SAN ANTONIO
FEB 4-5 2027
Inspiring keynotes. Hands-on workshops. Meaningful connections.
Kimpton Santo San Antonio
431 S Alamo St,
San Antonio, TX 78205
Minds in the Making
Who students become is shaped by the questions they explore, the discoveries they make, and the educators who help them realize what’s possible.
FEATURED
KEYNOTE
Catherine J. Denial author of A Pedagogy of Kindness
Through a special keynote and hands-on workshop, we’ll explore how trust and kindness create the space for rigor, accountability, and deeper investment in learning.
AGENDA
Thursday, February 4
Day One Begins
Roll up your sleeves, explore fresh approaches to teaching, and connect with educators who share your passion.
12:00 – 6:00 PM CT
2:00 – 2:30 PM CT
Attendee Welcome
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2:45 – 5:30 PM CT
Alex Gallacher, Top Hat
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What if your course materials could be as dynamic, engaging, and distinctive as the way you teach?
Join this hands-on workshop to shift from static instruction to immersive, active learning. Bring a sample of your course content and transform it live in Top Hat using AI-powered tools, dynamic media, and interactive question creation. You’ll learn to build scaffolded assessments, enhance accessibility, and brand content to match your unique teaching voice. Reimagine your course design, collaborate with peers, and walk out with a personalized module to unleash in your classroom and empower your learners.
Dr. Ross Avilla, University of California, Merced
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What if students could experience a concept before you explained it? Play with a simulation. Solve a challenge.
Get hands-on with Top Hat’s AI-powered scenarios, then use readily available AI tools to build your own interactive learning experiences—no coding required. Learn how to make Top Hat the home base for these activities, connecting them to your course through questions, reflection, and assessment that capture what students notice discover, and learn. Leave with your own interactive teaching tool, a practical approach for building more, and a new sense of what’s possible when imagination leads the way.
Engagement by Design: Diagnose the Gap. Focus Your Effort.
Dr. Demian Hommel, Oregon State University
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When students disengage, it’s tempting to throw strategies at the problem and hope something sticks. But engagement is multidimensional, and different challenges call for different responses.
In this workshop, we’ll explore four “dials” of engagement: behavioral, emotional-cognitive, social, and agentic. Discover how to pinpoint where engagement may be breaking down and identify five practical strategies to respond. Through classroom-ready Top Hat examples, see how to spark curiosity, encourage participation, build connection, and strengthen student agency in your course.
Move beyond guesswork and discover where your efforts can make the biggest difference.
Dr. Jessa Roisen, St. Ambrose University
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What helps students thrive, whether they’re learning in a classroom or online? Drawing on the science of human flourishing, this workshop explores small, intentional teaching practices that strengthen instructor presence, foster meaningful relationships, and spark positive emotion.
Through hands-on activities, discover how Top Hat helps you create more engaging, human-centered learning experiences across on-line, hybrid and in-person teaching. You’ll explore ways to make your presence felt, encourage peer interaction, and help students recognize their progress. Leave with research-informed strategies you can put to work immediately, wherever and however you teach.
5:30 – 6:30 PM CT
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6:30 – 9:30 PM CT
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Reflect on the first day’s highlights with your peers over drinks, food, and a little entertainment.
12:00 – 6:00 PM CT
Registration and Support Desk
2:00 – 2:30 PM CT
Attendee Welcome
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Shared opening workshop followed by role-specific breakout sessions.
*Pre-registration required
2:45 – 4:00 PM CT
Dr. Bradley Cohen, Top Hat
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Technology alone doesn’t drive student outcomes. Success at scale depends on effective partnerships between institutional leaders and the faculty and staff who support students. This session explores a shared challenge: moving from student data as a record (what happened) to student data as a signal (what’s happening while there’s time to act), and ultimately to data-informed insight and action.
We’ll examine the readiness gaps, interpretive bias, and change management hurdles that prevent data from driving effective interventions, drawing examples from peer institutions. We’ll also highlight Top Hat’s current and upcoming data capabilities for personalized learning, course redesign, and curricular innovation, setting the stage for deeper track-specific conversations.
4:15 – 5:30 PM CT
Academic Leadership
From Signals to Strategy
Dr. Bradley Cohen, Top Hat
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Building on the general session, we’ll share Top Hat’s data-centric product roadmap and invite institutional leaders to help shape what comes next.
Through facilitated peer discussion, we’ll explore which learning signals matter most for early intervention, how to connect classroom insights to institutional goals like retention, DFW reduction, and graduation, and how AI-enabled capabilities are changing the way institutions access and act on data.
Bring your institution’s priorities, challenges, and perspectives. Leave with a clearer understanding of how Top Hat is evolving to turn learning data into meaningful action, and how your institution can prepare for an increasingly AI-enabled future.
4:15 – 5:30 PM CT
Faculty Support
Beyond Adoption: Building Sustainable Faculty Enablement
Sumi Voora, Top Hat
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Getting faculty to adopt a tool is one thing. Helping them use it to meaningfully improve teaching and learning is another. How can institutions bridge that gap without adding to faculty workloads?
Hear how leaders at the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Massachusetts Amherst are taking different approaches to implementation, driving meaningful adoption, and building enduring communities of practice. Discover how these strategies can scale effective teaching and maximize the impact of technology investments across their institutions.
Leave with practical playbooks and templates you can adapt for your own campus, along with a clearer understanding of how Top Hat supports faculty development and more impactful teaching practices.
5:30 – 6:30 PM CT
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6:30 – 9:30 PM CT
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Reflect on the first day’s highlights with your peers over drinks, food, and a little entertainment.
Friday, February 5
Find new inspiration from fellow educators and rediscover the possibilities at the heart of teaching.
7:30 – 8:45 AM CT
Breakfast and Registration
9:00 – 10:45 AM CT
Maggie Leen, CEO, Top Hat
Dr. Catherine J. Denial, Author of A Pedagogy of Kindness
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Drawing on her book A Pedagogy of Kindness, Dr. Catherine Denial explores the difference between being kind and being nice, the importance of accountability and responsibility in our teaching, and the value of placing trust in our students.
In this interactive workshop, we’ll use the principles of Universal Design for Learning to consider how assignments can offer multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge, encourage students to direct their own learning, and develop greater metacognitive awareness. Together, we’ll consider how assessment can cultivate the curiosity, judgment, and critical thinking students need in an age of AI.
11:00 – 11:45 AM CT
Clare Castro, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Top Hat
Arel Roche, Group Product Manager, Top Hat
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When polished answers are easy to produce, what matters most is the thinking behind them. How do we give students more opportunities to solve real problems, exercise judgment, and show their reasoning, while giving educators the insight to know what’s working, where students are struggling, and what to do next?
See how Top Hat is making that possible. Transform traditional assignments into authentic assessments where students work through real-world scenarios, demonstrate what they know in new ways, and receive meaningful, individualized feedback at scale. Discover how to turn insights into action, quickly creating targeted lessons and practice based on what your students actually need. It’s all about opening new possibilities for richer, more responsive teaching, while giving you greater freedom to guide, challenge, and inspire your students.
11:45 – 1:15 PM CT
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1:15 – 3:00 PM CT
Faculty-led Breakout Sessions
See how your peers are using Top Hat to tackle real teaching-and-learning challenges. Choose two of four faculty-led sessions and leave with practical ideas to bring back to your classroom.
Hidden Gems: Unlocking Student Potential Through Course Content
Dr. Jenny Billings, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
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What if your course could help you see what students need before a grade tells you it’s too late? Dr. Jenny Billings has transformed her First-Year Experience course using interactive content and clever “hidden gems” that nudge students toward successful academic behaviors while revealing valuable insights into their progress.
In this session, she’ll share how she’s created an engaging, immersive learning experience that also gives instructors a clearer picture of each student’s needs and potential. Learn how she uses these insights to personalize outreach, support struggling students, and nurture high-potential students who might otherwise be overlooked. Reaching nearly 6,000 students annually, her approach is delivering stronger academic performance, fewer withdrawals, and better retention of learning—helping more students feel seen, supported, and encouraged to shine.
Assessments That Teach
Dr. Raj Chaudhury, University of South Alabama
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Too often, students approach assessments with one goal: find the right answer. So what if the task itself asked for more? Imagine students comparing ideas, defending their reasoning and confronting misconceptions as they work. Now imagine doing that in a lecture hall of hundreds.
Drawing on TIESERs (Tasks Inspired and Enhanced by Science Education Research), this session shows how formative assessment can be a learning experience in itself. The research is rooted in STEM education, but the strategies apply anywhere students need to compare, evaluate, reason and explain. You’ll see how AI and Top Hat can help you build formative assessment experiences that make student thinking visible and open the door to deeper, more engaged learning.
In This Together: Building Connection and Confidence at Scale
Dr. Meghan Porter, Indiana University
Kimberly Arnold, Indiana University
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How do you build engagement and confidence in a required intro course with nearly 1,000 students, many of whom find the material intimidating or struggle to see its relevance?
See how these instructors use group quizzes, prediction questions, and real-time feedback to spark peer discussion, uncover misconceptions to turn their large lecture into a collaborative one. You’ll also discover how their “Success Series” encourages students to take ownership of their learning through interactive check-ins. Are they making use of available resources? What’s working, and what might they change? Building on these reflections, students take on realistic interview scenarios, identifying skills they’ve developed and practicing how to back them up with evidence from their coursework.
Leave with practical ways to build community in a large course and help students see the value of what they’re learning beyond the classroom.
Trust Me, I Wrote It: Rethinking Academic Integrity in the Age of AI
Dr. Jermaine Martinez, Northern Arizona University
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Trust is the foundation of writing instruction. Educators need to trust that students are genuinely engaging with their work. Equally important, students need to know their instructors remain their advocates, even when questions arise.
Dr. Jermaine Martinez shows how he puts both sides on the same team. Using Top Hat, he invites students to explore why writing matters, recognize the characteristics of AI-generated work, and co-create course policies that set shared expectations.
He’ll also share how he approaches suspected AI violations through conversation rather than accusation, maintaining accountability while preserving trust and his role as a student advocate.
3:15 – 4:00 PM CT
Closing Keynote: Humans in the Making
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Before you taught your discipline, something about it changed you. A question fascinated you. A new way of seeing the world opened up. Our disciplines offer more than knowledge. They give students the opportunity to experience that transformation for themselves.
Drawing on philosophy, history, science, and an unexpected encounter with a tree, Dr. Bradley Cohen explores the vital role educators play in Minds in the Making and invites us to think more expansively about teaching. As we close, Dr. Cohen will offer a lens for course design that goes beyond what students should know to consider what sparks their curiosity and motivates them to embrace the productive struggle. Meaningful learning doesn’t end with the final exam. It changes what students notice, what they care about, and how they engage with the world.
4:00 – 6:00 PM CT
Cocktail Reception
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SPEAKERS
Maggie Leen
Chief Executive Officer,
Top Hat
Bradley Cohen
Chief Academic Officer,
Top Hat
Clare Castro
Sr. Product Marketing Manager,
Top Hat
Arel Roche
Group Product Manager,
Top Hat
Catherine J. Denial
Author & Chair, Center for Learning Innovation, University of Minnesota-Rochester.
Demian Hommel
Oregon State University
Dr. Ross Avilla
University of California, Merced
Dr. Jenny Billings
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
Sumi Voora
Top Hat
Dr. S. Raj Chaudhury
University of South Alabama
Jessa Roisen
St. Ambrose University
Alex Gallacher
Top Hat
What to expect at Top Hat Engage San Antonio
Industry-leading keynotes
Hear from the higher ed changemakers who are helping students think more deeply, question more boldly, and find real meaning in the classroom.
Teaching best practices
Attend peer-led workshops for strategies on enhancing community, engagement and authentic ways for students to show what they’ve learned.
Networking with your peers
Trade ideas and inspiration with educators who are just as invested in making their classrooms come alive!
February 4–5, 2027
Kimpton Santo San Antonio
431 S Alamo St, San Antonio, TX 78205
Memories from Top Hat Engage
