desktop with laptop post its and note pad with pen

9:30am to 3:30pm on Thursday, September 3rd – Completely Virtual

New for Fall 2026! The Office for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning and the University Libraries have teamed up to bring you a day of virtual sessions focused on building your teaching skills and supporting research assignments in your classes. Join us for one or more sessions on Thursday, Sept. 3. The day begins and ends with a Meet & Greet with ATL and Library faculty and staff. Five blocks of concurrent sessions (descriptions below) begin at 10am and end by 3pm. All sessions are via Zoom. Pick and choose which sessions work for your schedule and needs, but know that you can adjust if your plans change. Once registered, we’ll send you a calendar invitation with Zoom link for each session you’ve selected.

Have questions? Please feel free to email the program organizers, Alicia G. Vaandering (avaandering@uri.edu) or Penny Edwards (penny.edwards@uri.edu).

schedule overview

SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

Registration

Program Outcomes

Through these sessions, participants will have the opportunity to:

Strengthen classroom teaching skills and gain new ideas for course design.
Identify library resources and tools that support classroom research and student success.
Develop and hone strategies for engaging students in research in the college classroom.
Build relationships and connections with URI colleagues.

Schedule Overview

Time	Session Title	Facilitator(s)
9:30 – 9:55am	Meet & Greet w/ the ATL & Library Teams
10:00 – 10:45am	Session 1A: Strategies for a Great 1st Day of Class Session 1B: Stronger Together: Partnering with the Library to Support Student Learning, Access, & Research	Sophia Abbot & Penny Edwards Amanda Crego-Emley
11:00 – 11:45am	Session 2A: Keeping Research Organized: Practical Strategies for Students and Faculty Session 2B: Showcasing Student Scholarship: DigitalCommons@URI and Pressbooks	Amanda Izenstark Julia Lovett
12:00 – 12:45pm	Session 3A: Open Co-Working Time Session 3B: Tips and Tricks for Fostering Online Engagement	ATL Faculty Development Team Jacqueline Kociubuk, Karen Haskell, & Arthur Spivack
1:00 – 1:45pm	Session 4A: Perspectives and Strategies for Alternative Grading Session 4B: Building Better Research: Structured Activities to Support Student Projects	Melanie Brasher, Caitlin Nash, Alissa Cox Alicia G. Vaandering
2:00 – 2:45pm	Session 5A: ‘What are You Doing with AI?’ Session 5B: Archival Encounters Across the Disciplines: Using Primary Sources in the Classroom	Todd Dresser Karen Walton Morse
3:00 – 3:25pm	Wrap Up and Meet & Greet w/ the ATL & Library Teams

Session Descriptions

9:30 – 9:55 a.m.

Meet & Greet with the ATL & Library Teams

Join us to meet members of the ATL and Library teams and to learn more about the different ways we can support you throughout the year.

10:00 – 10:45 a.m.

S1A: Stronger Together: Partnering with the Library to Support Student Learning, Access, & Research

Amanda Crego-Emley (Reference & Instruction, University Libraries)

This session highlights how faculty and the library can collaborate to reduce access barriers and enhance student success. Learn about support available at the Research Help Desk, placing course materials on reserve to support textbook affordability and access, and seamlessly integrating library ebooks, articles, and research guides into your course Brightspace site. Leave with practical strategies for leveraging the URI Libraries to better support your students.

S1B: Strategies for a Great 1st Day of Class

Sophia Abbot (Faculty Development, ATL) and Penny Edwards (Faculty Development, ATL)

Looking for ideas on something to do the first day of class besides going over the syllabus? Join us for a session focused on strategies for having a great first day that help you engage and connect with students from the start. This session is relevant for those who teach classes of all sizes.

11:00 – 11:45 a.m.

S2A: Keeping Research Organized: Practical Strategies for Students and Faculty

Amanda Izenstark (Reference & Instruction, University Libraries)

This session introduces practical strategies faculty can use to help students organize their assignments and the academic information they find effectively. We’ll explore how to structure files, manage sources, and build good organizational habits using tools like Google Workspace, OneDrive, Zotero, and RefWorks. Faculty will also gain a few tips to streamline their own organization.

S2B: Showcasing Student Scholarship: DigitalCommons@URI and Pressbooks

Julia Lovett (Digital Initiatives, University Libraries)

Would your students like to publish their scholarship beyond the classroom? In this session, participants will learn how to utilize DigitalCommons@URI, our institutional repository, for sharing and preserving student research projects. We will also look at Pressbooks, a tool for both creating new content and discovering existing open educational resources. Finally, we will touch on how faculty can utilize these tools for faculty scholarship.

12:00 – 12:45 p.m.

S3A: Open Co-Working Time

Todd Dresser, Penny Edwards, and Sophia Abbot (Faculty Development Team from ATL)

Looking for a little accountability and dedicated time to power through some course prep/writing? Bring your task and join us for this 45-minute co-working session! No presentation or formal program, just note your goal in a spreadsheet and begin working. If desired, you can also consult with one of us in a breakout room.

S3B: Tips and Tricks for Fostering Online Engagement

Jacqueline Kociubuk (Graduate School of Library and Information Studies), Karen Haskell (Professional and Public Writing), Arthur Spivack (Graduate School of Oceanography)

Creating engagement in online classroom spaces often requires new or unique tools, strategies, and practices. Join us as we share some of our student-tested methods for building online engagement in undergraduate and graduate courses across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

1:00 – 1:45 p.m.

S4A: Perspectives and Strategies for Alternative Grading

Melanie Brasher (Sociology), Caitlin Nash (Public Health), Alissa Cox (Natural Resources Science)

Join us for a panel presentation on specifications and standards-based grading (alternative grading). Instructors from different disciplines will share information on how they made changes to their courses, big and small. We will provide an overview and specific ideas you can use in your courses this year.

S4B: Building Better Research: Structured Activities to Support Student Projects

Alicia G. Vaandering (Reference & Instruction, University Libraries)

Students often feel overwhelmed by large research assignments, struggling to break large papers, presentations, or other projects into manageable steps. This session explores practical ways to support the development of students’ research skills through scaffolded in-class activities and assignments. Participants will leave with adaptable ideas for designing and implementing sequenced tasks that reduce overwhelm while building critical research and information literacy skills.

2:00 – 2:45 p.m.

S5A: What are you doing with AI?

Todd Dresser (Associate Director, Faculty Professional Development, ATL)

Join this session to share how you are using/incorporating AI in your teaching/classes and to learn ideas from your colleagues about how they are using/incorporating AI.

S5B: Archival Encounters Across the Disciplines: Using Primary Sources in the Classroom

Karen Walton Morse (University Archives and Special Collections, University Libraries)

Incorporating primary source activities into class sessions can (re)invigorate the classroom while supporting course learning outcomes and critical thinking. This session will highlight activities and assignments successfully deployed in diverse URI courses. Encouraging a DIY approach, it will also include an overview of the tools available to assist instructors with classroom integration (including sources of preexisting lessons) as well as guidance on how and where to find the perfect primary source for your class. Resources provided.

3:00 – 3:25 p.m.

Wrap Up and Meet & Greet with the ATL & Library Teams

Join us to ask any lingering questions about ATL and Library support for the coming year.

To Register…

Visit our registration page to sign up for these sessions.

Trouble Registering? Contact us at teach@uri.edu

ATL Programming

Check out our Programming Calendar for more learning opportunities.

Questions