CEL Events

The CEL offers events on teaching and learning-focused topics in a variety of formats, each session providing the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge with colleagues. 

If you are interested in facilitating a workshop or have suggestions for future topics, please contact us!

upcoming schedule of events

Workshops !

Winter 2026

CEL Assignment Reboot Workshop
Thursday, January 22, 9:30 am – 3 pm, Rohrbach Library (location TBA in a follow-up email when you enroll)

In this workshop, we’ll explore how to redesign assignments in response to AI, using the "I Can. I Care. I Matter." mindset from Teaching with AI to help students demonstrate competence, build meaningful connections, and see the relevance of their learning. Along the way, we’ll draw on inclusive design strategies to support clarity, motivation, and authentic student work in an increasingly AI-influenced environment.

You’ll have dedicated time to revise your own assignments, with practical tools and examples you can apply immediately. Please bring one or two current class assignments. You’ll leave with updated versions that are more aligned with your goals, your students, and the realities of AI in teaching and learning!

Reserve your spot here:
Assignment Reboot Workshop – complete this form
(Note: registration is capped at 25, lunch is provided)

Visit our CEL Journal for more resources and reflections from the August, 2025 CEL AI Workshop!

Fall 2025

These collaborative events are designed for you to gather with your colleagues, learn together, and leave with a specific outcome to meet your teaching/professional needs. Unless otherwise noted, all workshops are held at the 11 am meeting hour in the CEL, Rohrbach Library 6.

Thursday, September 25: Writing AI Assignments
As AI becomes more common, how can we keep our assignments fresh and relevant? In this session, we’ll explore practical ways to pivot and adapt assignments so they remain meaningful. Together, we’ll dig into concrete pedagogical techniques, weigh the strengths and weaknesses of AI, and develop strategies you can use right away.

Tuesday, October 28: Playing the Funding Game
KU has many funding opportunities, from mini-assessment grants to KU Bears grants.  By starting small, you can support your scholarship and teaching.  We'll explore the different types of grants available at KU, discuss effective grant applications, share resources, and develop an action plan.  

Tuesday, November 18: CHOPPED! Teaching Challenge Edition

Just like the hit TV show Chopped!, our faculty “contestants” will be handed a mystery basket of teaching materials. Their challenge: use these ingredients to whip up a creative, engaging lesson in just 30 minutes. Each of the teams will then have three minutes to present their lessons to our panel of judges. While judges deliberate over the winners, our faculty contestants reflect on their teaching process in writing. We’ll award the victors with sweet prizes (yes—candy is on the line!).
 
Think fast, teach boldly, and may the best lesson win!

Workshops by Request

Workshop: Motivating and Engaging Your Students
In this 50-minute interactive workshop, you won’t just hear about the pedagogical theory of play, you’ll experience it. Together we’ll try out a dozen playful, research-informed techniques designed to spark engagement and creativity in your classroom. Each activity is something you can immediately adapt for your own teaching, regardless of discipline. Along the way, we’ll reflect on why these approaches work, how they align with theories of active learning, and how they can transform everyday moments into opportunities for deeper student connection. You’ll leave with fresh strategies, ready-to-use tools, and a renewed sense of fun in your teaching.

League of Learning

Fall 2025 is underway!

Engage, connect, learn, and earn points with our League of Learning leaderboard! 

Check the leaderboard standings via our CEL online journal.

Book Clubs!

Please fill out this handy form to sign up for either of the book clubs listed below.

Innovative Pedagogy Book Club

This year's reading: 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People: A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation―And Making Your Own Life Easier by David Yeager. NATIONAL BESTSELLER! Acclaimed developmental psychologist David Yeager reveals the new science of motivating young people aged ten through twenty-five in this groundbreaking book, a must-read for managers, parents, educators, coaches, and mentors everywhere.

If you would like to join us, we will meet every other Monday at 12 pm, starting on September 8, in the CEL, Rohrbach Library 6
The rest of the semester schedule is as follows:

• September 22 
• October 6 
• October 20 
• November 3 
• November 17 
• December 1 

Teaching with AI Book Club

This year's reading: Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson (link to eBook through KU EBSCO). Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way we learn, work, and think. Its integration into classrooms and workplaces is already underway, impacting and challenging ideas about creativity, authorship, and education. In this groundbreaking and practical guide, teachers will discover how to harness and manage AI as a powerful teaching tool. José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson present emerging and powerful research on the seismic changes AI is already creating in schools and the workplace, providing invaluable insights into what AI can accomplish in the classroom and beyond. 

If you would like to join us, we will meet every other Wednesday at 12 pm starting September 3, and every other Thursday at 11 am starting September 4, 2025
All meetings in the CEL, Rohrbach Library 6
The rest of the semester schedule is as follows:

• September 17-18 
• October 1-2 
• October 15-16 
• October 29-30 
• November 12-13 
• November 26-27 

Communities of Practice!

A CoP meeting can take many forms (in-person, Zoom, or hybrid) and ideally support the KU Strategic Plan.

Fall 2025 Topic

• Classroom Visiting: In this Community of Practice, we visit one another’s classrooms, not to evaluate or judge performance, but to observe, appreciate, and learn, sparking conversations that invite questions, insights, and shared takeaways. In our group meetings, we reflect on what we found valuable, consider what we might adapt for our own teaching, and explore how different pedagogical practices work across disciplines.
  First meeting: Thursday, September 11^th @ 11 am in the CEL, RL 6

  Sign up here!

Organization

Each CoP will be organized by one or more facilitators from the KU community, with support from the CEL. Once formed, CoP facilitators will schedule meetings, discuss and establish collective goals and participant responsibilities, share findings, and discuss organizational structure. CoPs are intended to be equitable, with all members playing an equal role in their success.

Support from the CEL

The CEL supports CoP facilitators and participants in many ways, including:

• Assisting facilitators in developing their communities' titles, descriptions, and meeting options.
• Matching facilitators and topics with prospective CoP members.
• Advising facilitators on group communications and logistics, such as scheduling, on-campus or virtual meeting spaces, and community activities.
• The CEL will also consider aiding in the purchase of supporting materials—such as books—on a per-request basis.

Join today!

Comp Conversations!

Fall 2025

These workshops on teaching writing are open to all faculty across campus. Please join us in person on Wednesdays at 12 noon in the CEL, Rohrbach 6, or on Zoom! 

Schedule of topics

ARRRRRGument ​​​​​​​      September 10, 2025
Are you ready for “Talk Like a Pirate Day” AND to teach argument to undergraduate students in writing courses? This workshop introduces the ARG mnemonic (Acceptability, Relevance, Grounds) to evaluate the cogency of written arguments and discusses ways to teach argument structure and the identification of informal fallacies in students’ own writing. Please feel free to bring any readings or activities to share with us!

Safe Space Training for Writing Instructors ​​     September 24, 2025
This workshop will be run in conjunction with the LGBTQ+ Resource Center. All participants will receive a Safe Space sign indicating that you have completed your training.

Feedback Follow-up and Rubric Share​   ​​       ​   October 8, 2025
During the pre-semester workshop, we discussed the importance of multiple modes of feedback in order to connect with students on a human level as well as to safeguard our time and efforts. This session is a follow-up to build on feedback techniques. Bring a student-facing rubric that you want to work on.

Writing Center Tutor Visit​​​​​   ​      ​        Nov. 5, 2025
Learn from our writing center tutors as they visit Comp Conversations in a Comp Convo/Writing Center crossover episode! What do students really use the writing center for? What advice do tutors give most often to students? Feel free to ask questions and engage in an open dialogue with the writing center in discussing best practices for writing tutoring and preparing your students to visit the center.

Fieldtrips, Guest Speakers, and other ways of “Mixing it up”     Nov 19, 2025
You might be familiar with the fact that your Kutztown composition faculty colleagues wrote an Open Educational Resource textbook! We will briefly go over how to access this resource as well as other free open-access resources, articles, readings, and technology that can assist students in Composition.

Questions or ideas for a Comp Convo that you want to share? Email Sandi Leonard. A certificate of acknowledgement of your professional development is given after 5 or more hours of your attendance and participation in these sessions.

HOUr of power!

Fall 2025

Join us for the Hour of Power, a one-hour writing retreat in the CEL! We'll hold your phone, close the door, and track time so you can focus on your work in a distraction-free environment. Thursdays 10-11 am (Rohrbach Library 6) or by request.

In case you missed it...