Learn about an opportunity to present at the Ball State University 2026 Teaching and Technology Summit and join the teaching and technology conversation.

The 2026 Teaching and Technology Summit is now accepting presentation proposals.

Thursday, March 19 and Friday, March 20  
8:30 a.m. – Noon Eastern (both days)
Free and virtual via Zoom

What is the Teaching and Technology Summit?

The Teaching and Technology Summit, hosted by the Division of Online and Strategic Learning and University Libraries, showcases the innovative work of faculty, staff, and students at Ball State University. Registration for the Summit is free. We invite you to share your teaching practices, especially as they relate to the intersections of teaching and technology.

At its core, technology encompasses any tool, digital or otherwise, that simplifies or enhances a task, ranging from simple flashcards to advanced AI. Innovation involves the creative and intentional application of these tools, whether new or existing, to improve processes, particularly in facilitating engagement and active learning. Together, technology and innovation aim to make learning more flexible, accessible, and engaging by aligning with educational objectives and advancing pedagogical approaches.

What are the Presentation Formats?

Presentations at the Summit are generally brief and informal. You may submit a proposal for a session of 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Sessions are organized into one-hour blocks with multiple presenters. These session lengths do not include Q&A time, which will be shared with other presenters at the end of the hour-long block.

All sessions are presented in a “mock live” fashion. A mock-live presentation is when the presenter pre-records a presentation that plays at a set time during the Summit. This helps to replicate that live feeling while allowing you to pre-record your presentation in a comfortable environment. As your presentation plays, you can engage in the Summit’s live Zoom Chat. After your presentation, you will also participate in a live Q&A.

REMINDER: Presenters must be available to attend their mock live session and engage with Summit attendees in the Zoom chat and Q&A. If you require live audience engagement for your proposed session, please indicate that on the form, and we will discuss possibilities with you.

Examples of Previous Summit Presentations

Highlighted here are two presentations from the 2025 Summit to help get your creative, critical, and intellectual juices flowing.

Zachary Dwyer, “Brought to You By AI: Using ChatGPT to Discuss Academic Honesty”

Zachary Dwyer’s presentation on using AI to teach a lesson on academic integrity in his English 104 class offered a candid look at the student-teacher relationship in the age of ChatGPT.

Dwyer used ChatGPT to generate his lesson plan, including a class introduction, goals, and a writing activity. While students were comfortable using AI for tasks like summarizing readings, making citations, or answering confusing questions, they were angry that their teacher had “cheated” by not creating the lesson himself. Dwyer leveraged this dissonance for a critical teaching moment, establishing a middle ground where AI is acceptable for clarifying confusing texts or checking grammar, but unacceptable for core intellectual tasks like generating new ideas or writing essays.

Dorna Eshrati and Rebekah Fortman, “Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Beginning Environmental Design Studios: The Impacts and Guidelines”

Rebecca Fortman presented her Teacher-Scholar research, exploring how AI impacts creativity, ideation speed, and critical thinking in early design education compared to traditional sketching.

Forman’s study challenged 16 students to design a conceptual “bird’s nest” using both freehand sketching and AI tools such as DALL-E and Adobe Firefly, yielding mixed results. Students found that AI enhanced ideation speed, provided creative inspiration by encouraging unexpected forms, and improved visualization and rendering. However, students were frustrated by a lack of creative control. They struggled with prompt engineering, often finding that the AI-generated designs didn’t fully align with their original sketch or intent. Fortman concluded that AI must be embraced as a powerful discovery tool that complements traditional skills, not replace them.

Conclusion

Educators have always relied on technology, in one form or another, to support and enhance their pedagogy. In the current educational landscape, however, the complexity of our technology far exceeds that of the past, making collaboration and learning from one another more important than ever. . No single educator can know everything about teaching and technology, but if we work together, no one has to.

What ideas are you thinking about when it comes to the intersection of teaching and technology? What can you bring to the summit?