Own Your Future: Conference on Teaching

DESCRIPTION

Future‑Ready Teaching: Creativity, Confidence, and Community Care in a Changing Landscape

Graduate educators are teaching in and through a world marked by rapid change, including new technologies, shifting student needs, evolving learning environments, and expanding possibilities of what teaching can be. This year’s conference theme, Future‑Ready Teaching, offers graduate students and postdoctoral scholars the time and space to explore how we can approach teaching with curiosity, flexibility, and a sense of shared purpose as we consider what practices we want to bring forward with us in this moment. 

This year’s full day conference (online via Zoom with optional in-person watch party) is designed to celebrate the many ways graduate educators are already shaping the future of teaching through their curiosity, expertise, and commitment to their values. We welcome proposals that highlight practical strategies, creative experiments, and reflective insights that help us teach with confidence and care—whether in classrooms, labs, tutorials, community settings, or digital spaces. 

Up to two Future Prof credits are available for participating in this conference. The Own Your Future Graduate Conference on Teaching is offered by the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Collaboration with the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. For questions about conference proposal submission, please reach out to Mandy Penney at ageorg8@uwo.ca. 

Call for Proposals

Session Formats

Interested graduate students and postdoctoral scholars may submit proposals for one of two sessions. Those who are selected for these sessions will have the opportunity to engage in design and facilitation conversations and feedback with members of the TA team at CTL.

1. Graduate Innovations in Teaching and Learning Talks

This session will consist of four 10 – 15-minute talks (individual or co-facilitated) in which presenters share an innovative approach to teaching and learning in their unique contexts.

2. Teaching Practice Lightning Workshops

This session will consist of 6 micro-workshops (of about 10 minutes) in which each presenter will facilitate a short, active learning-based workshop on a teaching tool or approach. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in the lesson and to ask questions about the development, facilitation, and content of the micro-workshop.

Possible Proposal Themes

Submissions may address (but are not limited to) the following areas:

  • Teaching in a Time of Change: Approaches that help educators navigate shifting expectations, emerging technologies, or new learning environments with flexibility and optimism.
  • Sustainable Teaching Practices: Strategies that support well‑being, balance, and a sense of purpose in teaching roles.
  • Teaching Beyond the Classroom: Experiences from community‑engaged learning, interdisciplinary collaborations, experiential education, or other non‑traditional teaching contexts.
  • GenAI and the Future of Learning: Practical, ethical, or imaginative ways graduate educators are integrating or responding to generative AI in their teaching.
  • Global, Interuniversity, and Cross‑Context Collaboration: Stories and insights from teaching across institutions, cultures, or countries.
  • Small Wins, Big Impact: Everyday practices that make teaching more inclusive, engaging, or effective.

Submission Criteria

  • Current graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are welcome to submit proposals
  • Please feel free to submit up to one proposal for each of the two sessions (talk and workshop)
  • Please submit your proposal via the Qualtrics form by February 24 at 5:00 pm Eastern
  • Your session proposal should be 200 – 300 words in length, highlighting your session’s relevance to the conference theme and applicability to a grad/postdoc audience. Your submission should also include 1 – 2 learning objectives for your session.
  • Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria: alignment with the conference theme, contribution to graduate educator development, engagement and accessibility

2026 Synchronous Conference Schedule

9:00AM to 10:50AM: Opening Remarks and Session 1 Teaching Lighting Workshops

10:50AM-11:05AM: Break

11:05AM-12:45PM: Session 2 Grad Innovations in Teaching and Learning

12:45PM-1:30PM: Break

1:30PM to 2:30PM: Session 3 Invited Faculty Panel

2:30PM to 2:40PM: Break

2:40PM-4:50PM: Session 4 Invited Grad Panel and Closing

Conference Information

Upcoming Conference

This virtual conference will be offered May 14, 2026 - Registration is open!

Audience

This conference is part of the Own Your Future doctoral professional development program. Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are welcome to attend.

Registration

Registration Instructions

Here are the instructions to register.

  1. Login to Western Connect using your Western username and password.
  2. Go to the Centre for Teaching and Learning section. Select Event Calendar and select each Event you wish to register for. Details and a description of the program will appear.
  3. Select the Register button.
  4. You will receive a registration confirmation email.

If you have any questions or problems registering for an event, please consult our help guide or contact ctl@uwo.ca.

Offered

This conference is typically offered annually in May.

You may also be interested in these programs: