Proposals due by June 15, 2026 | Decisions by July 1, 2026

We invite you to bring your plus sign to the August 2026 Focus on Teaching and Learning conference. How do you cultivate conditions of engagement, belonging, and growth so students can flourish? What curricular and co-curricular approaches have had a lasting impact on your students? Share the pedagogical practices and moments that reflect your deepest values as an educator.

Need a starting point? Consider how you create space for

➕ The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm

➕ Community-building

➕ High-impact Practices

➕ Sustainability

➕ Active Learning

➕ Feedback

➕ Assessment of Student Learning

➕ Welcoming Student and Instructor Identities

➕ Universal Design for Learning

➕ Risk-taking

➕ Play

➕ Cura Personalis

➕ Disagreement

➕ Generative AI

➕ Or anything else you value in teaching, learning, mentoring, and advising contexts?

Session Types

Workshop (45 minutes)

Participants don’t just hear about your practice—they experience it! Workshops are active, immersive sessions in which participants create, build, or experiment with a pedagogical practice or concept. The goal is for participants to leave with something concrete they can readily implement in their own teaching and learning contexts.

Lighting Talk (5-7 minutes)

Got a bold idea that deserves an audience? A lightning talk is a focused, high-energy presentation designed to spark curiosity and inspire new thinking. You share one powerful idea about an innovative, novel, and inspirational approach you take to teaching and learning. Multiple lightning talks will be grouped into a single session, followed by open discussion among presenters and audience.

Interdisciplinary Roundtable (45 minutes)

What happens when multiple disciplines sit at the same table? This fishbowl-style session brings together panelists from different academic disciplines to explore a shared theme, topic, or issue through their distinct lenses. Panelists open with brief introductions, then work through a set of prepared questions designed to surface genuine exchange and model productive perspective-shifting. The audience observes and joins the conversation at the end for reflection and feedback.

Interactive Presentation (45 minutes)

More than a talk, less than a workshop, an interactive presentation weaves together short presentations or discussions with structured audience engagement such as demonstration, discussion, application, feedback, group and individual work, and/or role-playing. The result is a presentation where participants are active contributors.

Proposal Instructions

Proposals will be reviewed for alignment with

➕ conference theme;

➕ session type;

➕ Loyola’s mission and values; and

➕ relevant research and scholarship.

The proposal form will ask for the following information:

1. Name of Session Proposer. For multi-presenter sessions, select the person who will be the main point of contact.
2. Name(s) and Email(s) of Additional Presenters. If applicable.
3. Session Type: Workshop, Lightning Talk, Interdisciplinary Roundtable, or Interactive Session.
4. Session Title: No more than 10 words.
5. Session Abstract: No more than 100 words. If your proposal is accepted, the session abstract will be used in the program, so write to attract your audience and to help them understand what to expect.
6. Session Outline: No more than 500 words. Provide a plan for how you will structure your session within the allotted time (5-7 minutes for a lightning talk and 45 minutes for all other session types). Use the session definitions for guidance on what to include and prioritize in your plan. For example,
   1. For workshops and interactive sessions, what activities will you incorporate?
   2. What questions will you discuss and in what order for an Interdisciplinary Roundtable?
   3. What is the big idea you are sharing in the lightning talk and what points do you want to make to support it?
7. Reference List: Provide at least three scholarly or research-based sources informing your session.

Submit a Proposal

We will convene on the Water Tower Campus in Regents Hall, 16th Floor, Lewis and with breakout sessions in Corboy.

➕ 8:30 AM: Registration & Breakfast
➕ 9:00 AM: Opening Session
➕ 10:00 AM: Breakout Sessions 1
➕ 11:00 AM: Breakout Sessions 2
➕ 12:00 PM: Keynote & Lunch
➕ 2:00 PM: Breakout Sessions 3
➕ 3:00 PM: Closing Session & Mixer

Coming August 1st!