Annual Spring Teaching Conference

CTL’s annual teaching conference began in 2005 in partnership with colleges across UNM, and was originally titled Success in the Classroom.

The goals of the conference are to:

• Showcase the great pedagogical work taking place at UNM.
• Promote and motivate creativity and innovation in teaching.
• Encourage and support reflective practice and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL).
• Invigorate the teaching and learning conversations on campus.
• Facilitate and promote intra- and cross-disciplinary conversations and collaborations on teaching and learning.
• Create an environment that motivates the formation of teaching communities of practice within and across departments.

REGISTER EARLY AND SAVE THE DATES

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: MARCH 24 ^TH

Our conference theme this year is Constellating Our Praxis: Connection and Inspiration in Teaching and Learning at UNM. This theme is inspired both by the UNM Framework for Teaching and Learning Success, developed by the Faculty Senate Teaching Enhancement Committee and endorsed by the full senate in April 2025, and the knowledge that many in the UNM community are already engaging in practices consistent with the framework’s seven domains of practice! Through this year’s conference we are excited to amplify this work and foster community, conversation, sharing, and, hopefully, long-lasting relationships around our collective teaching endeavors. We envisage our collective efforts as a constellation where individual teaching and learning practices connect to form a shared mission of excellence.

Central to this gathering is the concept of Praxis. Drawing from Freirean thought, Praxis embodies the cyclical practice of Knowledge + Action + Reflection. Praxis goes beyond essentialized practice. It is the constant exercise of creating collective knowledge; it is also a commitment to engage in the cycle of transforming our realities through constant action and reflection to produce new knowledge for transformation. Sessions are designed to support this cycle through dialogue, shared inquiry, and opportunities for application.

The 2026 conference welcomes all members of the UNM campus community --faculty, instructors, staff, administrators, graduate students, and undergraduate students who share an interest in teaching and learning.

We look forward to coming together for two days of conversation, learning, and connection and to culminating Day 1 with the Teaching Excellence Awards Celebration, which for the first time this year features awards aligned with the seven practice domains of the Framework for Teaching and Learning Success.

Our full program schedule is forthcoming in the latter part of February but please have a peek below into the ideas and practices we will be exploring:

Engage in Active & Relevant Learning

• Crafting learning experiences that honor students’ cultures and lived experiences.
• Exploring flipped classroom models for student-centered learning.
• Heightening student engagement in quantitative courses.

Foster Open Communication & Assessment

• Crafting transparent assignments as a pathway for student success.
• Exploring alternative grading strategies.
• Rethinking feedback to foster motivation, trust, and belonging.

Embrace a Culture of Growth

• Strengthening the general education experience.
• Designing student-centered reading trajectories.
• Reimagining student writing experiences and skill-building.

Cultivate Community

• Advancing teaching as a collective endeavor through partnership and community-building.
• Integrating restorative practices into pedagogy.

Integrate Research-Centered & Experiential Learning

• Implementing experiential learning through hands-on, place-based, and community-engaged learning.
• Implementing undergraduate research.
• Navigating the ethical landscape of AI: Preparing students for critical engagement.

Support the Potential of All Learners

• Implementing pedagogies that build foundational skills and foster a sense of belonging.
• Advancing inclusivity through the application of equitable and critical frameworks.
• Exploring practices in the advising/teaching nexus.

Practice Reflection & Continuous Improvement

• Exploring metacognition, contemplative, mindful, and embodied approaches.
• Using evidence to strengthen pedagogical practices.
• Bridging Theory-to-Practice: Lessons from GTAs Micro-Teaching & Reflective Practice.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: MARCH 24TH

Full program details are coming soon. Please check back for updates.