Welcome & Teaching with Top Hat Workshops (Optional)

Learn to make the most of Top Hat—and earn your Innovative Educator Certification in the process! Delivered by our seasoned Instructional Design team, and grounded in evidence-based teaching practices, we'll show you how to leverage Top Hat to motivate and engage students, gather feedback and use data-driven insights to improve course design and delivery.

Speakers:

• Top Hat Instructional Design Team

Option 1: Foundations of Active Learning

Get hands-on as we explore making the most of Top Hat's core features. Learn to adopt, customize and create interactive content, and how to use Top Hat's assessment tools to see what students are understanding (or not understanding). Plus, we'll show you a variety of ways to engage your students before, during and after class.

Learning Objectives

• Basics of Top Hat course set up, organization and navigation
• Engaging students with polls, quizzes, and discussions
• Fostering peer-to-peer connection with AI and interactive content

Option 2: Digital Learning Experiences That Stick

Take your content creation to new heights by incorporating evidence-based teaching practices, including retrieval practice and interleaving. Get acquainted with Top Hat Ace, our AI-powered assistant, to easily create low stakes assessments based on the content you adopt or create. We'll also cover using Bloom's taxonomy to enhance assessment design, as well as generating real-time feedback to improve student outcomes.

Learning Objectives

• Designing media-rich assessments and homework assignments
• Creating high-impact learning during class
• Using content and course design to improve course insights and provide feedback to students

Option 3: Improving Student Outcomes with Aktiv Chemistry

Learn to use Aktiv Chemistry—a next-generation active learning platform built specifically for General Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, GOB Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry courses. Aktiv Chemistry makes it easy to incorporate active learning in even the largest classrooms, allowing students to use any device to tackle interactive problem sets and receive tailored feedback to spur academic success.

Learning Objectives

• Get best practices for using Aktiv Chemistry to create activities and assessments that help students master essential concepts. Learn how to create problem solving exercises, homework assignments and quizzes. Plus see how Aktiv provides helpful feedback to keep students motivated and engaged throughout. Then get hands-on with a guided experience using the Aktiv Chemistry platform!

Option 4: Crafting and Customizing Content with Top Hat

In this workshop, we’ll explore Top Hat’s Authoring Space to craft a dynamic course that serves your unique teaching vision. Work alongside your peers and Top Hat Instructional Designers and learn how to easily customize your content to solve for your biggest course challenges.

To make the most of this session, bring your syllabus and a sample of course material you’d like to bring to life in Top Hat.

Learning Objectives

• Gain comprehensive insight into Top Hat's Custom offering, including the authoring tools and features available for customizing course content within the platform.
• Learn strategies for optimizing your content or tailoring Top Hat's national resources to align with your unique teaching vision and course objectives.
• Hear from a Custom Author as they share the impact and value of optimizing and delivering their course content with Top Hat.

Top Hat Product Demo Showcase & Learning Lounge

Test drive our latest features and connect with the team responsible for Top Hat's latest innovations. Spend one-on-one time with our Instructional Designers to ask questions and optimize your course experience. It's all about setting you—and your students—up for success!

Welcome Reception and Dinner

Connect with your peers over drinks, food, and live music (we're in New Orleans, after all) as we kick off the official start of the Top Hat Engage conference.

Welcome & Morning Keynote: Teaching in the Age of AI

Faced with a new disruptive technology, we often fail to examine the deep ethical and pedagogical questions early enough in order to use these innovations to shape the future for the better. In this keynote presentation, Jesse Stommel, author of An Urgency of Teachers, will challenge us to engage with AI from a place of curiosity and critical thinking, rather than suspicion of students. Most importantly, Stommel will explore how we can embrace this moment to make learning more engaging, relevant and human for all.

Speaker:

• Jesse Stommel, Author and Teaching Faculty, University of Denver

From Surviving to Thriving: Creating Communities of Care

Change is a constant and often difficult companion—exciting on the one hand, and potentially overwhelming on the other. The question is, how can we support students to push through the obstacles that change presents? For acclaimed educator and creativity consultant Katie Dawson, promoting resilience, understanding and an ethic of care is not simply a balm in uncertain times—it's the foundation for academic success. In this workshop, well investigate instructional techniques to empower students to not only adapt to change, but thrive in an evolving world. Come ready to engage, reflect and, yes, paint, as we immerse in the transformative power of care in our classrooms!

Speaker:

• Katie Dawson, Drama and Theater, University of Texas at Austin

What's New with Top Hat

Join us to explore how our latest features are improving the student experience and making it easier to incorporate evidence-based teaching practices in your courses. See how Top Hat is leveraging the power of AI to support student learning outside of class, while reducing the time and effort it takes you to develop assessments aligned to your course content. Plus, get a first-hand look at how we're closing the achievement gap in STEM with new solutions designed to improve Math readiness.

Speakers:

• Clare Castro, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Top Hat
• Sue-Mun Huang, Group Product Manager, Top Hat

Birds of a Feather Luncheon + Top Hat Product Demo Showcase

Get to know your peers and share your teaching journey with instructors in your discipline. Plus, spend time at the Demo Showcase and test drive the latest innovations from Top Hat.

Promoting Engagement & Community with Evidence-Based Teaching

When students need help with coursework, we imagine them turning to Google or ChatGPT. Yet research suggests most students still prefer to seek support from peers and instructors, underscoring the vital role community plays in academic success. What's more, students who say their instructors use evidence-based teaching practices report increased positive outcomes, including feelings of belonging and confidence in their ability to graduate. In this session, we'll explore how you can combine the power of Top Hat with proven teaching strategies that embrace shared experience, collaboration and interaction to motivate and engage students and cultivate community in your classroom.

Speakers:

• Dr. Bradley Cohen, Chief Academic Officer, Top Hat
• Dr. Demian Hommel, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University

Maximizing Course Success by Teaching with Insight

It's not always easy to tell how well students are understanding your lessons. Midterms and finals can identify who's struggling, but they often come too late to get students back on track. The good news: Top Hat can help you establish feedback loops to better support students while enhancing course delivery—over time, and in the moment itself. In this session, you'll learn how to gain rich insights into student engagement and performance. We'll explore the use of knowledge gauges, auto-graded questions, open discussions and the Top Hat Gradebook to provide the feedback students crave while helping you pinpoint improvements in your course design and delivery.

Speaker:

• Andrea Hendricks, Mathematics, Georgia State University, Perimeter College

Using Content Authoring and Customization to Create Community

Efforts to improve textbook affordability are spreading across higher education. Yet there are opportunities we risk missing in the narrow focus on cost. As Dr. Nicole Fisk will share, this includes using content to create connections within her program and the broader university community itself. In this presentation, you'll learn how Dr. Fisk has embraced Top Hat's authoring tools to improve student retention by showcasing the work of students and faculty at her university. She'll also discuss how she uses customization to appeal to the interests of diverse audiences, keep content current (and yes, affordable) and strategies for getting students to engage authentically with course texts.

Speaker:

• Nicole Fisk, English Language and Literature, University of South Carolina

Transforming Student Learning in Chemistry

Research suggests that only 40 percent of students who intend to major in a STEM field end up completing a degree. For lecturer Kimberly Arnold, changing this equation begins by piquing curiosity, cultivating a growth mindset and helping students understand the larger value of what they will learn. But that's just the start. Join us for 'a day in the life' to see how Arnold uses Top Hat and Aktiv Chemistry to make learning active, promote collaboration and ensure every student receives the practice and feedback they need to realize their potential.

Speaker:

• Kimberly Arnold, Lecturer, Chemistry, Indiana University

A Difference Maker's Approach to Fostering Inclusive Excellence and Student Success

The failure to find a sense of belonging is a key reason many students never complete a college degree. This is especially true of first-generation and underrepresented minorities. In this session, Professor Smith explores the critical role structure plays in inclusive teaching and the importance of combining high expectations with compassionate support. You'll learn how she uses Top Hat to create an interactive syllabus that sets clear expectations and cultivates early engagement, as well as proven strategies for building student confidence. Professor Smith will also share a powerful, evidence-based practice designed to motivate students by helping them envision themselves as future professionals in their chosen field.

Speaker:

• Donna Smith, Professor, Mathematics, Sierra College

Where Learning Belongs Keynote and Workshop

While there is plenty to give us pause, these uncertain times also offer an invitation to reflect on the human experience. Learning, after all, has always been a social and deeply personal enterprise. The desire for belonging, significance and to understand our world, ourselves and each other is fundamental to a meaningful education. As we wrap up the day, we’ll explore why, in the face of change, the instructor’s role is arguably more important than ever. Then get ready to roll up your sleeves one last time as we share ideas and test drive strategies to foster a greater sense of connection, belonging, and wellbeing in our classrooms.

Speaker:

• Dr. Bradley Cohen, Chief Academic Officer, Top Hat

Closing Cocktail Reception

Join your peers and the Top Hat team as we enjoy time for refreshments, connecting and reflecting on the day.