2026 T4L Conference

Course design can be simultaneously exciting and terrifying due to the seemingly unlimited number of paths possible when putting a course together. Adding structure and scaffolding to a course not only will assist with the course design process but will also aid your students in achieving positive outcomes. In this interactive session, participants will be exposed to the model of high structure course design, how it benefits student learning, and how it can be adapted for any type of course design. Specifically, participants will see how high structure course design benefits students and instructors alike, identify resources and tools, and be inspired to use principles of high structure course design in their own courses.

Dr. Justin Shaffer is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and a Teaching Professor at the Colorado School of Mines. Justin is an award-winning educator who has taught 8500+ students since 2012 in chemical engineering and the biological sciences and conducts research on the efficacy of STEM course design. Justin is the author of the book High Structure Course Design and the founder of Recombinant Education where he provides professional development on course design and evidence-based instructional practices.

Memory and memorization have earned a controversial place in education—often dismissed in the age of AI, search engines, and always-available information. But new research tells a different story: memory and thinking are deeply intertwined, and a strong internal knowledge base remains essential to reasoning, problem solving, and expertise. This keynote explores how digital technologies have changed the role of memory in education, and what instructors need to understand about the science of remembering. Participants will gain a deeper appreciation of why memory still matters, and how to teach in ways that support durable, meaningful learning.

Dr. Michelle Miller is the author of Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology (Harvard University Press, 2014), Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World (West Virginia University Press, 2022), and a new book titled A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names: Why You Should, Why It’s Hard, How You Can (University of Oklahoma Press, 2024). Dr. Miller completed her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and behavioral neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles and currently serves as a Professor of Psychological Sciences and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Northern Arizona University.

Individual scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) endeavors can be immensely rewarding and enhance the growth and development of our students. However, it is not uncommon for SoTL scholars to report that they feel somewhat isolated on their campuses and that non-SoTL colleagues and administrators place lower value on classroom scholarship than on disciplinary scholarship. The Grand Challenges for SoTL offer a means by which to connect our SoTL scholarship to globally recognized wicked problems for teaching and learning in higher education. Learn about ongoing efforts related to these Grand Challenges, and gain ideas regarding ways you might connect your own interests and efforts to them.

Dr. Lauren Scharff is a professor and the inaugural SoTL Program Director at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Her SoTL research currently focuses on feedback literacy and the Grand Challenges for SoTL. She is past president of the Southwestern Psychological Association and past U.S. Regional Vice President for ISSOTL. Her awards include the Florence L. Denmark Psi Chi National Faculty Advisor Award and the Gary Poole Distinguished Reviewer Award for Teaching and Learning Inquiry.