One Change Challenge Workshops
Are you thinking through revisions to your courses for the coming year? Are you looking for new ways to address specific challenges in your teaching? If so, these workshops may be for you! Each workshop will focus on a different pedagogical challenge or strategy and explore small changes to teaching and assessment that can make big differences!
Each workshop will begin with a talk that explores research and practice around the particular pedagogical challenge or strategy. After a break, Trent Teaching Commons staff will guide participants in a discussion of specific revisions they may like to make to their courses.
Learn more about the available workshops:
Accordion Title
Adapting an Assignment in the Age of AI
Date: July 21, 2026
Time: 9:30am-12:30pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters:
Dr. Kirk Hillsley, Biology
Dr. Amanda Paxton, English
Dana Capell, Trent Teaching Commons
Emma Pirie, Research Associate, AI, Pedagogy, Curriculum
In this workshop, we will review strategies for adapting assignments to encourage student engagement and discourage over-reliance on and misuse of Generative AI. Drawing on specific examples of assignment adaptations, we will explore a "menu" of options for adaptations. We will conclude with small group discussions during which instructors can workshop assignments they feel are no longer working due to AI misuse. We invite you to bring a specific assignment that you have concerns about to the workshop.
REGISTER HERE
Accordion Title
Engaging Open Education Resources
Date: July 22, 2026
Time: 9:30am-12:30pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters:
Terry Greene, Trent Teaching Commons
Dr. David Sheinin, History
A key feature of Open Educational Resources (OER) is their ability to reduce costs for students. But that is just the start. OER can create opportunities for more engaging, adaptable, and locally-meaningful learning experiences. In this workshop, participants will explore practical ways to find, evaluate, adapt, and integrate open resources into their teaching, while also considering how open education practices can invite students into deeper interaction with course materials. Participants will also learn about a local example of how OER can help dissuade over-use of AI in student writing. The session will feature examples from across disciplines, introduce participants to the Trent “OER? Oh We Are!” guide, and invite faculty to help expand its growing “OER by Discipline” resource collection.
REGISTER HERE
Accordion Title
Making Your Teaching More Accessible and Inclusive
Date: July 23, 2026
Time: 9:30am-12:30pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters:
Brandon Remmelgas, Trent Teaching Commons
Lillian Alberry, Trent Teaching Commons
This workshop invites faculty to consider the various barriers to learning that may exist in their courses and explore practical ways to reduce them. While creating barrier-free learning environments can be complex – especially given constraints such as access friction - our goal with this session will be to encourage faculty to think about how to increase the inclusivity and accessibility of their courses one change at a time. Drawing on frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), participants will work collaboratively to consider strategies that can be employed across all stages of a course, from design and content creation to facilitation and assessment.
REGISTER HERE
Accordion Title
Embracing Indigenous Pedagogies
Date: July 28, 2026
Time: 9:30am-12:30pm
Location: Zoom
Presenter:
Mitch Huguenin, Trent Teaching Commons
Indigenizing teaching and learning is not a single destination or checklist but an ongoing journey of reflection, relationship-building, and growth. This workshop invites faculty at all stages of understanding and experience – from those just beginning to explore Indigenous education to those seeking to deepen existing practices – to consider meaningful ways of bringing Indigenous perspectives, pedagogies, and ways of knowing into their courses.
Together, participants will explore practical and approachable “one change” strategies as well as more comprehensive approaches to course and assessment design. Topics may include incorporating Indigenous voices and scholarship, rethinking classroom relationships and learning environments, designing more relational and reflective assignments, engaging land- and community-connected learning, and considering how Indigenous pedagogies can shape both what we teach and how we teach.
The session will encourage thoughtful reflection, discussion, and collaboration while recognizing that faculty may be at different places in their learning journeys. Participants are encouraged to bring a course, lesson, assignment, or teaching challenge they would like to revisit through an Indigenous pedagogical lens.
REGISTER HERE
Accordion Title
Engaging Education Technologies
Date: July 29, 2026
Time: 9:30am-12:30pm
Location: Zoom
Presenters:
Terry Greene, Trent Teaching Commons
Lilian Alberry, Trent Teaching Commons
This workshop explores practical and purposeful uses of education technologies to support student learning, engagement, and course design. Rather than focusing on technology for its own sake, the session will examine how digital tools can help create clearer communication, stronger interaction, more engaging learning activities, and better support for students in both face-to-face and online contexts. Participants will explore examples using Blackboard Ultra and other commonly used teaching tools, including ways to integrate interactive H5P activities and Pressbooks resources into Ultra courses. The session will also discuss strategies for choosing technology intentionally and identifying small, meaningful changes that can make a big difference for students. Participants are encouraged to bring a course challenge, activity, or teaching idea they would like to rethink or enhance with technology