UK Teaching Excellence Symposium October 10, 2025

As with research, we advance the knowledge and practice of teaching when we share and learn from each other's expertise, experiences, and scholarly work. The teaching mission of our university depends on a dynamic, engaged community of educators who seek innovative and effective ways of enabling student learning and success. To recognize the critical work of instructors and to offer an institution-wide venue for the advancement of teaching at the University of Kentucky, the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) is proud to host the second UK Teaching Excellence Symposium.

The symposium will provide a space for UK educators to share examples of exceptional teaching and explore critical issues in teaching and learning through lightning talks and presentations. All in the UK community are invited to register for the symposium, and we welcome you to attend as schedules allow—stay for the whole day, drop in for a single session, or anything in between! Registration is free.

10/10 Gatton Student Center

Register for the Symposium

Deadline for registration is Tuesday, October 7 at 5:00. Registration is free.

Register

View the Full Program

The schedule is still preliminary and will be finalized soon.

Full Program

Keynote: "A Spectrum of AI Use in the Classroom," John Gallagher, PhD

Are today’s AI tools creating new challenges, or are they simply amplifying long-standing concerns? In this talk, I take you inside a large-scale study involving nearly 900 students and writing instructors, showing how they perceive collaboration with both human and AI partners. I also draw from over 100 interviews with AI and machine learning researchers to “pull back the curtain” on how these technologies really work. The keynote concludes with practical strategies for educators to engage with generative AI.

John Gallagher, PhD, is a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he researches how writing technologies shape workflow habits to better understand ways that writers interact with their audiences. His work centers on denaturalizing everyday writing tools to improve how we write. He focuses on participatory writing (especially on social media), writing interfaces and templates, AI and machine learning communication, natural language processing, and STEM/engineering communication. His latest book manuscript, AI Through the Experts' Eyes: Communicating Complex Ideas, is under contract with the University of Pittsburgh Press for 2026.

84 presenters from

15 colleges and

45 departments, schools, or other units

Schedule at a Glance

Concurrent sessions will involve either three 20-minute presentations, four 15-minute presentations, or five 10-minute lightning talks. When you arrive at the Student Center, check in at the table outside of GSC 212-A (Ballroom A) before attending any sessions.

8:00 — Check-in Opens (GSC 212-A)

Check in at the table outside of GSC 212-A (Ballroom A) near the second-floor south entrance to the Student Center. Coffee and tea in 212-A.

8:30 — Concurrent Sessions

Building Community, Scholarship, and Teaching Excellence: A Faculty Learning Community Experience (GSC 331)
TEK, Durable Skills, and Student Engagement (GSC 212-A)
Supporting and Encouraging Today’s Students (GSC 330-D)
Crafting Environments: Space, Interface, Community (GSC 330-E)

9:45 — Break

10:00 — Concurrent Sessions

UK Online Course Quality Design Pilot (GSC 331)
Generative AI and Digital Infrastructures for Learning (GSC 212-A)
Imagining Alternatives to Standard Approaches (GSC 330-D)
Assessment and Grading (GSC 330-E)

11:15 — Break

11:30 — Keynote (GSC 212-A)

John Gallagher, PhD, "A Spectrum of AI Use in the Classroom"

12:30 — Lunch (GSC 212-A)

1:30 — Concurrent Sessions

From Pilot Program to Final Project: Student Voice Informing Curricular Change (GSC 330-AB)
Partnerships for Durable Skills and Student Success (GSC 330-D)
Student Perceptions of Cost, Content, and Assessment (GSC 330-E)
Teaching and Learning in the Health and Medical Fields (GSC 331)

2:45 — Break

3:00 — Concurrent Sessions

Playful Pedagogy in Healthcare Topics (GSC 330-AB)
Improving Outcomes for Learning and Career Success (GSC 331)
Large Classes, Larger Contexts (GSC 330-D)
Strategies for Student Engagement (GSC 330-E)

4:15 — Conclude

Read the Proceedings from the 2023 Symposium

This special issue of Greater Faculties features essays from presenters at the 2023 Teaching Excellence Symposium. Topics include learning with oral histories, engaging with primary sources, teaching with zines, adapting pedagogy and planning, embracing flipped learning, encouraging career connections, using backchannels, and collaborating with extension. What they all share, however, is an investment in reflective teaching practices that center learners and learning amid a dynamic and evolving landscape for higher education. Read the special issue.

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