Keynote Speakers | Lilly Asheville

2026 Keynote Speakers

Michael Palmer

University of Virginia,

Center for Teaching Excellence

What If We Designed Courses Like Eurogames?

Key Statement: This session explores how Eurogame design elements—focus on mechanics, limited randomness, and social interaction—parallel evidence-based, learner-centered approaches to course design.

What might strategic board games have to teach us about effective course design? In the world of Eurogames, elegant mechanics take precedence over elaborate themes, randomness is intentionally constrained, and players engage in structured social interaction within transparent systems. Progress comes through accumulating meaningful achievements rather than eliminating opponents. These features reflect deliberate system design and offer a rich metaphor for learner-centered teaching. This session explores how Eurogame design elements parallel evidence-based course design: prioritizing learning over content coverage, making expectations visible, intentionally guiding students toward deeper understanding, reducing the distorting effects of grades, and structuring productive social learning experiences. Through concrete examples and interactive reflection, participants will consider how thinking like a game designer can emphasize learning, sharpen alignment, clarify structure, and increase student engagement. Attendees will leave with fresh language and practical strategies for designing courses that are coherent, motivating, and intentionally constructed."

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The Art of Attention: Embodied Pedagogy for Deep Learning

Key Statement: In this keynote, you’ll experience embodied learning, which leverages physical movement, spatial awareness, and social relationships to enhance thinking and learning.

Higher education these days can feel transactional, and students sometimes expect little more than a transcript of grades and credits for time served. What does teaching look and feel like when we give our attention to students as whole persons? If we aspire to such a goal, what current educational norms might be working against us? In this talk, I’ll define and illustrate embodied learning, which leverages physical movement, spatial awareness, and social relationships to enhance thinking and learning. Key points include the importance of creating community through intentionally designed spaces, and being mindful of our physical presence in both online and in-person classrooms. I’ll highlight the value of sensory experiences with physical objects beyond the keyboard and screen. Participants will draw inspiration to embrace analog tools in fostering a supportive learning environment. By integrating embodied practices, you can create a more dynamic, engaging, and supportive learning environment that benefits both you and your students.

Susan Hrach

Columbus State University

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Todd Zakrajsek

UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine

Emerging Technologies and Education: When They Help and When They Hinder

Key Statement: Emerging technologies, from calculators to AI, promise transformational educational enhancements, but impact depends on use. Grounded in learning science, this keynote uses SAMR and ICI to frame a consideration of when innovation supports or hinders learning.

Emerging technologies have long promised to transform education, from calculators to the internet to student response systems to today’s generative AI. However, a great deal of research on the scholarship of teaching reminds us that tools alone do not improve learning; how we use them does. Grounded in established principles from the science of learning, this keynote examines key aspects of any new technology and how it may enhance learning and when they inadvertently hinder it. Using frameworks such as SAMR and the ICI model, we will also explore how to move beyond novelty toward intentional integration. Participants will leave with a clearer lens for evaluating new technologies and practical strategies to ensure innovations support, rather than distract from, meaningful student learning.