22nd Annual Teaching & Learning Conference at Elon University

Elon University welcomes university and college educators to the 22nd Annual Teaching & Learning Conference on Tuesday, August 11th, 2026. This free, hybrid conference is sponsored jointly by Elon’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT), and the Office of the Provost. We welcome scholars from all over the globe to join us virtually, and we invite regional educators who can join us for the day to come to Elon’s campus. Both in-person and online registration are free.

Teaching for Tomorrow: Building Transferable Skills and Lifelong Learners

As educators, we prepare students for futures that are complex and unpredictable. Join us for a conference that encourages us to reflect on how our teaching practices today shape students’ abilities to adapt, think critically, and thrive tomorrow.

Elon’s Teaching and Learning Conference invites presentations that address one of four related sub-themes:

  • Technology and the Future of Learning: How is our use or non-use of technology in our teaching preparing students for lifelong learning? What relationships with technology do we want our students to develop for the future?
  • Foundations for the Future: How do we engage and support students throughout their academic journey, so they develop confidence, curiosity, and strong learning habits? What strategies help us spark and sustain meaningful student engagement from their first year through graduation to ensure long-term success beyond the classroom?
  • Building Transferable Skills for Tomorrow: What skills and competencies will best prepare students to thrive in an evolving workplace and society? How do we effectively teach, model, and communicate the relevance of these transferable skills so students understand their importance now and in the future?
  • Teaching Innovations: How can we strengthen faculty skills in designing future-ready and flexible curricula and teaching practices? What approaches, tools, and strategies best support instructors in enhancing course design and pedagogical decision-making for a changing world?

About our Keynote Speaker

Dr. Susannah McGowan

Photo of Susannah McGowan

Susannah is the Director for Curriculum Transformation Initiatives at The Red House at Georgetown University where she leads institution-wide initiatives that bring educational transformation at scale in the form of student co-creation, curriculum and program design, and inclusive pedagogies. After starting her career in educational development at the Center of New Designs in Learning and Scholarship from 2001-2007, she earned her Ph.D.at University of California, Santa Barbara, following by working in the UK at UCL and King’s College London where she co-founded King’s Academy in 2017, a center for educational development supporting integral programs for faculty and graduate students around inclusive pedagogy, assessment, and blended learning.

Since 2015, she serves as an advisory fellow of the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education on digital learning and global student success. She is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy/AdvanceHE in the UK. For the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSoTL), she served as VP for the United States region; currently, she serves as Historian and she is a member of the editorial board for ISSOTL’s flagship journal, Teaching and Learning Inquiry (TLI).