2026 PreWeek PD Day will occur on Thursday, August 20th from 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM in Seacobeck Hall. Space is limited for each session, so please register by Monday, August 17th to reserve your seat.
Coffee, tea, and water will be in the Seacobeck Dome Room.
The Center for Teaching will be tabling at the College Avenue entrance to Seacobeck from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Stop by to sign up for this year’s learning communities, take a free book at our ‘yard sale’, and vote for the next No Time to Read Book Club selection.
9:00 – 10:00 AM The Virginia Challenge: Designing the Ideal University (Seacobeck Hall-Weatherly Wing)
It is 2031, and the Commonwealth has authorized a new public university, built from scratch for the world your students will actually enter. Working in small groups, you will design that whole institution rather than one course or one department. Everyone writes alone and anonymously first, and at the end we compare the group designs to see where they agreed without any coordination. Facilitator: Anand Rao
10:15 – 11:15 AM Concurrent Sessions
CAREfrontation: Cultivating the Conflict Artist Within (Seacobeck 139)
Learn techniques for managing your own reactions to stress during conflict and confrontations scenarios. Participants will also learn and practice techniques for de-escalation of classroom behaviors. Facilitator: Mike Walsh
Build Your Own AI Tool: A Hands-On nebulaONE Workshop (Seacobeck 151)
Join us for a practical, interactive nebulaONE session designed for faculty and staff at every level of AI experience. After a guided tour of the platform’s core features, you will identify a real pain point in your own daily work and build an artifact in ONEchat that addresses it. You will leave with a working tool you made yourself and the confidence to keep exploring the platform afterward. Please bring a laptop to this session. Facilitators: Mariana (nebulaONE trainer), Anand Rao, Mike Reno, Cartland Berge
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Concurrent Sessions
Getting Started with YuJa Panorama: Remediating Your Syllabus (Seacobeck 139)
Bring your syllabus and laptop to this hands-on session to learn how to use YuJa Panorama inside Canvas to identify and address common accessibility issues. Using the syllabus as an example, we’ll explore Panorama’s accessibility reports, remediation tools, and alternative formats while applying digital accessibility best practices. The session includes time to work in your course and ask questions about your own content. Facilitator: Shannon Hauser
Teaching Summit: Preparing for a Successful Year (Seacobeck 128)
Want an informal space to brainstorm teaching ideas, challenges, and goals for the upcoming year? Join us for a Teaching Summit where we work in small groups to exchange ideas and serve as a sounding board for one another. Come with your notebook and/or computer and a list of what you’d like to change or address in your classes. Facilitators: Elizabeth Johnson-Young and Caitie Finlayson
Build Your Own AI Tool: A Hands-On nebulaONE Workshop (Seacobeck 151)
Join us for a practical, interactive nebulaONE session designed for faculty and staff at every level of AI experience. After a guided tour of the platform’s core features, you will identify a real pain point in your own daily work and build an artifact in ONEchat that addresses it. You will leave with a working tool you made yourself and the confidence to keep exploring the platform afterward. Please bring a laptop to this session. Facilitators: Mariana (nebulaONE trainer), Anand Rao, Mike Reno, Cartland Berge
NOTE: This session is a repeat of the 10:15 workshop.