CEL Programs & 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, !

upcoming schedule of Programs & events

Workshops !

Spring 2026 

All events take place in Rohrbach Library 6. Please note that we have not yet announced the location of our March 30 event.

Tuesday, February 17, 11 am: The Writing on the Wall
From assignment handouts to textbook chapters, getting students to read remains a persistent challenge, and AI is further altering the landscape. This session will share research on why students often struggle with or avoid assigned readings, followed by practical strategies instructors can use to better support student engagement with course texts.

Monday, March 30, 1 pm: Rethinking Planning and Goal Setting (LOCATION TBA)
What Works by Tara McMullin has resonated with many faculty, particularly her ideas about overcommitment, capacity, and sustainable decision-making. Join us for an in-person conversation with Tara McMullin to explore how her framework for rethinking goals and planning might apply to faculty work and professional lives.

Thurs, April 23, 11 am: How Are You Using AI?
AI is not just for students. It increasingly intersects with faculty work, from grading tools and syllabus support to research organization and course design. In this "lightning showcase," faculty will share how they are currently using AI, what has been effective, and what has not.

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.

Workshop: Assignment Reboot
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 a current class assignment. You’ll leave with updated versions that are better aligned with your goals and your students' goals.

Kaffee und Kuchen!

Enjoy some coffee, tea, cookies, and lively afternoon discussions! Join us in the CEL, Rohrbach 6, on the following dates and times:

  • Tuesday, February 10, from 1-2 pm
  • Wednesday, March 4, from 2-3 pm
  • Friday, April 10, from 12-1 pm

League of Learning!

The 2025-26 season 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!

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 February 2, in the CEL, Rohrbach Library 6. We will be continuing with Chapter 7.
The rest of the semester schedule is as follows:

  • February 16 
  • March 2 
  • March 23 - first meeting after Spring Break 
  • April 6 
  • April 20 
  • May 4 

Communities of Practice!

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

Spring 2026 TBA

Comp Conversations!

Spring 2026

Select Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 am, CEL (Lower level, Rohrbach Library 6) and on Zoom!

Thursday, February 12: Assigning Writing in the Time of A.I.
We all know that assigning writing is valuable for building our students’ writing skills, fostering critical thinking, and enabling self-expression. But when A.I. is ever-present, how do you successfully assign substantial writing assignments? In this session, we will share pedagogical and technological strategies, tools, and techniques on how encourage students to use or not use A.I. responsibly for your assignments. If you have an assignment, reading, tool, or activity to share during this session, please email it to sleonard@kutztown.edu.

Thursday, February 26: Bring your own Book, A.I. Edition
Last semester, many of us participated in a reading group on Teaching with A.I., where we explored A.I.’s role in education and how it might be incorporated in potentially productive ways. But many more recent books on A.I. take various stances on A.I.’s effects, implications, uses, and origins. Bring a book on A.I. to share or critique.

Tuesday, March 10: Productive Peer Review
“Good job.” “Ok!” “Looks fine.” How do we encourage our students to leave each other more engaged and thoughtful peer review comments? This session will go over productive techniques in teaching students how to peer review and how to empower them to become more engaged in this stage of the writing process.

Tuesday, March 31: Researching with Robots
Numerous A.I. tools purport to help researchers in the research process. Are any of them good? We will find out in this session where we will test various A.I.-driven tools for their accuracy and potential for pedagogical use. Additionally, we will discuss ideas for assignments and lessons intended to foster A.I. literacy during the research process.

Thursday, April 9: Multimodal Composition Assignments
What do podcasts, presentations, videos, games, blogs, and more have in common? Writing! This presentation will introduce some potential assignments that employ multiple modes of composition and expression. If you wish to share a multimodal composition assignment from your course, email me at sleonard@kutztown.edu.

Monday, April 13: KUCC - Kutztown University Composition Conference 

Tuesday, April 21
How do we teach students to have control over the register and rules of academic etiquette in their writing without breaking out worksheets and hearing a chorus of yawns? This session gives some ideas on how students can more intentionally experiment with their own writing and become more keenly aware of the stylistic expectations in academic genres of writing.

Questions or ideas for a Comp Convo that you want to share? Email . 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!

Spring 2026

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, CEL, Rohrbach Library 6.

In case you missed it...

  • Fall 2025 - Winter 2025 Workshops

    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!

    (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!

  • Fall 2025 - Communities of Practice

    • 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 11th @ 11 am in the CEL, RL 6

    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!

  • Fall 2025 Comp Conversations

    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.

  • Incoming Faculty Orientation 2025

    Incoming Faculty Orientation 2025

    August 18-19, Unity Room, Multicultural Center

    The Incoming Faculty Orientation will take place on August 18-19, 2025, in the Unity Room of the Multicultural Center. Visit the link below to view the schedule. We look forward to an engaging and collaborative orientation experience!

    Incoming Faculty Orientation

  • UDL Course Redevelopment 2025

    Basics of UDL Course 2026

    An Initiative of the Center for Engaged Learning’s Inclusive Teaching Institute

    Proposals are due by: 04/20/2026

    Purpose

    The purpose of the professional learning opportunity is to provide KU faculty with the skills and knowledge that help facilitate the institutionalization of equity, inclusion, and diversity at KU through applying the Principles of Universal Design Learning (UDL). UDL aims to change the design of the environment and curriculum rather than to change the learner. By anticipating learner variability and proactively reducing and eliminating barriers to learning, UDL empowers all learners to engage in rigorous, meaningful learning experiences.

    Award

    Participants will be allotted up to $600 of professional development funding for time spent completing the training, revising their course, and participating in the mandatory events. The Center for Engaged Learning’s leadership team will make the final determination on completing all aspects of this professional learning opportunity.

    Please note: those who have already completed the January 2023, 2024, or 2025; or the Summer 2023, 2024, or 2025 Basics of UDL course are not eligible for the professional development funding award.

    Please see the Basics of UDL Course page for more information!