The Conference on Inspiring College Teaching brings together people who inspire others for a living. Every participant is a valuable learning resource, and we create a climate where participants come together to support, promote, and share the excitement and satisfaction of inspiring others and themselves.
Faculty & Staff
One goal of the conference is to create space for college educators to express frustrations and discuss challenges without concern for how they will be judged.
Most attendees are faculty at colleges and universities nationwide. We range from adjunct to tenured, from faculty at the beginning of their careers to distinguished chairs, emeriti, and college presidents. We also warmly welcome administrative faculty and professional staff as well as K-12 educators.
Conference participants attend and provide workshops on engaging all learners, meaningful assessment, the science of learning, student and faculty mental health, and innovative teaching strategies. Our programming also includes workshops in AI for teaching and learning, online resources that maximize student learning, creating learning communities in physical and virtual classrooms, and many more topics. If a topic is broached during a session that participants want to pursue, an impromptu session is arranged for the next round of concurrents.
The benefits of attending the conference are many... and surprising.
Participants come away with new strategies, approaches, and knowledge about the research and practices of teaching and learning. They learn directly from students about their concerns and needs.
Participants also form strong bonds with other faculty members at the conference that lead to partnerships in research and long-term support for teaching.
LEARNING WITH AND FROM STUDENTS
Graduate students are integrated with faculty programming. They may present formally with faculty on panels, and they are encouraged to engage in informal and impromptu conference sessions. An undergraduate leadership conference runs parallel to CICT and provides opportunities to interact and learn from real students.
MATERIALS EXCHANGE
At the Conference on Inspiring College Teaching, every participant is a valuable learning resource.
Because every participant is a valuable learning resource, we support one another by sharing ideas and materials to enhance our college teaching. If you have resources you would like to share with others, please email your PDF attachment or link, and resource description to us at library@wakonse.edu
Attending the Conference on Inspiring College Teaching for the first time this year was a powerful and truly transformative experience. Camp Miniwanca, nestled in the woods just steps away from the shore of Lake Michigan, is the ideal setting for an experience that is part academic conference and part retreat. I arrived exhausted and close to burnout at the end of an overwhelming semester. I left energized, inspired, and a bit humbled by my peers.
CICT reminded me why I fell in love with teaching to begin with—because it is how we transform the world around us. To be surrounded by both the beauty of nature and teachers from all different institutions and disciplines who share that same goal was a privilege.
The conference left me with a greater sense of my own purpose, a renewed love for teaching, more pedagogical strategies, and the privilege of getting to know and support colleagues from all types of institutions. I could not recommend it enough.
Darlene Hampton, Ph.D. | Assistant Dean
Office of Undergraduate Studies | College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame
The "Wakonse Spirit"
The exchange of ideas and inspiration do not end on the last day of the conference. The program fosters a national network of Wakonse Fellows who serve as a source of encouragement and support once participants return to their respective colleges and universities. Put “Wakonse” in the subject line of an email or post a question to the Wakonse Fellows Facebook page and colleagues will reply enthusiastically.
Most of the over 2,000 past attendees of this conference (some of them returning many times) put the words “Wakonse Fellow” on their C.V. or office door to signal that they have been to this conference. Should another Wakonse Fellow happen to be on your hiring or fellowship committee, they will know that you are a candidate who is serious about teaching and learning!
