Students: A Panel and Social Hour
Date: Thursday, February 5
Time: 3:00-4:30 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Banquet Room
Moderators: Emily Pitts Donahoe and Sandra Spiroff
Panelists: Bin Xiao (Physics), Debipreeta Rahut (Writing and Rhetoric), and Ana Velitchkova (Sociology and International Studies)
Join CETL, in collaboration with the Graduate School, for a panel and social hour designed for international graduate teaching assistants and instructors. This event offers a platform to connect, share experiences, and learn from veteran international teachers and scholars. During the panel, we will discuss the challenges of teaching, research, and professional development in a new cultural and academic environment and explore the strengths international graduate students bring to this environment. The panel will be followed by a social hour for international graduate students.
Refreshments will be provided by Manila Skillet, and door prizes will be available. Come for supportive conversations; stay for free food, books, and swag! Please register by January 29.
When and Why Students Participate in Class
Date: Wednesday, Feburary 18
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenters: Liz Norell and invited guests
Instructors often expect students to engage in classroom activities or discussions, but in recent years we’ve heard many instructors say this is harder than ever. In this session, we’ll share reflections from UM students about when and why they participate in class, particularly in discussions. Hear how students perceive speaking up in class and what kinds of instructional moves can make student engagement less stressful. We’ll also hear from instructors about what they’ve done to encourage greater student participation in discussions.
Lunch will be provided for registered participants. Please register by February 11.
Faculty Reading Group
Dates: Fridays, February 13, February 27, and March 6
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Facilitators: Emily Pitts Donahoe, Josh Eyler, and Liz Norell
This spring, the Faculty Reading Group will tackle the book Snafu Edu: Teaching and Learning When Things Go Wrong in the College Classroom, by Jessamyn Neuhaus.
Register for the reading group by Wednesday, January 21. A limited number of books will be available to pick up after registration, with the additional copies available in early February.
Graduate Reading Group
Date: Fridays, February 20, March 20, and April 10
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Hill Hall 117
Facilitators: Brian Wesley Harrington, Sarah Ligon, and Amitesh Singh
This semester, the Graduate Reading Group will tackle the book The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion, by Sarah Rose Cavanagh. Registered graduate students will receive a paperback copy of the book. Join us to learn more about college teaching and connect with fellow graduate TAs, instructors, and aspiring educators.
Pizza will be provided for lunch. Register for the reading group by Friday, January 23.
Fall 2025 Events
Who Are Our Students?
Date: Monday, August 18
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Presenter: Emily Pitts Donahoe
One of the cardinal rules of teaching is “know thy students.” So, who are the students at the University of Mississippi? In this session, we’ll take a deep dive into the demographics of our students here at UM, and at US colleges more generally, and then consider how this information can inform our teaching in the fall and beyond. This workshop is ideal for new faculty but appropriate for anyone who wants to learn more about the undergraduate population at the University of Mississippi.
The National Academies’ 2025 Report on STEM Education: Findings and Applications
Date: Wednesday, August 20
Time: 1:00-2:00 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Presenter: Josh Eyler in Collaboration with the Duff Center
In early 2025, the National Academies reported on findings from a years-long initiative to improve STEM education. Called “Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education: Supporting Equitable and Effective Teaching,” the report outlines a number of evidence-based steps that faculty and departments can take to enhance student learning. In this session, we will present the top-level recommendations from the report and facilitate a discussion about how to implement these strategies in the classroom.
Faculty Panel: Ideas for Introducing Your Syllabus
Date: Wednesday, August 20
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Location: Zoom (link will be sent in advance)
Moderator: Liz Norell
Panelists: Laura McLellan (biology), Kate Kellum (psychology), Jackie DiBiasie-Sammons (classics), Candies Winfun-Cook (teacher education)
Spending the first day of class marching through the syllabus doesn’t exactly set the stage for an engaged classroom environment, but the information in the syllabus is important. Given that, what do we do instead? In this panel discussion, we’ll hear from several instructors about how they introduce the syllabus at the start of a new semester. Attendees will leave with multiple examples of how to engage students in a more interactive review of the syllabus that builds community and sets the tone for an engaged classroom environment.
Teaching in the Current Moment: Academic Freedom and the Classroom
Date: Wednesday, September 3
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Josh Eyler
In this session, CETL will facilitate a community conversation in which we—as a group—explore and discuss statements (included in the Provost’s recent guidance on HB 1193) that define the concept of academic freedom and its application to our classrooms. The primary goal for the session is for attendees to identify your own scope of concern as it relates to the courses you are teaching, with a particular eye toward questions you have about teaching most effectively at this moment in time. We plan to share some of the most pertinent questions with the university’s senior-level administrators and use them to inform CETL’s own efforts in the coming months. Come to voice your concerns and to dialogue with colleagues about ongoing challenges.
Large Courses 101: Active Learning
Date: Wednesday, September 17
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenters: Emily Pitts Donahoe and Amitesh Singh
We have years of research demonstrating the benefits of active learning for students. But it can be extra difficult to implement within the constraints of a large course. How can I ask 100 students to participate in a discussion? What free polling software can accommodate that many people? How do I facilitate group activities when the chairs don’t move? Moving beyond “think-pair-share,” this session will suggest a range of practical strategies and tools that can help you get students participating effectively in even the largest of classes.
When and Why Do Students Read for Class?
Date: Wednesday, October 1
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Liz Norell + invited undergraduate students
Drawing from survey data and focus group findings from a spring 2025 UM research project, this workshop will share the biggest reasons students say they choose to skip the readings for their undergraduate courses. We’ll then share strategies on how to make the goals of course readings more transparent and meaningful for students, with plenty of time for Q&A. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of students’ perspectives on course readings and ideas for how to frame the importance of the readings so students can engage with course materials more effectively.
Understanding Mental Health from a Learning Perspective
Date: Wednesday, October 15
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Liz Norell
We hear plenty of alarms about students’ mental health challenges, with professors often feeling like they must become therapists and coaches in addition to instructors. In this workshop, we’ll talk about how mental health impacts our students’ abilities to engage in our classes and absorb class material/readings. Without requiring instructors to take on the emotional labor of managing students’ mental health, we’ll discuss things instructors can do to improve student learning by examining and reframing our pedagogical choices. Attendees will leave with ideas on how to craft their class sessions to improve student attention, engagement, and learning.
Real Talk about Teaching: Normalizing Educators’ Setbacks, Struggles, and Snafus, with guest speaker Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
Date: Wednesday, October 22
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenter: Jessamyn Neuhaus, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence and Professor of Education at Syracuse University
Look, up the lectern! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s Super Professor! Super Professor is the charismatic guy in a tweed jacket who appears onscreen whenever a film or TV show depicts a college educator at work. Super Professor usually fulfills gendered, racialized, and other stereotypes about academic expertise, and his lectures are so entertaining that students effortlessly learn just by sitting there in the lecture hall. Super Professor never fumbles, fails, or fouls up because he’s perfected the art and science of teaching. But in real life real-world classrooms, teaching is never a perfectible undertaking. Every educator, from their first class to their last, is always learning how to help facilitate learning, and learning by definition always includes making some errors and missteps, getting feedback, correcting mistakes, and trying again. Moreover, educators and their students are human beings and it’s just a fact that people will sometimes mess up, no matter how well we plan a class or how expertly we facilitate the learning environment.
In this talk, I examine the myths and misconceptions that contribute to the popular and the scholarly discourse depicting teaching as a perfectible activity. I show why we urgently need to normalize the ongoing challenges of effective teaching, including the ways that things can routinely go wrong in the college classroom. While evidence-based course design and teaching practices can reduce the odds of snafus, in the context of inequities, disconnection, distrust, failure, and fear in higher education, struggles and setbacks are “situation normal” for teaching and learning. I argue that one specific, proven way we can normalize mistakes as both individuals as well as institutions is by talking more about teaching. Building and strengthening our pedagogical communities of practice, including improving and diversifying our methods for evaluating teaching efficacy, is a sure-fire way to begin normalizing educators’ setbacks, struggles, and snafus.
POSTPONED - Large Courses 101: Building Community
Date: Wednesday, October 29
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Johnson Commons East Ballroom
Presenters: Emily Pitts Donahoe and Brian Wesley Harrington
Students often feel isolated in large courses, disconnected from their peers and their instructor. And they aren’t the only ones: instructors often wish they could get to know their students better as well. Research tells us that relationships are an important foundation of a successful learning experience, but building community in big classes can be challenging. From learning students’ names to facilitating group work, this session will suggest a range of practical strategies for making connections with and among students in large courses.
Teaching in the Current Moment (for CLA Faculty): Academic Freedom and the Classroom
Date: Thursday, October 30
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: CSTI 328/329
Presenter: Josh Eyler
In this session, CETL will facilitate a community conversation in which we—as a group—explore and discuss statements (included in the Provost’s recent guidance on HB 1193) that define the concept of academic freedom and its application to our classrooms. The primary goal for the session is for attendees to identify your own scope of concern as it relates to the courses you are teaching, with a particular eye toward questions you have about teaching most effectively at this moment in time. Come to voice your concerns and to dialogue with colleagues about ongoing challenges.
Engaging Students through Reacting to the Past: Active Learning in the College Classroom
Date: Thursday, November 6
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Library 103
Presenter: Jackie Dibiasie-Sammons, Associate Professor of Classics
Are you looking for powerful ways to engage students, deepen critical thinking, and foster communication skills? In this workshop, Dr. DiBiasie-Sammons will introduce participants to Reacting to the Past (RTTP), an immersive, role-playing pedagogy that pushes students out of their comfort zones and into the shoes (or sandals!) of historical figures. Students debate, scheme, strategize, and lead their way through pivotal moments in history.
This interactive session will cover the fundamentals of Reacting to the Past including its pedagogical goals, classroom structure, and implementation strategies. Dr. DiBiasie-Sammons will also share survey data on its self-reported effectiveness in her own classes.
But we won’t just talk about RTTP — participants will experience a short gameplay session and explore how Reacting can be adapted across a wide range of disciplines. Whether your field is science, math, history, or the arts, there’s a game for you.
Come ready to play, reflect, and reimagine what learning can look like.
Faculty Reading Group—The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI
Dates and times: Coming soon!
Location: Zoom
Presenters: Josh Eyler, Liz Norell, and Emily Pitts Donahoe
Each fall, CETL hosts a faculty book club to bring instructors across campus together to read and learn together. This fall, we’ll be reading Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger’s book The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI. Sessions will be held via Zoom on three Fridays during the fall semester. Our discussions will provide an opportunity to discuss themes of the book with colleagues across the UM faculty community.
Learn more about the Faculty Reading Group and register to join us here.
Pedagogy in Practice: A Course Design Summit with Dr. Justin Shaffer
Dates: Thursday, August 14 and Friday, August 15
Kick off the new school year with a collaborative workshop for STEM faculty focused on research-informed teaching and intentional course design! Dr. Shaffer will be leading workshops aimed to equip University of Mississippi faculty to provide undergraduate students with the best educational and classroom experience possible.
Back to School: AI Edition (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, August 15
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters: Marc Watkins and Robert Cummings
What are the latest advancements in generative AI technology? Which of your applications have adopted AI without asking you? What are the most current strategies to teach with AI in the classroom? Join AIG staff leaders to discuss recommendations and the latest updates to the AI landscape.
How to Grapple with the AI Already on Your Campus (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, September 19
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters: Marc Watkins and Robert Cummings
In July of 2025, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Marc Watkins published practical advice for all faculty on how to identify and respond to a growing problem: AI creep. Almost daily, the commercial and higher education softwares you use are introducing AI without your consent. In this session, Marc will provide thoughts on how to respond. In addition, Robert Cummings will provide updates on UM’s AI Policy Board discussions.
Strategies for Addressing AI in Large Lecture Courses: A Panel Discussion (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, October 3
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Many faculty are responding to generative AI by moving more and more learning activities into the classroom. Readings, writing assignments, and other activities that were once considered “homework” are now often classwork. But what do you do if you have a large class? This panel of UM educators will highlight some local responses to teaching large classes in a world with generative AI.
Faculty AI Guides: What We've Learned So Far (Academic Innovations Group)
Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
In fall of 2025, AIG and CETL introduced a new program: faculty AI guides. Faculty volunteered to assist their colleagues in addressing AI. In this session, a select number of Faculty AI Guides will discuss what they have learned in helping with their colleagues address the impact of generative AI on their teaching and their research.