2025 Rutgers Active Learning Symposium

Allison Posey

Every student is unique, with brains as distinct as fingerprints. While planning for this variability can be challenging, understanding it is essential for fostering engagement in rigorous academic learning. This keynote explored key insights from brain science that provide a framework for designing intentional instruction to meet the needs of all learners. We uncovered strategies to support attention, memory, and emotions and reflect on how this brain-based approach can facilitate interdisciplinary discourse and planning. Attendees learned how to transform their approach to make a lasting impact on their students' learning journeys.

Session Resources:
Presentation Slides

Allison Posey is an international leader for implementation of brain-based instructional practices and Universal Design. She collaborates with educators, administrators, trainers, and families to apply this understanding of learning in the brain in their unique work environments. She is author of two books, Engage the Brain and Unlearning and worked at CAST for almost 15 years.

Allison has taught science in high school and community colleges, including courses in biology, genetics, anatomy & physiology, psychology, and neuroscience. She still teaches at Lasell University just outside of Boston, MA.

In 2024, she earned a Global Inclusion Award from the International Forum of Inclusive Practitioners (IFIP) in Paris.

Allison earned a degree in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, is an avid hiker, and loves being a mom.

Allison Posey

This session was a follow up from the keynote presentation on learning and the brain and how those strategies can support active learning techniques. 

In this session, we focused on strategies that support executive function (EF) and engagement. These networks are highly interconnected in the brain and intentional focus on how to design instruction that supports EF and engagement will support academic and emotional success for learners. 

We began the conversation by reflecting on identified problems of practice that we experience as we work to teach the full range of learners. Then, we highlighted how to leverage tools, including AI, so that our courses welcome the different levels of experience, background, and interests. We also workshopped a course example and continue to make connections between what we know about learning in the brain and our instructional strategies. 

Session Resources:
Workshop Slides

Allison Posey is an international leader for implementation of brain-based instructional practices and Universal Design. She collaborates with educators, administrators, trainers, and families to apply this understanding of learning in the brain in their unique work environments. She is author of two books, Engage the Brain and Unlearning and worked at CAST for almost 15 years.

Allison has taught science in high school and community colleges, including courses in biology, genetics, anatomy & physiology, psychology, and neuroscience. She still teaches at Lasell University just outside of Boston, MA.

In 2024, she earned a Global Inclusion Award from the International Forum of Inclusive Practitioners (IFIP) in Paris.

Allison earned a degree in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, is an avid hiker, and loves being a mom.

Karen Harris

In this session, a panel of instructors who teach undergraduate and graduate level courses were prompted with questions that fostered a community conversation around course modality in relation to four active learning implementation areas: Design, Classroom Culture, Discourse, and Groupwork.

Karen Harris (Moderator) is a Senior Instructional Designer and Assessment Specialist with the University Online Education Services. She has been working for over twenty years in the varied and evolving roles of instructional designer, curriculum specialist, and technology trainer, administrator and consultant. Her prior experience has been focused on supporting teaching, learning and professional development at Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Kean University, Monmouth University and Columbia University. She enjoys participating in University life to the fullest by supporting interest groups such as Rutgers Group on Women in Medicine and Science, Rutgers Women in Technology, and Kean University Be the Change NJ. She has an Undergraduate Degree in Russian Area Studies from Columbia University and a Masters Degree in Computing and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Dr. Kyle A. Murphy (Panelist) is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Biochemistry at Rutgers University with over a decade of experience in innovative science education. He has designed and implemented hybrid and fully online biochemistry courses, significantly expanding student access and engagement. A frequent presenter at RUOnlineCon and NJEdge conferences, Dr. Murphy explores creative digital pedagogy, including student-generated media projects. He actively mentors undergraduate researchers and contributes to curriculum development and assessment. His work emphasizes inclusive, active learning strategies that enhance student success in both virtual and in-person environments.

Ms. Lisa Palladino Kim (Panelist) has over 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, specializing in Clinical Operations, Project Management, and Patient Engagement. She is a Lecturer and Capstone Director in Rutgers’ School of Health Professions. In 2025, she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Lecturer and was nominated for the Rutgers Online Teaching Excellence Award. She founded the Clinical Research Management (CRM) Network, a community of 8K+ professionals supporting clinical research leadership and collaboration. A recognized leader in instructional design for on-line education, she contributes to strategic planning and innovation across Rutgers and global clinical research initiatives.

Dr. Adrienne Simonds (Panelist), PT, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in the School of Health Professions at Rutgers. She holds a PhD in Physical Therapy from Nova Southeastern University and a Master of Physical Therapy and B.S. in Health Sciences from the University of Scranton. She utilizes a person-centered, constructivist approach to focus on relationship building, empathy, and agility. Simonds served as the University Senate Chair and has been a faculty member in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program for 16 years. She was recognized with the Rutgers SHP Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017. 

Liz Decker, Natalie DeSorbo, Michael Monescalchi

Active writing strategies are foundational to the student-centered pedagogical commitment of the Rutgers Writing Program. Across the first-year writing courses in particular, special attention is paid to engaging our diverse undergraduate student body through active learning strategies. Relying on the foundational work of John Bean and Dan Melzer’s Engaging Ideas: Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, this workshop shared three activities to engage students in reflective active reading and writing in classrooms across the disciplines. Participants engaged in example activities and explored connections to their own course contexts and learning goals.

Session Resources:
Workshop Handout
Argument Mapping Slides

Liz Decker is an Assistant Teaching Professor and First Year Writing Coordinator in the Writing Program at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her teaching and research interests focus on inclusive intellectual inquiry practices. Currently, she is working with Aresty Research Assistants on multimodal, genre-based teaching practices, and collaborating on a visual rhetorics program with the Zimmerli Museum. Liz holds a PhD in English from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Education in Adult and Continuing Education from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.

Natalie DeSorbo is an Assistant Teaching Professor and First Year Writing Coordinator in the Writing Program at Rutgers University. Natalie specializes in teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses, which are critical reading and writing courses for learners of English as an additional language. She holds a M.Ed. in Teaching English as a Second Language from The College of New Jersey and a B.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Rutgers University.

Michael Monescalchi is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Rutgers English Department and Writing Program. As a graduate student here at Rutgers, he earned the SAS Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Education Award. He is currently one of the coordinators of First-Year Writing and his research on race, religion, and republicanism in early America has been published in the journals Early American Literature and Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, among other venues.

Frederick Choo & Esther Goh

Traditional assessments like exams and essays play an important role in education, but they often fail to engage students fully. Creative assignments, by contrast, can enhance student motivation, improve knowledge retention, and foster deeper understanding. This session invited instructors to explore the potential of creative assignments. Frederick and Esther showcased a variety of creative assignments that can be used in different disciplines and adapted for various formats (e.g. in-person vs. online, individual vs. group-based). Some examples included: creating a product, doing a mock trial, creating and performing a skit, and open-ended creative final projects. These assignments are designed to help students see the importance of the skills and content they acquire in class and connect with course material in meaningful ways. Frederick and Esther shared their experiences with using creative assignments in our classes and discuss some challenges that instructors may face. They also discussed the possible use of AI in such assignments. Participants then engaged in a collaborative brainstorming session to develop creative assignments tailored to their own courses. By the end of the session, attendees left with (a) a concrete plan for implementing a creative assignment in their class, (b) a collection of creative assignment ideas to spark further ideas, and (c) insights into potential obstacles and strategies for overcoming them.

Session Resources:
Workshop Slides

Frederick Choo is a PhD candidate from the Rutgers Philosophy Department. His main research areas are in ethics and philosophy of religion. He is passionate about making learning fun and building community in the classroom. He is a member of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers and has presented on pedagogy at the American Philosophical Association Central & Eastern conferences.

Esther Goh is a PhD candidate from the Rutgers Philosophy Department. Her main research interest concerns norms of belief, with a focus on the ethics of belief. She strives to make her lessons fun, memorable, and relevant, so that critical thinking becomes an everyday skill. One of her long-term goals is to create a story based game that both illuminates and motivates her students to acquire important philosophical skills. 

Beheshteh Abdi and Lyra Stein

This session explored how classroom polling technologies—such as EchoPoll, TopHat, Clickers, and iClickers—can support active learning and increase multidimensional student engagement. We began with a review of research findings highlighting how polling tools promote emotional and behavioral engagement, enhance student-centered learning, and foster deeper classroom participation.
Drawing from a pilot study conducted with over 300 undergraduate students at Rutgers University, we presented case study findings showing that polling activities were associated with high emotional engagement (e.g., excitement, interest) and behavioral engagement (e.g., active participation), as well as positive correlations with students’ perceived learning outcomes. 

Following the research overview, a faculty co-presenter shared practical classroom experiences using polling to enhance active learning, focusing specifically on the innovative use of short answer questions through TopHat instead of traditional multiple-choice formats. Participants left with a practical framework for understanding emotional and behavioral engagement in technology-enhanced classrooms, data-driven insights into polling strategies, and simple ideas for integrating polling tools into diverse learning environments. The session included a live poll and opportunities for participant reflection and discussion.

Beheshteh Abdi is an instructional designer at Rutgers University Online Education Services (UOES) and a doctoral candidate in Instructional Technology. Her work focuses on fostering student engagement through active learning strategies, such as polling technologies and interactive classroom tools, combined with strong visual design principles. Beheshteh has extensive experience supporting faculty in designing online, hybrid, and technology-enhanced courses. She is committed to creating accessible, engaging, and visually effective learning environments that promote deeper student participation and success.

Dr. Lyra Stein is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 Hypothesis Social Learning Innovator Award in Social Sciences and the 2025 Co-Intelligence Exploration Teaching Fellowship. Dr. Stein has played a leading role in faculty development through service on curriculum committees, mentoring programs, and national teaching organizations, and she is an advocate for inclusive, research-informed pedagogy.  

Mary Emenike and Crystal Quillen

Active learning has transformed collegiate education, but how do we know if our strategies truly enhance student learning? The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) provides a structured approach to assessing and refining active learning methods through systematic inquiry. This session explored the intersection of SoTL and active learning, highlighting how educators can use research to improve engagement, collaboration, and student outcomes in both in-person and online courses. Participants: 

1. Discovered how SoTL can measure and refine active learning strategies like flipped classrooms, group work, and individual reflective activities. 
2. Examined SoTL studies conducted at Rutgers, highlighting key takeaways related to the SoTL process. 
3. Gained practical tools to start their own SoTL-informed exploration of active learning in their classrooms. 
4. Connected to resources on campus to support their SoTL interests and projects This session is designed for instructors across disciplines, offering actionable insights on how to move from intuitive teaching practices to evidence-based improvements.

Session Resources:
Presentation Slides

Mary Emenike is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers-New Brunswick. She is a chemistry education researcher and directs the TRIAD Coalition in the School of Arts and Sciences. She supports faculty in their course transformation efforts and collaborates on various discipline-based and STEM education research projects. She teaches an Introduction to Chemistry Education course to chemistry teaching interns pursuing a Certificate in Chemistry Education or a chemistry education minor. Mary is a founding member of Rutgers Active Learning Community. Through the Learning Assistant Alliance (LAA), she supports faculty development and adoption of the Learning Assistant Model nationally. Mary earned her BS in Chemistry from Nazareth College and her PhD in Chemistry Education Research from Miami University.

Crystal Quillen is the Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning Scholarship for the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, and Inclusive Pedagogy (TIIP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She has dedicated her career to enhancing teaching and learning through scholarly teaching and research, faculty mentoring, and curriculum design and assessment. At her previous institution, she played a key role in mentoring new and adjunct faculty while organizing impactful workshops. She is passionate about collaborating with individuals from different institutions and has been involved in the Mid-Career Psychology Group and the Community College Taskforce for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP).  

Cara Cuite, Kathe Newman, and Tracie Addy

Presenters described the development of a new Community of Practice (COP) focused on community-engaged pedagogy and teaching that is funded through a Chancellor Challenge Grant. The COP is in the early stages of development and will be open to all faculty. After a brief presentation outlining the benefits of COPs for teaching practice and benefits of community engaged learning for students, as well as the goals and tentative plans for the this initiative, the presenters engaged participants in a discussion of how to best engage Rutgers faculty and community partners in the COP. Topics included how to schedule and structure meetings, how to engage all relevant faculty and community members, how to report out findings, and additional supports needed into the future to help facilitate success in community engaged pedagogy and teaching.

Session Resources:
RU Engaged Interest Form

Dr. Cara Cuite serves as an Associate Extension Specialist/Associate Professor and the Undergraduate Program Director in the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University. She is a health psychologist who studies food security and risk communication. She leads the research program on basic needs insecurities among Rutgers students and works closely with community partners on food security projects across New Jersey.  

Dr. Tracie Marcella Addy is the founding director of the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, and Inclusive Pedagogy (TIIP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick launched in May 2024. An academic leader, scholar, educator, author, and speaker, she is nationally recognized for her work in teaching and learning in higher education. 

Debra Gulick

During this session, participants considered strategies to use during lectures and recitations, to engage students further in the content. “Learning is more effective when it’s effortful.” (Brown, 2014). This workshop modeled strategies for active participation during all classes and shared the reasons behind finding an engagement level for students that falls in between a lecture and a workshop. During this workshop, participants considered strategies to ensure that students are able to interact with the content and reflect on their understanding. Strategies included careful pacing, pre-planned questions, and peer interactions will be shared and modeled. 

Session Resources:
Workshop Slides

Debra Gulick has taught mathematics at Rutgers for more than ten years, in addition to teaching at the high school level. Serving as a school administrator and educational consultant, she has extensive experience working with mathematics teachers and students. She holds degrees in Engineering and Educational Leadership, as well as NJ Certification as a K-12 Mathematics Teacher, Supervisor, Principal, and Superintendent. She participated in the Teaching Excellence Network Course Transformation Summer Institute in 2023 and has implemented strategies to improve the student experience in 100-level courses, with the goal of increasing student engagement and confidence..

Crystal Quillen

This was one of two panel discussions featuring Rutgers University-New Brunswick faculty members participating in a fellowship program on teaching and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) with the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, & Inclusive Pedagogy. Fellows shared their experiences integrating assignments involving GenAI into their courses to support students’ skill development. The panelists discussed course innovations focused on data analysis, critical thinking, and argumentation, as well as writing and communication skills. As GenAI continues to evolve rapidly, supporting student’s skill development while preventing overreliance on AI in ways that hinder learning is crucial (Spatola, 2024). Panelists, therefore, shared active learning strategies for engaging students in using GenAI as a tool to support learning. During the panel discussion, participants gained ideas for their own courses, learn ed from panelists' experiences with GenAI integration in their teaching, and had the opportunity to ask questions. Panelists discussed the following:

• Dr. Christine Cahill, Political Science, shared her plans to revise active learning activities for a course involving students using GenAI to find and analyze datasets. 
• Dr. Yanhong Jin, Agricultural Food & Resource Economics, discussed active learning activities that involve her students using GenAI to explore issues and develop actionable solutions that promote food justice. 
• Dr. Anna Kornienko, Chemistry, discussed how her students used GenAI as an aid for laboratory reports to improve their scientific communication skills. She discussed how her students use GenAI as a tool for writing, literature searches, Excel support, and ChemDraw assistance. 
• Dr. Ines Rauschenbach, Biochemistry & Microbiology, presented her project involving students’ usage of GenAI to create summaries for course e-portfolios as well as to critically analyze GenAI outputs to support the development of information literacy.
• Dr. Lyra Stein, Psychology, shared learning activities where students developed critical thinking skills by using GenAI to enhance their understanding of course concepts. 

This session was moderated by the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, & Inclusive Pedagogy founded in May 2024 as a hub for supporting teaching development for instructors at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. 

Reference
Spatola, N. (2024). The efficiency-accountability tradeoff in AI integration: effects on human performance and over-reliance. Computers in human behavior: artificial humans, 2(2), 100099.

Crystal Quillen (Moderator) is the Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning Scholarship for the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, and Inclusive Pedagogy (TIIP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She has dedicated her career to enhancing teaching and learning through scholarly teaching and research, faculty mentoring, and curriculum design and assessment. At her previous institution, she played a key role in mentoring new and adjunct faculty while organizing impactful workshops. She is passionate about collaborating with individuals from different institutions and has been involved in the Mid-Career Psychology Group and the Community College Taskforce for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP).

Christine Cahill (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor and Undergraduate Director in the Department of Political Science. She is interested in several aspects of AI, including how AI can be used to prepare students for careers in the current job landscape, how AI could help overcome achievement gaps in quantitative courses, and issues with AI, including data surveillance/data privacy issues and the increased usage of AI by citizens amidst a landscape of global democratic backsliding. 

Dr. Yanhong Jin (Panelist) is a full professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Rutgers. Her research focuses on applied microeconomics in agriculture, food, health, technology adoption, and the environment. She has published 60+ papers in leading field journals, such as the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, American Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and Education Economics Review. She has also published in the Applied Economics Teaching Resources. Dr. Jin was named the 2022 Provost Teaching Fellow and the 2025 Co-Intelligence Exploration Teaching Fellow at Rutgers. Her innovative classroom learning activities have been featured several times at Rutgers Today. 

Dr. Anna Kornienko (Panelist)  is an Associate Teaching Professor and the General Chemistry Teacher Intern Program Coordinator in the Department of Chemistry at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. With ten years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, she designs her courses to prepare students for careers in science and industry by emphasizing critical thinking, problem-solving, and real-world applications. She teaches General and Analytical Chemistry, supports the development of future educators, and leads initiatives in curriculum innovation, inclusive pedagogy, and AI-enhanced instruction to strengthen student learning and workforce readiness. 

Dr. Ines Rauschenbach (Panelist)  is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers – New Brunswick. She joined the faculty in 2012 after earning her PhD in 2011 in the same department. Ines teaches a variety of microbiology courses to majors and non-majors and is also Undergraduate Program Director for the Microbiology Major supporting about 90 majors. With a strong commitment to student success and inclusive teaching, Ines brings both passion and experience to the classroom. She emphasizes collaboration, active learning, and creating an environment where all students feel valued and supported. Beyond the classroom, she enjoys working closely with colleagues across disciplines to advance the shared mission of higher education. 

Dr. Lyra Stein (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 Hypothesis Social Learning Innovator Award in Social Sciences and the 2025 Co-Intelligence Exploration Teaching Fellowship. Dr. Stein has played a leading role in faculty development through service on curriculum committees, mentoring programs, and national teaching organizations, and she is an advocate for inclusive, research-informed pedagogy. 

Justin Kalef

Justin taught participants his method for incorporating team-based active learning quizzes into courses. The original method he presented is easy to use, quick to grade, low-tech and reliable, and provides students with immediate, useful feedback while keeping them engaged. Justin also presented different scoring systems he has devised for these. 

Justin Kalef is Director of Teaching Innovation in the Rutgers Department of Philosophy. He is a long-standing member of the Rutgers Active Learning community, and is known for his experimental teaching methods.

Eliza Blau & Pauline Carpenter

In this panel, instructors shared their experience redesigning a number of large math courses through the Math4All project. A goal of this project is to redesign courses traditionally jam-packed with content to make them more accessible to all students. Instructors from all disciplines learned how this team of math instructors are intentionally selecting the content in redesigned courses in order to make the curriculum relevant to learners’ future studies and, importantly, to allow more space for active learning. Attendees of this panel heard about the ways these math courses are integrating active learning strategies like metacognitive exercises; strategies being used to encourage a growth mindset; and the panelists’ thoughts about working with large teams of instructors to implement these techniques. Those lessons are applicable to any instructor looking to infuse active learning in their courses!

Eliza Blau (Moderator) collaborates with SAS instructors on all of their teaching and technology needs. She combines her teaching experience and technology expertise to use best practices to help instructors meet their goals and address teaching challenges they face.

Pauline Carpenter (Moderator) partners with SAS instructors and colleagues to promote inclusive, equitable, and evidence-based learning across course modalities. Along with Eliza, Pauline is providing course design support for the Math4All project, an initiative to improve student learning of mathematics.

Cecilia Arias (Panelist) has been a Lecturer in the Math Department for over 10 years. She uses a flipped classroom model and active learning components in math courses for non-math majors and future teachers. Currently, she is part of a Math4All committee working on redesigning the Algebra and Precalculus courses at Rutgers. In addition, she is the Program Coordinator for the Rutgers Math Corps, a summer math camp for middle and high school students. In her spare time, she mentors K-12 teachers as part of 4D Math Alliance, a nonprofit organization she helped to co-found with other Rutgers colleagues.

Joseph Guadagni (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Math department. He coordinates Math 135 and is part of the design teams for Math 130, Business Calculus, and Math 135, Calculus for Life Sciences.

Saiju Patel Saiju (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Math department and currently coordinating PreCalc part 1 & 2. She is working on redesigning Algebra and PreCalculus courses and has implemented an active learning component in her precalculus course since Spring 2024.

Matt Sequin (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Math department. He is currently one of the coordinators for Math 151 and 152: Calculus I and II for the Natural Sciences, a course that has a significant active learning component. He was also recently part of the design committee for Math 130, the newly developed course in Business Calculus. 

Chaz Ruggieri

In this presentation, Chaz walked the audience through a recent transformation effort in a large-enrollment introductory physics course (population of ~800 students) to boost student engagement in online, asynchronous exam-like practice and assessment design, leveraging an "exam wrapper" like approach and the use of PlayPosit. He also discussed the ways his course structure and grading practices support student engagement in learning, rather than focusing on earning points, which enhances their perspectives on learning in this course context. Finally, Chaz shared data from the 2023-2024 academic year which shows students who engage in such mini-exams and PlayPosit exam wrapper activities demonstrate, on average, one-half to a full letter grade larger improvement from midterm to final exam as compared to their peers who did not engage in the PlayPosit activities. 

Charles “Chaz” Ruggieri is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Chaz is a member of the TRIAD Coalition, and a co-PI of the NSF-funded Teaching Excellence Network (TEN). He collaborates with faculty members in the Department of Physics and Astronomy to transform physics courses and evaluate transformations, coordinates interdisciplinary STEM Semester Support Groups, and co-facilitates the (former) Course Transformation Summer Institute, engaging participants across multiple Rutgers-New Brunswick Departments and Schools. He earned his PhD in experimental surface and interface physics, and conducted postdoctoral research in physics education research at Rutgers University. 

Mary Emenike, Chaz Ruggieri, and Marc Muñiz

The term “Active Learning” is broad and encompasses a range of approaches to teaching and learning. The general nature of the term can make it challenging to describe the pedagogy implemented in learning environments. Therefore, it is useful to have a means of communicating the details of the techniques used in the classroom to others in a way that accurately describes what students and instructor(s) are doing. The Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS; Smith et al, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-08-0154) is designed to document what the instructor is doing and what the students are doing during class. The protocol includes 10-12 activities that the instructor could be doing and 10-12 parallel activities that the students could be doing. The observer records all the student and instructor activities that occur within two-minute increments throughout the class period. A pre-formatted Excel workbook compiles the data from the entry worksheet into summarized charts that illustrate the percentage of time that - the students spent receiving information, talking to the class, working independently or together, or doing other things - the instructor spent presenting information, guiding students, doing administrative tasks, or doing other things. Because the COPUS enables the documentation of both student and instructor activities during class, its output can be useful for instructors to adjust their pedagogical approaches to increase student engagement and can also be valuable for teaching portfolios. This is especially true when multiple observations with the protocol are made over time to track changes in the learning environment that resulted from modifications to instruction informed by COPUS data. This workshop included: 

1. An overview of COPUS as one example of a valid and reliable observation protocol. 
2. Time for participants to practice observing short video episodes using COPUS. 
3. Discussions of the affordances and limitations of the COPUS. 
4. Ways participants can request a COPUS observation of their course and/or participate in reciprocal peer observations using the COPUS.

Session Resources:
Slides
COPUS Protocol
COPUS Detailed Code
COPUS Data Entry
COPUS Development Article

Charles “Chaz” Ruggieri is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Chaz is a member of the TRIAD Coalition, and a co-PI of the NSF-funded Teaching Excellence Network (TEN). He collaborates with faculty members in the Department of Physics and Astronomy to transform physics courses and evaluate transformations, coordinates interdisciplinary STEM Semester Support Groups, and co-facilitates the (former) Course Transformation Summer Institute, engaging participants across multiple Rutgers-New Brunswick Departments and Schools. He earned his PhD in experimental surface and interface physics, and conducted postdoctoral research in physics education research at Rutgers University. 

Mary Emenike is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers-New Brunswick. She is a chemistry education researcher and directs the TRIAD Coalition in the School of Arts and Sciences. She supports faculty in their course transformation efforts and collaborates on various discipline-based and STEM education research projects. She teaches an Introduction to Chemistry Education course to chemistry teaching interns pursuing a Certificate in Chemistry Education or a chemistry education minor. Mary is a founding member of Rutgers Active Learning Community. Through the Learning Assistant Alliance (LAA), she supports faculty development and adoption of the Learning Assistant Model nationally. Mary earned her BS in Chemistry from Nazareth College and her PhD in Chemistry Education Research from Miami University.

Marc N. Muñiz is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers. He is also part of the Office of STEM Education-TRIAD coalition. Marc earned his PhD in Chemistry from North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC). Marc is working on the development, assessment, and refinement of teaching and learning content for chemistry in active learning contexts. He provides research and professional development support, including the analysis of student learning outcomes in general chemistry, the design and implementation of valid, reliable, and equitable assessments, and bridging the gap between research and practice in the context of teaching and learning. Marc currently lectures Honors General Chemistry 1 at Rutgers and facilitates active learning environments in Extended General Chemistry 2. He is also currently the General Chemistry coordinator and is focusing on transforming the curriculum as well as teaching and assessment practices across all the General Chemistry courses.

Sheila Tabanli

When teaching faculty engage in scholarly work, such as the science of learning, and purposefully implement evidence-based teaching practices, it creates a win-win-win situation for faculty, students, and the institution as a whole. In 2024, Dr. Sheila Tabanli's panel highlighted how faculty found a collaborative space to learn and grow professionally while supporting their students’ active learning. This follow-up panel built on that discussion, exploring where faculty are now, the lasting impacts of their transformations, and the challenges of sustaining these efforts over time. Faculty from multiple campuses and disciplines reflected on their experiences in the Reducing the Research to Practice Gap (RR2PG) semester support group, developed by Dr. Tabanli and funded by the NSF TEN Grant (NSF Award#2013315 grant, PI: Dr. Mary Emenike). Panelists shared how their teaching practices have evolved since their participation in RR2PG, highlighting what has been sustained, what has evolved, and what barriers they continue to face in incorporating evidence-based teaching strategies long-term. Panelists provided insights into their journeys, including moments of success, ongoing struggles, and recommendations for faculty and institutions aiming to bridge the research-to-practice gap in sustainable ways. This session offered an honest look at the realities of implementing and maintaining evidence-based teaching while inspiring attendees with strategies to foster lasting change in their own teaching and institutions.

Session Resources:
Panel Slides

Dr. Tabanli (Moderator) mentors students in mathematics education research, self-advocacy, and the development of self-regulated learning strategies. Her contributions to student success and inclusive excellence in STEM were recognized with the 2024 Rutgers–New Brunswick Chancellor’s Excellence in STEM Diversity Award. She continues to lead efforts that advance innovative, evidence-driven pedagogies that promote student engagement, belonging, and achievement—particularly for students historically underrepresented in STEM. 

Dr. Crystal Akers (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor in Linguistics at Rutgers University. She earned her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Rutgers-New Brunswick in 2012 and joined Central Connecticut State University that fall as a Visiting Assistant Professor. During her time at CCSU, Crystal also had the opportunity to develop and teach several new online asynchronous courses in Linguistics at Rutgers. She returned to Rutgers in 2016, joining the faculty as an Assistant Teaching Professor and her department's online coordinator for a growing slate of online asynchronous courses. In 2020, she received the SAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Education in Online Teaching. As an instructor and course developer, Crystal strives to create authentic, engaging, and accessible online learning experiences, and she enjoys the opportunity to learn from and with fellow teaching-focused faculty.

Dr. Courtney J. Sobers (Panelist), Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Chemistry, Rutgers – Newark started her career as a full-time collegiate educator in 2014 and is currently an Associate Teaching Professor in the chemistry department at Rutgers-Newark in Newark, New Jersey. Her primary teaching responsibilities include sequenced introductory chemistry courses with 100-450 enrolled students in collaboration with ~35 teaching assistants. As an educator, Courtney prioritizes creating courses that are welcoming to historically neglected students, including disabled students and formerly incarcerated students. To that end, Dr. Sobers ventured into the world of alternative grading, specifically collaborative grading (ungrading) and specifications grading, in large and/or non-lecture style courses. Courtney also focuses on the mentoring and training of student Teaching Assistants (TAs) that provide necessary support for these courses, with an emphasis on creating a learning environment that celebrates diversity. Most importantly, Courtney is unafraid to show the good, the bad, and the ugly of addressing accessibility and equity issues using adapted evidence-informed practices. She can be found publicly documenting her experiences, including her upcoming sabbatical(!), on various social media (@DrCJSobers).

Dr. Lyra Stein (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 Hypothesis Social Learning Innovator Award in Social Sciences and the 2025 Co-Intelligence Exploration Teaching Fellowship. Dr. Stein has played a leading role in faculty development through service on curriculum committees, mentoring programs, and national teaching organizations, and she is an advocate for inclusive, research-informed pedagogy. 

Dr. Michael Woodbury (Panelist), Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Mathematics, Rutgers – New Brunswick, earned his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin in 2012. As a Ritt Assistant Professor at Columbia University from 2012-2016 he started mentoring and advising undergraduate student research, advising many students who obtained careers in academia and industry. At Columbia, he became a convert to student engagement in the classroom. Mike seeks to help students take control of their learning and apply principles of cognitive science to their studies. He applied these principles into practice in teaching and research positions at the University of Cologne, Columbia, Brown, the University of Colorado and now at Rutgers.

Jenny Yang & David Goldman

How do we teach students how to learn, not just what to learn? In this interactive workshop, facilitators—who recently taught a Byrne Seminar on Becoming a Better Learner—drew on insights from the seminar and generalized reflections from students’ weekly journal entries as they guided participants through practical strategies to help students develop more effective, reflective learning habits. Participants explore how to integrate active learning, metacognitive tools, and mindset interventions into their own teaching. The session included time to reflect and share challenges; participant left with concrete ideas to help students become self-directed, resilient learners. 

Dr. Jenny Yang is Associate Teaching Professor and Language Programs Coordinator in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Trained in theoretical linguistics at Yale, Dr. Yang teaches undergraduate courses on Chinese language and culture, and graduate seminars on teaching Chinese as a second language. She is a Provost’s Teaching Fellow, a Humanities Plus Grant recipient, a Co-Intelligence Exploration Teaching Fellow, and co-leads the Teaching NTT faculty affinity network. Dr. Yang has been teaching all her courses in an active learning classroom for the past two years.

David Goldman works with SAS instructors and teammates on the Teaching and Learning Team to cultivate and support a community of excellent teachers at Rutgers. He also coordinates assessment practices that emphasize improving student learning. David has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UCLA and has taught at UCLA, Yale, Ohio State, and Rutgers. Before coming to Rutgers, he was Program Director for Humanities and Social Sciences at UCLA Extension, where he helped to build the UCLA Prison Education Program. He has helped coordinate the Humanities Plus program since its inception in 2019.

Tracie Addy

This was one of two panel discussions featuring Rutgers University-New Brunswick faculty members participating in a fellowship program on teaching and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) with the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, & Inclusive Pedagogy. Panelists shared their experiences integrating assignments involving GenAI into their courses using storytelling, simulation, and gaming. Student engagement in their learning is a forefront issue within higher education at this moment. Each of the panelists discussed their creative course innovations with GenAI to promote student engagement and learning. During the panel discussion, participants gained ideas for their own courses, learned from panelists' experience with GenAI integration in their teaching, and had the opportunity to ask questions. Panelists discussed the following:

• Dr. Douglas Cantor, Political Science, discussed his students using GenAI to simulate judges, attorneys, and lobbyists and critiquing the arguments made in the outputs.
• Dr. Ramaydalis Keddis, Biochemistry & Microbiology, shared how students used GenAI to generate case studies and/ or discussion questions concerning ethical issues to be used for a book Ethical critique presentation.
• Dr. Carmela Scala, Italian, described how her students used GenAI to create a digital story in a target language as well as create visuals that represent their story’s key moments. 
• Dr. Julia Stephens, History, discussed a course assignment where students used GenAI to develop a fictional character and critically reflected on the outputs for factual errors or bias. 
• Dr. Jenny Yang, Asian Languages and Cultures, to promote engagement in course reading materials, shared how she gamified reading with GenAI technologies to support students in more effectively synthesizing and applying information from readings. 

This session was moderated by the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, & Inclusive Pedagogy founded in May 2024 as a hub for supporting teaching development for instructors at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. 

Dr. Tracie Marcella Addy (Moderator) is the founding director of the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, and Inclusive Pedagogy (TIIP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick launched in May 2024. An academic leader, scholar, educator, author, and speaker, she is nationally recognized for her work in teaching and learning in higher education. She looks forward to moderating a panel discussion for a 2024-25 faculty fellowship initiative that supported a cohort of instructors across disciplines in exploring the promises and limitations of generative artificial intelligence. She looks forward to moderating the panel discussion as the fellows share their lessons learned with the community.

Douglas Cantor (Panelist) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Political Science and an Affiliated Faculty Fellow at the Honors College. His course offerings at Rutgers include Law and Politics, Urban Politics, Law and Society, Constitutional Law, Courts and Public Policy, as well as seminars on topics such as Water Politics and Housing Segregation. He is interested in incorporating aspects of critical thinking applied towards AI outputs for all his courses going forward. His book, Term Limits and the Modern Era of Municipal Reform was published with Routledge Publishing in the Spring of 2024. His next book, Pipe Dreams: The Politics of Lead and Water in U.S. Cities, is set to publish in 2027 with University of Michigan Press.

Dr. Ramaydalis Keddis (Panelist) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. She is the Lab Coordinator of a large General Microbiology course, teaching an ethical issues course for both graduate and undergraduate students and a Microbiology course for non-majors. Her focus has been on incorporating Active Learning in her courses, stressing the importance of scientific communication and AI literacy in the STEM field.

Dr. Carmela Scala (Panelist) is the Director of the Italian Language Program and Study Abroad at Rutgers University. She is the founder and chief editor of Language Teaching and Technology (LTT). She has received multiple grants, including an entrepreneurial award to develop an online professional development workshop for Italian teachers. Her recent edited volume, How to Actively Engage Our Students in the Language Classes (Vernon Press, 2022), explores student-centered approaches. In 2023-2024, she was awarded three grants from the Italian Embassy in New York to design innovative workshops focused on social justice, artificial intelligence, and sustainability in language education in the U.S. and Italy.

Dr. Julia Stephens (Panelist) is an associate professor of history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her research focuses on how law has shaped religion, family, and economy in colonial and post-colonial South Asia and in the wider Indian diaspora. Her first book, Governing Islam: Law, Empire, and Secularism in South Asia, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2018. Her new book, Worldly Afterlives: Tracing Family Trails Between India and Empire, will be published by Princeton University Press in late 2025. She teaches Asian, Islamic, family, and legal history. She is especially passionate about teaching introductory courses to non-majors and enjoys experimenting with different modes of instruction, including online and asynchronous.

Dr. Jenny Yang (Panelist) is Associate Teaching Professor and Language Programs Coordinator in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Trained in theoretical linguistics at Yale, Dr. Yang teaches undergraduate courses on Chinese language and culture, and graduate seminars on teaching Chinese as a second language. She is a Provost’s Teaching Fellow, a Humanities Plus Grant recipient, a Co-Intelligence Exploration Teaching Fellow, and co-leads the Teaching NTT faculty affinity network. Dr. Yang has been teaching all her courses in an active learning classroom for the past two years. 

Christine Altinis-Kiraz

 This panel explored how metacognitive strategies—particularly reflection assignments connected to both summative and formative assessments—can be used to support deeper learning and student persistence. We began by grounding the conversation in key definitions and theoretical frameworks that shape our understanding of metacognition and its role in learning, followed by each panelist highlighting how they implement and use such strategies in their respective moderate- to large-enrollment STEM courses. The implementation discussion incorporated a range of implementation tools (Canvas quizzes, PlayPosit, or surveys, etc.), addressing common challenges and offering insights for instructors looking to integrate metacognitive work into their own teaching. There were opportunities for the audience to pose questions and obtain advice on how to incorporate such metacognitive strategies into their own courses. 

Mary Emenike (Moderator) is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers-New Brunswick. She is a chemistry education researcher and directs the TRIAD Coalition in the School of Arts and Sciences. She supports faculty in their course transformation efforts and collaborates on various discipline-based and STEM education research projects. She teaches an Introduction to Chemistry Education course to chemistry teaching interns pursuing a Certificate in Chemistry Education or a chemistry education minor. Mary is a founding member of Rutgers Active Learning Community. Through the Learning Assistant Alliance (LAA), she supports faculty development and adoption of the Learning Assistant Model nationally. Mary earned her BS in Chemistry from Nazareth College and her PhD in Chemistry Education Research from Miami University.  

David Goldman (Moderator) works with SAS instructors and teammates on the Teaching and Learning Team to cultivate and support a community of excellent teachers at Rutgers. He also coordinates assessment practices that emphasize improving student learning. David has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UCLA and has taught at UCLA, Yale, Ohio State, and Rutgers. Before coming to Rutgers, he was Program Director for Humanities and Social Sciences at UCLA Extension, where he helped to build the UCLA Prison Education Program. He has helped coordinate the Humanities Plus program since its inception in 2019.  

Charles “Chaz” Ruggieri (Panelist) is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Chaz is a member of the TRIAD Coalition, and a co-PI of the NSF-funded Teaching Excellence Network (TEN). He collaborates with faculty members in the Department of Physics and Astronomy to transform physics courses and evaluate transformations, coordinates interdisciplinary STEM Semester Support Groups, and co-facilitates the (former) Course Transformation Summer Institute, engaging participants across multiple Rutgers–New Brunswick Departments and Schools. He earned his PhD in experimental surface and interface physics, and conducted postdoctoral research in physics education research at Rutgers University.  

Christine Altinis-Kiraz (Panelist) is an Associate Teaching Professor in Chemistry & Chemical Biology at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She earned her M.S. in Chemistry from UCLA and her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Rutgers. She redesigned the Extended General Chemistry sequence, implementing the “I Do, We Do, You Do” active learning model and integrating Learning Assistants to her lectures and recitations. She has trained over 150 near-peer instructors and emphasizes metacognition, goal-setting, and flipped lectures. Her innovations have impacted many students. She received the 2024 Provost’s Innovation in Teaching Award and 2022 SAS undergraduate distinguished team award for the transformations she has led.  

Ana Paula Centeno (Panelist) is interested in a broad range of problems in Computer Science. Her past research areas included management of power, energy and temperature on data centers, and optimization to reduce the length of stay of patients in emergency rooms. Currently she is focused on curriculum and program design for Computer Science education. Designing curriculum and programs that make computer science accessible, engaging, and inclusive to all students. She has led the revision of the CS department introductory course sequence to facilitate students’ transition through the sequence, reduce classroom intimidation, and increase students’ interest in computing.