Each spring, the (CEL), the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE) and the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE) co-sponsor this annual showcase of faculty, staff, and student research on teaching and learning. The presenters have all participated in or been supported by SoTL programming across these centers. The event features a poster session and catered reception, offering the campus community an opportunity to engage with studies of innovative pedagogical work and reflect on the impact of SoTL on scholarly teaching practices across disciplines.

This year’s SoTL showcase brings together interdisciplinary projects exploring topics such as students-as-partners collaborations, equity and belonging in STEM, global approaches to intercultural learning and integrating GenAI into teaching and learning.

From CEL, the  will present on their students’ experience co-leading CEL’s. They’ll highlight the multi-institutional inquiry at the heart of three multi-year research seminars, as well as the benefits of student-faculty/staff co-inquiry for both student and faculty/staff partners.

Representing CATL, Kelsey Bitting, assistant professor of environmental studies, and Jessica Merricks, associate professor of biology, will present their 2025-2027 CATL Scholar research on the impacts of community-engaged courses on first-generation students, students of color and women in STEM disciplines. Additionally, Amanda Chunco, associate professor of environmental students and 2024-2026 CATL Scholar, will present her work on grading practices and student belonging in STEM.

From the CRGE, Bill Burress, director of assessment and accreditation for the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education and CRGE pre-doctoral scholar, will present research on international mobility in teacher preparation across the United States and Italy. Emily Moser, program coordinator for CEL and CATL; Michael Carignan, professor of history; and Lynn Huber, professor of religious studies, recipients of a CRGE faculty-staff research grant, will present their collaborative project exploring visual inquiry methods as a tool to foster and assess intercultural competence in global contexts.

žé±đ±è°ù±đČő±đČÔłÙŸ±ČÔČ”ÌęłÙłó±đÌęCenter for Writing Excellence, Shannon Duvall, professor of computer science and interim associate dean for College of Arts and Sciences will present her project “Exploring Large Language Models for Teaching and Accessibility.”

All faculty, staff and students are invited to attend and engage with presenters during this celebration of the scholarship of teaching and learning at Elon.

Many high-profile discussions about GenAI in higher education focus on the extremes—avoiding all AI or adopting AI for all activities. However, GenAI use falls along a more complex spectrum, and disciplinary standards should inform students’ development of critical GenAI literacy. Across disciplines, novice users initially might understand GenAI as a neutral tool. As engaged learners develop more expertise with GenAI, they might critically reflect on how GenAI could augment their work—or even view GenAI as a collaborator. Given this complex context, research on GenAI in higher education engaged learning must attend to GenAI use beyond higher education to prepare students to apply critical GenAI literacy in their professional, civic and personal lives. Together, we’ll investigate:

• What higher education learning entails in the age of GenAI;
• GenAI’s (potential) role as a collaborator in teaching and learning;
• Decision processes for when and how to use GenAI as a collaboration partner;
• Assessing learning in an age of GenAI support; and
• Professional learning needs and strategies for students, faculty, and staff to support critical GenAI literacy.

Accepted CEL Student Scholars will collaborate with three 51±ŹÁÏÍű faculty – Amanda Sturgill, Aaron Trocki and Jessie L. Moore to lead international, multi-institutional research on this engaged learning topic.

Eligibility

The CEL Student Scholar program is open to current 51±ŹÁÏÍű first-year students (during the 2025-26 academic year) from any major. Applicants should have an interest in engaged learning in higher education (broadly) and in the 2026-2029 research topic—Rethinking Engaged Learning in the Age of GenAI.

First-year students apply in spring (Spring 2026) to begin the program in the summer between their first and second years (Summer 2026).

What Will CEL Student Scholars Do?

Accepted CEL Student Scholars will collaborate on a three-year research project with Elon faculty and staff and with CEL Research Seminar participants from colleges and universities around the world.

Read more about the CEL Student Scholar experiences from current and past scholars .

During three consecutive summers (e.g., 2026, 2027, 2028), CEL Student Scholars will:

• Co-lead the 2026-2029 research seminar on Rethinking Engaged Learning in the Age of GenAI, providing the student perspective in sessions with seminar participants;
• Receive a $3,000 summer stipend as compensation for the Student Scholar’s work during the summer;
• Have access to double or single-occupancy, on-campus, summer housing;
• Participate in a week-long research seminar meeting with faculty and staff from Elon and other colleges and universities around the globe, with all meals provided throughout the week;
• Attend (and during second and third summers, present at) the ;
• Collaborate in weekly meetings with the seminar co-leaders and/or the CEL Director to advance the research project, collaborate on resources and learn about strategies for studying engaged learning;
• Join other CEL Student Scholars and the CEL Director for weekly meetings to discuss student-faculty partnership, engaged learning research and practices, strategies for studying engaged learning, and other cross-seminar topics; and
• Have opportunities to attend events with other undergraduate researchers and other CEL research seminar teams, often with meals provided.

During their second, third, and fourth academic years (e.g., 2026-2027, 2027-2028, 2028-2029), CEL Student Scholars will


• Receive a $1,000 stipend each semester as compensation for the Student Scholar’s work during the academic year;
• Participate in two meetings a week, scheduled to accommodate CEL Student Scholars’ availability during the day:
  • Collaborate in one-hour meetings every week with the seminar co-leaders;
  • Join other CEL Student Scholars and the CEL Director for a one-hour meeting every week to discuss engaged learning research and practices, strategies for studying engaged learning, and other cross-seminar topics;
• Check in with research seminar teams via Zoom a few times each year; and
• Spend an additional 1-2 hours a week completing research tasks.

Typically, two students will be accepted as CEL Student Scholars each year. Accepted scholars can discuss with the CEL Director and their advisor whether they wish to register for 4999 undergraduate research credit during one or more of their semesters as a CEL Student Scholar. Acceptance as a CEL Student Scholar also does not preclude participation in other Elon experiences like study away and internships.

Application Guidelines

To apply, submit the following materials by April 6, 2026:

• A letter of application, and
• A supporting letter of recommendation from an 51±ŹÁÏÍű faculty or staff member.

Letter of Application

Your letter of application (approximately two pages) should:

• Describe your interest in the research topic—Rethinking Engaged Learning in the Age of GenAI—and in collaborating with faculty to lead international research about engaged learning;
• Briefly introduce your major (and any minors), as well as other campus, community, or workplace activities that shape who you are; and
• Reflect on what you would hope to gain from this three-year research collaboration.

Submit an electronic copy of your letter of application to CEL Director, Jessie L. Moore (jmoore28@elon.edu), by April 6, 2026.

Supporting Letter of Recommendation

Your supporting letter of recommendation should come from an 51±ŹÁÏÍű faculty or staff member who can speak to:

• Your preparation for undertaking this mentored research opportunity; and
• Contributions you might make to the program, through both your collaboration with CEL’s research seminar participants and your interactions with other CEL Student Scholars.

The 51±ŹÁÏÍű faculty or staff member writing your supporting letter of recommendation should submit an electronic copy of the letter to CEL Director, Jessie L. Moore (jmoore28@elon.edu), by April 6, 2026.

Learn More

Learn more about the CEL Student Scholars program . Please direct questions about the program to CEL Director, Jessie L. Moore (jmoore28@elon.edu).

The article, titled “,” highlights the importance of having a faculty or staff member who cares and is engaged with them. Felten, who authored “Connections are Everything: A College Student’s Guide to Relationship-Rich Education,” told Forbes that to find this on campus, students need to be proactive researchers.

“I’m a fan of open-ended questions and storytelling,” Felten said.

Felten suggests asking students questions like “Tell me about a professor who inspires you” or “Tell me about someone you’ve met in class who you’ve really connected with.”

When talking with admission officers, he tells families to ask: “Can you tell me about a student you know who has meaningfully connected with a professor?”

“I’ve found those kinds of open questions/prompts are good conversation starters because it’s easy to ask follow-up questions,” Felten said. “And if you ask a few different people this kind of question at a college, you might start noticing patterns; for example, students here seem to make friends in their first-year courses. At the same time, you might notice things people do not​ talk about; for example, none of the students who described inspiring professors have actually had a conversation with that professor.”

Katie Baker, associate professor of education and associate chair of the Department of Education and Wellness at 51±ŹÁÏÍű’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education, has been selected as the 2026–28 . Baker will focus her research on ePortfolios as a high-impact educational practice.

CEL Scholars are faculty members who engage in sustained, multi-year inquiry around engaged learning practices, contributing to the center’s research, publications and national outreach. Baker’s work will draw on her extensive experience supporting ePortfolios in teacher education, particularly through her role as edTPA coordinator for Elon’s teacher preparation programs.

Since joining Elon in 2017, Baker has played a central role in implementing and sustaining the edTPA, a required performance-based ePortfolio assessment for teacher licensure in North Carolina. The edTPA requires teacher candidates to demonstrate their planning, instruction, and assessment through a digital portfolio that includes lesson artifacts, reflective commentary, and video recordings of classroom instruction. In her coordinator role, Baker supports teacher candidates, faculty and community-based clinical teachers across multiple content areas and licensure programs.

Baker’s scholarly work includes national and state-level presentations and publications on teacher education, mathematics education and performance-based assessment. She has served in leadership roles within the mathematics education community and has contributed to externally funded research focused on equitable and high-quality instruction. Her selection as a CEL Scholar enables her to build on this record of engaged scholarship and institutional leadership while exploring ePortfolio research and practices across other disciplinary contexts.

The Center for Engaged Learning supports research and dialogue on evidence-based teaching practices that foster deep student learning. CEL Scholars play a key role in advancing that mission by connecting disciplinary expertise with broader conversations about engaged learning in higher education.
Baker will join an esteemed group of previous CEL Scholars, including David Buck, Caroline Ketcham, Amanda Kleintop, Ketevan Kupatadze, Buffie Longmire-Avital, Phillip Motley, Amanda Sturgill, Aaron Trocki and Cora Wigger. Applications for the 2027-29 CEL Scholar will open in Fall 2026.

The presentation, entitled “Crafting a successful education abroad research experience: Professional development for mentoring undergraduate research in global contexts (MUR-GC),” features an on-going collaboration between Whitehead and Vandermaas-Peeler, a senior fellow at AAC&U, to study MUR-GC.

The DIS collaborators have written a chapter on their MUR-GC model for a forthcoming CEL open access book on MUR-GC edited by Vandermaas-Peeler and Whitehead.

The 3rd Latin SoTL conference brought together educators from across Latin America focused on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Kupatadze, who teaches in Elon’s Department of World Languages and Cultures, presented two sessions. Her keynote, “From Local Perspectives to Global Conversations: Strategies for Effective Dissemination and Publication of SoTL,” addressed how Latin American educators can share their innovative teaching practices with international audiences. Her workshop, “From Frustration to Opportunity: Exploring the International Publication Potential of Your Work,” helped participants reframe their classroom challenges as valuable research opportunities.

“What moved me most was witnessing the energy, enthusiasm, and dedication of colleagues who accomplish so much with limited resources,” Kupatadze reflected. “The Latin SoTL community is doing extraordinary work, often in challenging circumstances, and their voices are essential to understanding learning in diverse global contexts.”

A central theme of Kupatadze’s presentations was that the global conversation about teaching and learning is incomplete without robust participation from Latin American scholars. She emphasized that the pedagogical innovations emerging from Latin American classrooms, where educators regularly navigate large class sizes, diverse student populations, and resource constraints, offer valuable insights for the international academic community.

Following the conference, Kupatadze is exploring collaborative opportunities with Latin SoTL leaders, including a potential reflective article for the journal Teaching and Learning Inquiry that would examine how the international SoTL community can better support and amplify Latin American educational scholarship.

“These colleagues aren’t asking for help, they’re offering knowledge the world needs,” Kupatadze said. “My goal is to help build bridges so their essential contributions reach the global stage they deserve.”

The recognition underscores Elon’s strengths in accessibility, affordability, return on investment, better-than-expected student outcomes, high levels of engagement, strong job prospects and overall value.

“Within higher education circles, 51±ŹÁÏÍű is known as a school that other midsized private universities want to learn from,” wrote Selingo, who has written about colleges and universities for more than two-and-a-half decades.

“Dream School” is a follow-up to Selingo’s 2020 book “Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions,” and focuses on helping families redefine their idea of a “good” college, setting aside preconceived ideas about “prestige.” To put together the list, Selingo partnered with several external experts and organizations to examine datasets from 2023 and 2024. The pool of consideration was narrowed down to four-year colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates.

“For the Dream Schools list, I wanted to find institutions that outperform expectations while admitting the vast majority of good students who aren’t predestined for the Yales, Williamses, Northwesterns and UC Berekleys,” said Selingo.

For four consecutive years, Elon has been named the nation’s best university for undergraduate teaching by U.S. News and World Report and has continued to invest in both the humanities and STEM programs, launching new degrees in neuroscience, nursing and digital content management. A new physician assistant studies program is set to launch in 2027 at the university’s Charlotte national campus location.

One outcome of Elon’s teaching excellence is that the university has produced nine Goldwater Scholars – the most recent, engineering major Jacob Karty ’26, in 2025. The award is given by The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation and provides scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering.

In his book, Selingo highlights Elon’s commitment to mentorship, the , and the university being one of the top producers of Fulbright Scholars.

“All of my mentors at Elon have challenged me in ways that have helped me grow into the person I am today,” said Cristy MarinĂ© ’25, a Fulbright Scholar, following the announcement of her selection for the award. “For that, I am forever grateful.”

With a 77% graduation rate, Elon is in the “Hidden Values” section of Selingo’s list, “comprised of mostly private colleges with strong graduation outcomes and opportunities for fulfilling careers.” Before graduation, all Elon students are required to complete at least two of the Elon Experiences: Global Engagement, Service, Leadership, Internships and Undergraduate Research.

“Elon operates a cooperative-education program that integrates work into the undergraduate curriculum, and as a result, some nine out of ten graduates complete at least one internship during their undergraduate career,” wrote Selingo.

Selingo also highlights the connection between Elon’s residential living and academics, including the university’s residence hall neighborhoods that include faculty members in residence, along with more than a dozen Living Learning Communities, where groups of students live in the same residential area, interacting academically and socially with each other and with faculty, and sharing the same passion, interest, or academic focus.

“My hope in writing this book is that students, parents, and counselors might begin to think differently about the college search process so that teenagers ultimately find a school that will help them truly flourish,” Selingo said in an email to 51±ŹÁÏÍű President Connie Ledoux Book about the new publication. “In the end, I want to give families, and parents in particular, permission to widen the lens on the college search.”

“Dream School” is at major booksellers through Simon and Schuster.

The Center for Engaged Learning has a collection of These synthesize prior literature and findings from the research seminars. These statements each highlight key terms, recent research, as well as in-depth explanations and examples to highlight important takeaways for teaching and learning. Below is a list of available Elon Statements developed by research seminar participants.

• This Elon Statement defines capstone experiences and delves into the history of the Capstone Experience as a facet of higher education. The statement then describes the research conducted on capstone experience impacts, as well as how capstone experiences can be made equitable for all students to complete, rounding off the topic with future directions that research on capstone projects can take.

• This Elon Statement emphasizes the importance of connections to broader contexts, feedback, reflection and relationships as major factors in student success. This examination is followed by discussions of “Emerging Working Principles in Development,” touching on topics that the researchers have yet to fully explore.

• This Elon Statement emphasizes the impacts and importance of studying abroad and off-campus domestic studies. The statement consists of working principles regarding these forms of study and in development.

• This Elon Statement highlights foundations to better understand the importance of residential learning communities, alongside highlighting new research that emerged during the research seminar. The statement culminates with discussion of working principles that are in development.

• This Elon Statement provides useful information about transferring past learning to current learning and other topics related to knowledge transfer. The resource includes diagrams, working principles and next research steps.

• This Elon Statement defines work-integrated learning and provides perspectives from students, academic mentors/universities, and host organizations and supervisors. The statement features findings from the 2022-2024 research seminar and connects the research to contemporary considerations like the impacts of artificial intelligence.

• This Elon Statement provides context to the importance of writing beyond the university. Then, it goes into detail regarding “Enabling Practices” that can help prepare students for writing beyond the university.

These Elon Statements will remain accessible via the

“It’s been a phenomenal experience,” said Grant ’26, an exercise science major. “It teaches us a lot about research and how to navigate things. Working with professors and having us learn and even create some autonomy where we write our own article and contribute to the work we’re doing has helped me build connections with people.”

Grant is part of the leadership team delivering the keynote at the 2025 Conference on Engaged Learning, from June 16 to 17, focusing on the culminating conversations of the .

The three-summer research seminar facilitates multi-institutional research on mentoring meaningful learning experiences. The seminar is examining what makes mentoring relationships more equitable across multiple high-impact learning experiences.

Each research seminar includes a leadership team of both faculty and students, along with participants from higher education institutions around the world. Along with CEL Student Scholars Grant and Azul Bellot ‘26, the seminar leadership team includes Ashley Finley, the vice president of research and senior advisor to the president for the American Association of College and Universities; Sabrina Thurman, associate professor of psychology; and Titch Madzima, associate professor of exercise science.

“I have been interested in scholarship on mentoring relationships since my earlier years at 51±ŹÁÏÍű,” said Thurman. “As a new faculty member, I knew how much I benefited from the mentoring I had received throughout my undergraduate and graduate career, and found my colleagues’ work on mentoring inspiring. I have really appreciated the dedicated time and support this role has provided for me to build more professional connections and produce more of my own scholarship related to mentoring.”

While the seminar is multi-institutional, several Elon faculty are participating, including Olivia Choplin, associate professor of French and associate director of the Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning; Janet Myers, professor and associate chair of English; and Matt Wittstein, associate professor of exercise science.

“This research informs teaching and learning practices on participants’ campuses and at other colleges and universities around the world,” said Jessie Moore, director of the Center for Engaged Learning. “We’ve seen instructors use the research to make changes to activities in their classes, and we’ve also seen universities pursue more comprehensive revisions to their general education curricula to incorporate research-guided engaged learning practices.”

Grant says that providing her student perspective has been crucial to the research, which includes a systematic review, particularly regarding the barriers facing underrepresented populations. According to Grant, the research emphasizes the importance of identity and how all different students may need different mentorship practices.

“Once we identify the identity, now we can navigate who needs what and how we should navigate the mentorship, recognizing that some students need more and there are some things that come with different identities,” Grant said.

Grant says her mentorship experience has primarily been with other peers in the Odyssey Program, as both a mentor and mentee. The Odyssey Program, which is part of the Center for Access and Success, is a highly selective merit-based program consisting of talented individuals who are academically strong, civically engaged, action-oriented leaders in their communities, who will benefit from an Elon education and demonstrate financial need.

“Peer mentorship emerges as a guiding beacon, illuminating the path for students like myself, offering invaluable insights and support as we navigate the multifaceted journey through higher education,” wrote Grant in a for CEL. “Leaving high school, where routines and expectations are well defined, students can experience a sense of starting over—a blank canvas awaiting the brushstrokes of their collegiate journey. Peer mentorship steps into this void, offering a supportive hand to fill the gaps created by uncertainty.”

Thurman says she would not be in her role today without her mentoring relationships as a student.

“Mentoring helped me gain a sense of belonging in college, empowered me towards continuing in the direction of achieving my goals, and provided support while I developed and grew into myself personally and professionally,” Thurman said. “I still benefit from mentoring relationships, both as a faculty mentor to incredible students and in mutual mentoring relationships with my talented colleagues and friends.”

As a participant, Bitting will have the opportunity to conduct multi-institutional research on pedagogies that leverage critical engagement with place and space to deepen teaching and learning in higher education. Place-based learning emphasizes hands-on learning experiences that connect students to a local community and environment, whether on-or off-campus. This research seminar will be conducted over three summers. Participants will utilize a mixed-methods approach to conduct qualitative and quantitative research culminating in the production of significant concrete outcomes such as edited volumes, journal articles, book chapters, white papers, conference presentations, as well as local initiatives on participants’ home campuses.

Participants will focus on one of the following topics for the duration of the research seminar:

• Student perspectives on, and experiences with, learning on location
• Multi-disciplinary, evidence-informed strategies for teaching with place-based pedagogies
• Partnership and stewardship in learning on location
• Institutional-level policies and practices to enable learning on location.

Bitting brings valuable perspective to this research seminar as she is interested in multi-disciplinary, evidence-informed strategies for teaching with place-based pedagogies, especially community-based or service-learning, teaching outdoors or with digital globe technologies and contemplative pedagogies that engage learners with the world around them.

Bitting has a strong background in publishing teaching activities, as well as research surrounding teaching methods such as virtual experiential learning and ways to improve teacher performance and student engagement, learning and overall wellbeing. She previously was selected as a Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) Scholar and has received a CATL Diversity and Inclusion Grant for her work in investigating questions related to teaching, learning, and equity, especially in STEM fields.

The 2025-2027 research seminar will culminate with the 2027 Conference on Engaged Learning, which will be hosted at 51±ŹÁÏÍű on July 12-13, 2027.