CoTL Call for Proposals

Curriculum, Connections, and Careers

In 2020, Felten and Lambert elevated the urgency and value of human connections in Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College. Seven years later, “learning through a relationship with others” is still a critical component to advancing student belonging and academic success, in addition to faculty and staff success, relational trust, and well-being (Felten & Lambert, 2020, p.xi; Pleschova et al., 2021; Wilson et al., 2025). So much has changed in those seven years: new generations of students, new initiatives to better articulate employer valued-skills, and, of course, generative AI. How have the ways in which we form connections in our classrooms, in our curriculum, and in higher education, more broadly, shifted or stayed the same? 

This year’s theme, Curriculum, Connections, and Careers, encourages us to explore how our course design, curriculum, and campus initiatives value relationships and cultivate connections among students, faculty, staff, and future employers. We envision presentations that highlight relationship-rich AI usage, career-readiness course design, accessible learning spaces across modalities, and practices that foster intentional student belonging. Let’s consider:

Which relationship-building strategies have remained resilient over time, and which have had to shift or be rethought?

• How can we adapt physical learning spaces, course design, and online environments to foster social connections? How do we build an authentic community across hybrid, distance, and asynchronous modalities?
• How have the expectations and needs of today's college students shifted regarding what makes them feel a true sense of belonging? What does this mean for academic success?
• How do relationship-rich educational experiences foster the durable, human-centered skills (e.g., empathy, collaboration, ethical reasoning, professionalism) that employers prioritize?
• How can institutions help students translate their relational learning experiences, such as mentorship, peer collaboration, and faculty research partnerships?

In what ways has the integration of generative AI altered the traditional instructor-student dynamic? 
Where does AI risk substituting genuine human connection, and where might it be leveraged to enable more meaningful interaction?

• How can educators preserve relational trust and open dialogue with students when navigating AI usage and academic integrity, avoiding policies driven by surveillance or suspicion?
• How might faculty and students co-create boundaries and norms for generative AI that promote transparency, critical thinking, and mutual respect rather than passive reliance?

The South Alabama Conference on Teaching and Learning celebrates a strong partnership between USA, Spring Hill College, University of Mobile, Bishop State, Coastal Alabama, Columbia Southern, Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the United States Sports University. CoTL’s theme of Curriculum, Connections, and Careers allows us to showcase curriculum, course design and initiatives that are designed to foster intentional student belonging. 
Through a variety of presentation formats including workshops, panels, roundtables, research talks and a poster session, we invite you to share your scholarly work in a welcoming and peer-reviewed conference tailored to the needs of instructors along the Gulf Coast.

The deadline to submit proposals is Tuesday, February 16.

Presentation Guidelines

All proposals for presentation at CoTL are peer-reviewed by at least 2 reviewers. It is important to ensure that proposals are aligned with the conference theme and are likely to be of interest to the conference participants who are primarily faculty and instructional staff at regional institutions mentioned above.

We are weaving in-person and virtual options together on both days of the conference. When submitting a proposal, please indicate if you prefer to present in-person or online. Virtual presentations will be shared with our in-person and virtual audience via Zoom in one room in the student center. Virtual presenters and participants will be able to view other virtual presenters and the keynote speakers.

General Guidelines

All proposals must be submitted through the conference submission portal and will include:

• Title of proposal (10 words or less)

• Name of all presenters (all presenters must register to be included in the program)

• Session Abstract (150 words or less):
  Your session abstract will appear in the conference program. It should include a description of your topic, its alignment with the conference theme, and the general presentation plan, including your engagement activities and session outcomes/objectives.

• Session Narrative (300 words or less):
  In contrast to the abstract, your session narrative will provide conference reviewers deeper insight into the details of your proposed presentation. The narrative will not be shared in the conference program. Please include the following information: 
  1. the issue being addressed by the work presented and how it is unique and/or contributing to scholarship in this area
  2. how the proposal aligns with the conference theme
  3. an audience engagement plan (required for workshops, panels, and roundtables)
  4. how the proposal will be relevant to CoTL attendees from regional institutions of higher education

 Evaluation criteria for all submissions include:

• Topic impacts Scholarship of Teaching and Learning or educational practices
• Topic aligns and supports the conference themes/goals
• Proposal includes an engagement plan