Preview the NED Teaching and Learning Conference Sessions

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September 24-25*, 2026

North Hennepin Community College (Brooklyn Park) and Online

*An optional in-person Pre-Conference Workshop will be held on September 23.

The NED Teaching and Learning Conference is an opportunity for Minnesota State educators to network, collaborate, and share their evidence-based experiences, and learn from each other as we explore the theme Empowering Every Learner: Strategies for Universal Access.

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Session Previews

As in previous years, the conference schedule will be available through the Guidebook app (best for in-person attendees) and the desktop version (best for online-only attendees).

While the final schedule in Guidebook is taking shape, preview the concurrent sessions below.

In-Person Sessions

In-person attendees will have access to the online-only sessions, in-person concurrent sessions, the keynote, student panel, tech labs, idea exchange (round robin-style), and an optional pre-conference workshop.

In-Person Sessions	Key Statements
AI Without Guesswork: Clear Expectations for Student Learning	Move beyond AI confusion by building clear, shared expectations that guide students and faculty, turning AI into a learning support tool rather than a shortcut.
AiAiO Next Generation: Distributed AI for Universal Creative Access	A distributed local AI lab lets every art student simultaneously create with AI across image, video, and voice — removing bottlenecks and centering student agency.
Critical AI Literacy for Universal Access and Equity	This session models equitable, choice-based AI integration and helps instructors to design critical, UDL aligned practices that expand access while honoring student agency, diversity, and equity.
Designing Inclusive Learning Environments for Stronger Student Knowledge Building	Learn how integrating UDL Guideline 3 with OLE principles creates accessible conditions and instructional designs that strengthen students’ capacity to build meaningful and transferable knowledge.
Developing Confident Professionals: Exploring Preservice Teacher’s Self-Efficacy after attending their first Professional Conference	This session explores how undergraduates develop professional self efficacy at their first conference using autophotography, interviews, and surveys to reveal identity formation, confidence, and belonging.
Don’t Automate the Work That Makes Teaching Meaningful	Explores how AI tools can strengthen—rather than erode—the relationships and intrinsic rewards that make learning (and teaching) worth doing.
Engaging Community and Spanish-Learning: The Story of a Collaborative OER	The session highlights how the Vamos pa’l norte OER applies UDL principles, engaging students with Hispanic artists and communities to promote relevance and high-impact learning.
Engaging in Evidenced-Based Teaching (SoTL) Panel	Hear from Minnesota State REFLECT participants about their experiences and teaching-based research projects.
Exploring an intersectional, inclusive approach to accessibility in higher education	Participants will critically explore how accessibility is defined, map its complexities, and co construct an intersectional, inclusive definition that supports equitable learning experiences for every student.
From Transactional to Transformational: Why Tools Don’t Change Teaching – Relationships Do.	Higher education often emphasizes tools over trust and relationships; shifting to influence-based, relational approaches enables difficult conversations, reduces defensiveness, and transforms interactions into meaningful innovation and change.
Generative AI in Writing Assessment	Explore faculty and student AI use in writing‑intensive courses, highlighting key challenges, opportunities, and actionable strategies institutions can adopt to support ethical, effective AI integration.
Hospicing Normalcy: Inviting grief into the process of universal design	True access means letting go of the “ideal” student. We invite educators to grieve this myth to make real space for neurodivergent and Black learners.
Knowledge Quest Studio: Transform Your Slides Into Lessons Students Love	Knowledge Quest Studio is a free tool that turns your existing slides and documents into engaging, interactive lessons with your own recorded voice, and delivers them seamlessly inside D2L where your students already are.
Lions, tigers, and bears: Rigor and equity across delivery platforms	Academic equity for students in multiple delivery platforms
Removing Barriers, Not Just Checking Boxes: Universal Design Principles in IRB Processes and Training Future Researchers	Applying Universal Design for Learning to IRB processes and students’ first research experiences transforms research compliance into an equity-driven gateway.
Semantic Status, Observation, and the Constricted Teacher Pipeline	Declining prestige, status, and esteem, workforce instability, and teachers’ reluctance to recommend teaching constrict the pipeline, shaped by students’ daily observations of the profession.
Show and Tell: Using Autophotography and Photo Elicitation in Qualitative Research	This session focuses on Show and Tell; exploring the use of photography and interviews to uncover themes related to identity, meaning-making, and lived experiences.
Student Engagement and Choice in Multi-modal Courses	Multi-modal courses can offer students flexibility and choice. Varying learning activities/assessments can encourage student engagement and active participation, which is critical to student success.
Training Students in Communities That Need Care Most	Community-based clinical rotations strengthen student learning while expanding healthcare access in underserved communities, demonstrating how experiential education supports workforce development and health equity.
Transferable Insights on System‑Level Conditions for Advancing Academic Equity	This session shares transferable insights from system-wide equity efforts and guides participants in identifying institutional conditions, barriers, and levers that meaningfully support equitable teaching and universal access across Minnesota State.
Universal Design for Mental Health: Creating Inclusive Learning Spaces	Learning practice universal and course design strategies to support student mental health and create inclusive learning environments that promote wellbeing, access, and student success.
Using Arts-Based Activities for All Content Areas	While everyone isn’t an art educator, we can all use arts-based practices (written, visual, multi-modal) to reach diverse learners in classrooms.
What Affinity Groups Make Possible in Leadership Preparation	Affinity groups are equity-centered access points that allow me to meet learners where barriers are most pronounced.

Online-Only Sessions

Online-only attendees will get access to the following online-only sessions, the keynote, student panel, tech labs, and a virtual idea exchange (round robin-style). Sessions will not be recorded.

Online-Only Sessions	Key Statement
A D2L Course to Support Students’ Academic and Professional Growth	An interactive D2L course has been created where students explore resources on academic and professional development topics, such as internships, networking, transfer, and job search.
Authentic Assessment Across Disciplines	This session provides practical tips and best practices for creating authentic assessments in different dicipines.
Building Accessible and Interactive Lecture Content in H5P	Learn how to access and use H5P to build an engaging and accessible interactive textbook that integrates seamlessly with Brightspace and enhances student learning.
Designing Accessible Courses for Multilingual Learners in Higher Education	Explore practical accessibility frameworks to design online course materials that support multilingual learners, reduce language barriers, and improve comprehension across diverse higher education classrooms.
Effects of Graphic Performance Feedback on College Exam Scores	This study examines how graphic feedback emphasizing correct versus incorrect responses affects undergraduate exam performance and student feedback preferences in a college classroom.
Equitable Assistive Technology Use in Higher Education: The Human Element	The human behind the assistive technology device: Students’ challenges and ways to promote equitable student support and experiences that build students’ self-efficacy, positive sense of self and identity, educational inclusion and community, etc.
From Accommodation to Access: Empowering Neurodiverse Learners Online	Discover concrete online teaching strategies that move beyond accommodations by designing courses that support neurodiverse learners from the start.
Improving Student Learning with Retrieval Practices	This session examines encoding, storage, and retrieval, emphasizing retrieval strategies faculty can immediately apply to strengthen long-term learning in face-to-face, hybrid and online courses.
Un-grading: Removing barriers to learning through assessment practice	Support universal access and address barriers to learning through incremental and practical un-grading assessment practices.

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Register and Learn More

Find all conference details on the NED Teaching and Learning Conference page.

Contact

Email the Network for Educational Development with questions.