At Bryant University’s 2026 Spring Teaching and Learning Summit, the university’s educators explored new teaching innovations, evolving pedagogies, and creative ways to prepare students for success.
But they were also reminded that the core of their mission remains unchanged.
Educators, keynote speaker Todd Zakrajsek, Ph.D., acknowledged, are living through a transformative moment, one in which artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT are posing new questions about the value of a college education.
Then he asked the 70 Bryant faculty and staff members assembled for the symposium a simple question:
“What do you want your students to take away from their first class with you?” Zakrajsek, a nationally recognized expert in evidence based teaching and learning and a leading voice in faculty development, asked.
“Curiosity,” suggested Lecturer of History, Literature, and the Arts Ryan Sonder, Ph.D.
“A sense of mutual respect,” shared Lecturer of Management Rob Massoud — the expectations that both professor and student should have of each other and the understanding that the course would be one where students would be encouraged and supported in their growth.
Those guiding pillars, Zkajsek argued, should remain educator’s lodestars even as technology becomes more powerful and omnipresent. In an era where advances in artificial intelligence are upending traditional teaching and learning, Zakrajsek noted, intentionality and empathy are still an educator’s most important strengths.
“If we start with the tool, we tend to ask what we can do with it,” he stated. “But If we start by focusing on what we want our students to learn, we ask what they need.”
Guiding students through the AI revolution means embracing new technology and using it wisely said Zakrajsek, but it also means never ceding control to it. “It’s not going to be easy; in fact, it’s going to be really hard,” he concluded. “But we’ve never been more needed as teachers.”
A celebration of teaching and learning
The annual Spring Teaching and Learning Summit, organized by Bryant’s Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), is an opportunity for Bryant’s educators to come together in thoughtful reflection, said Constanza Bartholomae, interim director of the CTE. Held post-graduation, it provides a space for faculty and staff to take a moment to consider inclusive teaching practices, new pedagogies, and the diverse ways students engage, participate, and learn together.
One interactive session, for instance, invited faculty to reflect together on how their own learning experiences shape how they teach, examine effective teaching strategies, identify their own instructional strengths, and consider how students might benefit or struggle with different classroom approaches.
“It's so important to have folks connect with one another, and to make connections outside of their own disciplines,” Bartholomae noted. “While the content and our methods of instruction might differ, the goal is always the same — student success.”
The summit, said Bartholomae, is also a celebration of teaching and learning — and a showcase for the amazing work that the Bryant community is already doing.
She points to this year’s breakout sessions, which saw participants attend sessions led by colleagues that demonstrated different teaching styles in action, offering new ideas for their own classrooms and helping them think critically about how different types of teaching practices affect diverse learners.
“We know that one of the best ways to learn how to teach is to see someone else teach and reflect on different pedagogical approaches,” Bartholomae said.
It also allows faculty to remember what it was like to be students, she shared.
Learning through experience
Experiential learning was a key theme of the day.
Inspired by a desire to reorient instruction, Professor of Biological and Biomedical Sciences Brian Blais, Ph.D., adopted a “flipped classroom” model for his physics class, recording lectures for homework and devoting class time to student-led projects.
“You have to ask yourself: What value do we bring to the table as educators? And I felt that just standing up and giving information was something AI was able to do,” he said in one panel discussion. With the foundation out of the way, students were able to take the lead on assignments. “They’d ask me questions, but my goal was not just conveying information but to basically be a coach,” Blais said.
For students in Professional in Residence Christian Fauria’s “Advanced Sports Broadcasting: Road to ‘Radio Row’” course, experiential learning meant building the technical and on-air expertise needed to host a radio show at the 2026 Super Bowl and take their talents live.
“What I want to do is take it to the next level so they can confidently go to a company and say, I know how to run a project."
“We coached them as much as we could, then got out of the way and then let them figure it out,” Fauria said. “The only way for them to really understand what that business is like is to go out there and experience it.”
Massoud echoed that sentiment, noting that learning project management requires one to actually do the work. Through initiatives like Project Playhouse — where Bryant undergrads organize the construction of playhouses for children with life-threatening illnesses — students manage initiatives from start to finish.
“What I want to do is take it to the next level so they can confidently go to a company and say, I know how to run a project,” said Massoud.
Panelists also discussed the tools they use to bring learning to life. Kristie Dejesus, director of Bryant’s Sprague Center for Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking, highlighted the center’s Makerspace, equipped with 3D printers, precision cutters, and sewing machines that help students turn concepts into reality.
Research and Instruction Librarian Abby Dolan noted how the Virtual Reality Lab in Bryant’s Douglas & Judith Krupp Library helped students in Professor of History Literature and the Arts Janet Dean’s poetry class appreciate their readings on a different level by allowing them to explore virtual recreations of poem settings.
“We wouldn't be able to send groups of students to Monument Valley in person, but with VR, we can,” said Dolan.