Join us for two days of incredible programming designed to inspire and energize your classroom. Get faculty-led best practices to transform your lectures and unlock student success.
Register NowJune 18
1:00 - 4:00 pm
July 17
1:00 - 4:00 pm
Join us for two days of incredible programming designed to inspire and energize your classroom. Get faculty-led best practices to transform your lectures and unlock student success.
Register NowJune 18
1:00 - 4:00 pm
July 17
1:00 - 4:00 pm
Featured Speaker
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18
-
2:00 - 3:00 PM ET
Sparking Joy:
Strategies for
Happier High-Impact Teaching
Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh
Simmons University
Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh is a psychologist, professor, and the acclaimed author of The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion.
Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh is a psychologist, professor, and the acclaimed author of The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion.
AGENDA WEEK 1
AGENDA WEEK 1
Wednesday,
June 18
Ready to energize your teaching?
Dive into AI-driven engagement, spark joy in every lesson, and discover how to turn any lecture into a can’t-miss event!
1:00 - 1:45 PM ET
The Next Generation Classroom
Clare Castro
Sr. Product Marketing Manager,
Top Hat
Top Hat is ushering in a new era of higher education—one where educators elevate student success by seamlessly merging affordable, best-in-class content with AI-powered student engagement.
Discover how we’re empowering you to adapt and personalize course materials. Plus, see how the latest enhancements to Ace, our AI-powered teaching and learning assistant, are providing students with unlimited opportunities to apply learning.
2:00 - 3:00 PM ET
Sparking Joy: Strategies for Happier High-Impact Teaching
Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh
Simmons University
Teaching should be a joy. For students, a college class can be one of life’s most transformative experiences. Yet far too often, these ideals go unrealized. So how do we create an environment where everyone thrives?
Drawing from the latest research in well-being and learning science, Sarah Rose Cavanagh will explore how to nurture resilience in ourselves and our students. Learn practical strategies for fostering community, cultivating a sense of “mattering,” and using play to spark engagement and adapt to the unexpected. You’ll discover ready-to-use methods to reignite your passion for teaching—so your classes can truly flourish!
3:15 - 4:00 PM ET
Engaging the Masses: Transforming Large Lectures into Must-Attend Events
Dr. Michelle Cadieux
McMaster University
Engaging students in a large lecture is challenging. Yet Dr. Michelle Cadieux has turned her 500+ student course into a vibrant community with 90%+ attendance.
Find out how she sparks curiosity, fosters collaboration, and uses creative polling techniques to make each class a shared adventure.
AGENDA WEEK 2
AGENDA WEEK 2
Thursday,
July 17
Ready for more inspiration?
Reimagine reading, energize your classroom with new tech twists, and fire-up continuous learning with real-time feedback.
1:00 - 1:45 PM ET
The End of Reading or a New Beginning?
Donna Battista
Managing Director,
Learning Solutions,
Top Hat
Dr. Jermaine Martinez
Northern Arizona University
Students are arriving at college less able and less willing to read—and when they do, it’s all about ‘getting to the point.’ Yet where there's a crisis, there’s opportunity.
In this session, we’ll examine why traditional textbooks and lowering expectations aren’t helping. Most importantly, you’ll hear (and see) how one innovative educator is curating content and blending text and multimedia to invite students to read even the most challenging course material. With the right approach we might just be able to reclaim a love of reading after all.
2:00 - 2:45 PM ET
Engaging From the Start: Sparking Curiosity & Sustaining Focus
Dr. Bradley Cohen
Chief Academic Officer,
Top Hat
In our age of distraction, can technology become a catalyst for deeper learning and authentic human connection?
Drawing on learning science, and insights from film and theatre, this session offers practical ways to energize your classroom with Top Hat. Moving beyond basic polling, you’ll discover techniques to create an immersive classroom experience—one that captures attention, combats distraction, and inspires meaningful engagement.
3:00 - 3:45 PM ET
Feedback That Fuels: Strategies for Faculty & Student Success
Sumi Voora
Professional Services Manager,
Top Hat
Frequent assessments, reflections, and polls empower students to own their learning while giving instructors real-time insights to adjust teaching on the fly.
In this session, we explore evidence-based techniques for creating continuous feedback loops, integrating metacognition, and sparking deeper engagement. You’ll walk away with easy-to-implement strategies to maintain a continuous cycle of improvement, amplifying the quality and impact of your instruction while helping students unlock their full potential!
Make your next
semester the best one yet!
Learn teaching
best practices
from faculty leading the
charge on student
engagement and success
Transform
lectures
with strategies that
make every session a
must-attend event
Unlock the
power of Top Hat
using AI and flexible content
to captivate students and
personalize learning
Meet our Speakers
Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh
Simmons University
Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh is a psychologist, professor, and Senior Associate Director for Teaching and Learning at Simmons University. She’s the author of several books, including The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion and Mind Over Monsters: Supporting Youth Mental Health with Compassionate Challenge.
Dr. Michelle
Cadieux
McMaster University
Dr. Michelle Cadieux teaches introductory psychology, one of the most popular courses at McMaster University—and for good reason. Dr. Cadieux believes lectures should be informative but also fun and engaging. As she notes, “when something is fun, students are engaged, and when they are engaged, they learn more.”
Dr. Jermaine
Martinez
Northern Arizona State University
Dr. Jermaine Martinez is a lecturer in the School of Communication at Northern Arizona University. A passionate educator, Dr. Martinez makes innovative use of digital content and customization tools to both guide and engage students in reading even the most challenging source material.
Donna Battista
Managing Director,
Learning Solutions
Top Hat
Donna Battista is the Managing Director of Learning Solutions at Top Hat. With more than 20 years leading content and product development in higher education, she is responsible for the strategy and development of Top Hat’s interactive digital learning experiences, custom content delivery and content services.
Bradley Cohen
Chief Academic Officer,
Top Hat
As Top Hat’s Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Bradley Cohen provides advocacy and guidance to support Top Hat’s product innovation, publishing, and institutional engagement strategy. Prior to Top Hat, he served as the Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Ohio University and the head of the Center for Educational Innovation and Associate CIO for Academic Technology at the University of Minnesota.
Clare Castro
Sr. Product
Marketing Manager,
Top Hat
Clare Castro is the Sr. Manager, Product Marketing at Top Hat. With nearly two decades in higher education publishing and educational technology, she works closely with Top Hat’s Product, Sales, and Customer Success teams on the launch of new features for students and educators. Prior to joining Top Hat, she held a variety of roles with Oxford University Press and McGraw-Hill.
Sumi Voora
Professional Services
Manager
Top Hat
Sumi Voora is a Professional Services Manager at Top Hat where she is responsible for helping institutional partners scale the adoption of Top Hat and evidence-based teaching practices. This includes overseeing change management and communications, faculty training and instructional design support. Her work has helped hundreds of instructors elevate the impact of their teaching with Top Hat.