2026 POD Network Annual Conference
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Birds of a Feather Session
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2026 POD Network Annual Conference ✳︎ Birds of a Feather Session ✳︎
Across the Great (AI) Divide
CTL Conduits for Student-Faculty Conversations
Session Information
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Participants will leave with concise talking points summarizing why CTL-facilitated opportunities for student-faculty collaboration/conversations are a high-impact way to improve learning environments in today’s higher education landscape.
Participants will leave with a crowdsourced list of specific CTL programs and initiatives that have successfully facilitated meaningful communications between faculty members and students.
Each participant will have the opportunity to identify stakeholders and resources needed to facilitate humanizing and energizing faculty-student conversations and collaborations on their campus, including both one-time events as well as longer-term initiatives and collaborations, with an emphasis on low-tech, no or low-cost, and goal-oriented programming.
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Welcome, Introductions, and Discussion Agreement
5-Minute Video: Syracuse University CTLE Student Consultants answering the question “How can open and honest conversations between students and faculty productively address issues around generative AI?”
Reflection (to self or in small groups) on the questions: “How can structured opportunities for faculty and students to have conversations about teaching improve learning environments in the age of AI?” “What short-term or long-term collaborations between students and faculty have you facilitated at your CTL?”
Identifying Stakeholders and Resources at Your Center: Each participant will have the opportunity to identify stakeholders and resources needed to facilitate humanizing and energizing faculty-student conversations and collaborations on their campus.
Google Doc Activity: Compiling a list of our best ideas via a Google doc.
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#1. How can structured opportunities for faculty and students to have conversations about teaching improve learning environments in the age of AI?
#2. What short-term or long-term collaborations between students and faculty have you facilitated at your CTL? We’re particularly interested in identifying low-tech, no or low-cost, and goal-oriented programming.
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Identify at least one successful short long-term collaboration between students and faculty you have facilitated at your CTL, and discuss what made it effective. We’re particularly interested in identifying low-tech, no or low-cost, and goal-oriented programming.
Session Takeaways
Talking Points and Program Ideas
Identify at least one successful short long-term collaboration between students and faculty you have facilitated at your CTL, and discuss what made it effective. We’re particularly interested in identifying low-tech, no or low-cost, and goal-oriented programming.
Readings and Resources
Meet Your Facilitators
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Ebony Graham
Faculty Developer and Coordinator of Students Consulting on Teaching (SCOT), Syracuse University Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence
I’m an emerging educational developer with years of experience in the field of pedagogical partnership and a scholar of teaching and learning. I’m committed to bringing students and instructors together to collaboratively improve the teaching and learning experience for all.
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Jessamyn Neuhaus
Director, Syracuse University Teaching and Learning Excellence, Professor, School of Education, and inaugural Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching and Learning Excellence
I’m a scholar of teaching and learning with 20+ years of classroom experience, and a regular speaker at teaching conferences and events. My most recent book, Snafu Edu: Teaching and Learning When Things Go Wrong in the College Classroom (2025) was published in the Oklahoma University Press series, Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed and I recently completed a book manuscript on teaching and learning with unessay assignments. What I most value as an educator and an educational developer is empowering students’ and instructors’ academic agency.