403: AU Signature Skills Demo: A Roundtable of No Slides, Just “Steals”

Date: Wednesday, August 19

Time: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM

Presenters: Rebecca Hazen (Senior Professorial Lecturer, CAS | Biology), Richard Sha (Professor, CAS | Literature), Kelsey Wali (Associate Director of Student Development, Kogod School of Business) & Tara McKelvey (Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, SOC | Journalism)

Moderator: Bridget Trogden (Dean of Undergraduate Education and Academic Student Services)

Session Description:

This roundtable is designed as a low-tech, high-energy conversation about what it looks like to integrate the AU Signature Skills into real courses, assignments, and classroom activities. Our 5 faculty learning community (FLC) members from a range of disciplines and AU Core courses will engage in the roundtable as we share practical examples, honest questions, and ideas worth borrowing from one another. We will begin by naming some of the common teaching and course design challenges many of us are navigating right now, including the role of AI in student work, how to make in-class time feel purposeful, and how to help students move beyond summary toward deeper analysis, interpretation, and application.

Session attendees will also hear what we explored and learned through the summer FLC, with attention to the assignments, activities, and design choices that helped make Signature Skills more visible and meaningful for students. A central part of the discussion will be our “steals”: the ideas, prompts, activities, and course materials that we found especially effective and want to adapt for our own teaching. We will share brief examples from our deliverables in a show-and-tell format, highlighting not only what we created but why it worked, what questions remain, and how others might build on it. The goal is for everyone to leave with a clearer sense of how Signature Skills can live in everyday teaching practice.

The AU Signature Skills were developed by a group of AU faculty and staff this spring to operationalize AU’s goal to help students develop into thoughtful and engaged professionals, and are an extension of AU’s Meet Our Moment Strategic Plan.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss current or common teaching and course design challenges.
2. Describe practical strategies, assignments, and classroom activities that make AU Signature Skills more visible and meaningful for students.
3. Examine ideas, prompts, or activities shared during the roundtable for use in their own course or teaching context.