Today’s learners navigate higher education amid shifting workforce demands and increasing complexity in how careers are built and sustained, while historical models of degree design and institutional structures struggle to keep pace. The University of Arizona Global Campus 2026 Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) theme proposes a new dawn that expands a prism of opportunities for responding to these shifts most effectively: integrating higher-order intellectual exploration with workforce-focused learning to help students succeed in a quickly evolving real world.
Presenters at this free, virtual conference will explore how institutions are refining advising, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and co-curricular student support to meet workforce-focused student needs while remaining committed to their academic standards, missions, and communities. This work demands higher-order thinking, including deep analysis, meaningful synthesis of ideas, adaptive problem-solving, complex implementations, and rigorous evaluation. TLC 2026 invites participants to share how, at their institutions, higher-order thinking is fostering learning pathways that focus on workforce-relevant skills while simultaneously elevating the cognitive sophistication learners need to thrive. Through high quality presentations, employer engagement, and cross functional dialogue, the TLC community will bolster our capacity to design learning not simply around programs or credentials but around the real lives, aspirations, and futures of the learners who entrust us with their education.
TLC 2026 cultivates a broad professional community, bringing together colleagues across institutions and employer partners committed to shared learning rooted in research, outcomes data, reflective practice, and robust peer exchange. This collaborative network reflects higher education’s increasing commitment to transparency, partnership, and cross institutional innovation, strengthening our sector’s collective capacity to serve learners and the community in meaningful ways.
A New Dawn of Higher Education | The Higher-Order Learning Behind Workforce-First Education
Tracks
Focused Learning Design | Learning experiences are intentionally crafted to center the skills, knowledge, and competencies that matter most. This pillar highlights curriculum, evidence-based teaching practices, and assessment practices that streamline complexity, sharpen purpose, and deliver deep, meaningful learning aligned with workforce needs.
Workforce Needs and Educational Solutions | As employer expectations evolve, so must higher education. This pillar explores how focused credentials, shorter, stackable, and deeply purposeful, redefine the value of degrees without diminishing rigor. Guided by partnerships, accrediting bodies, and workforce data trends, degree options, and transferable workforce skills, presentations in this track will consider how to identify, articulate, measure, and communicate workforce-aligned learning outcomes.
Advancing Student Success through Integrated Student Support Systems | Student and workforce success requires integration across advising, enrollment, curriculum development, student services, technology, and academic programs. This track invites presentations that demonstrate how cross-unit collaboration strengthens the learner’s experience and supports focused pathways.
Focused Pathways & Stackable Learning Journeys | Learners arrive with unique goals, prior experiences, and stages of readiness. This pillar examines how institutions design stackable pathways, from foundational learning through advanced degrees, that meet learners where they are and guide them forward with clarity and purpose.
Key Dates
- May 19 - Think Tank Session | Register Here
- June 18 - Think Tank Session | Register Here
- July 1 - Think Tank Session | Register Here
- October 2 - Pre-recorded sessions due
- October 19 - Conference platform launches for asynchronous engagement, pre-recorded presentations
- November 3-5 - Live Conference Sessions
TLC Think Tank Sessions - attend to discuss, ideate about, and get feedback on your conference proposal. TLC Think Tank sessions reflect the goals of TLC by supporting our community and empowering them to engage–it's a unique opportunity to engage with scholars and practitioners, foster personal, professional, and intellectual growth, and expand one's network, no matter your background or experience.
- Higher-education thought leaders from across the US and abroad
- Faculty, students, and researchers in all disciplines
- Curriculum developers, instructional designers, and instructional technologists
- Student Affairs and Student Advising professionals
- Library, Writing Center, and academic publishing professionals
- Faculty Support and Development professionals
- Steering Committee Member
"Come to TLC you will learn from practitioners and researchers alike, which makes the conference really "feel" like a professional learning community. The session lengths are perfect and the keynote and featured sessions are always dynamic."
"Great conference--I had many takeaways as a new instructor/member of the UAGC team!"
"Opportunity to grow, hone skills, reinforce knowledge, research and pay it forward. A great platform for learning!"
If you're interested in volunteering, sign up to become a Teaching and Learning Conference Volunteer in one of the following roles:
- TLC Ambassador
- Proposal Reviewer
- Conference Session Tech Host
- Conference Session Host
Review the previous TLC presentation recordings and enrich your understanding of key topics discussed in years past.
The TLC Proceedings is a published record of peer-reviewed conference presentations via a journal–type paper presented by conference participants that covers research findings, case studies, and new developments in a specific field. Conference proceedings serve to disseminate research within the academic community, support collaborative discourse, aim to recognize the presenters' work, and provide a valuable feedback channel on the presenters' work. The papers will cover a wide range of topics addressing the current Teaching and Learning Conference theme. One paper will be awarded the Outstanding Paper award for the UAGC TLC Conference.
Read the latest papers and learn more about submitting work for peer review here.
The UAGC Conference Proceedings will use an online system for all submissions and communication information. Review the submission guidelines prior to submitting your paper. Submitters will receive confirmation that their paper has been received. If you do not receive confirmation that your paper has been received, please resubmit your paper in the portal and email TLC@uagc.edu requesting confirmation of receipt.
The Teaching and Learning Conference Proceedings editorial board will send peer reviews with suggested revisions to the authors.
Authors of accepted papers will submit a final version that addresses the peer feedback.
Editorial Board
- Dr. Iman Azzi
- Dr. Sara Bielek
- Dr. Vicki Black
- Megan Broker
- Dr. Carla Crider
- Dr. Ramona Dorough
- Richard Freese
- Dr. Kyeko Herderson
- Dr. Chrystal Jansz
- Dr. Chenille Johnson
- Shelley O'Connor
- Dr. Aneeza Pervez
- Dr. Derrick Robinson
- Dr. Karla Shockley McCarthy
- Dr. David Ssekamatte
- Dr. Jason W. Stegemoller
- Dr. Camille Sutton-Brown
- Dr. Ryan Upshaw
- Victoria West-Pawl
- Dr. Reginald Wilkerson
- Dr. Vahıde Yığıt-Gençten
- Dr. Shelly Zaldivar
Co-Editors
- Dr. Teresa Leary Handy, The University of Arizona Global Campus
- Dr. Jennifer Robinson, The University of Arizona Global Campus
Peer Reviewers
- Megan Broker, Megan Broker Consulting
- Dr. Carla Crider, Tarrant County College
- Dr. Chera Deressa, Mulungushi University
- Dr. Ramona Dorough, UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Dr. Richard Freese, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Dr. Kyeko D. Henderson, Special Education Consultant
- Dr. Chrystal Jansz, The Chicago School, Applied Behavior Analysis Online
- Dr. Teresa Kuruc, The University of Arizona Global Campus
- Dr. Kennedy Maranga, St. Thomas University
- Dr. Derrick Robinson, North Carolina A&T University
- Dr. David Ssekamatte, Uganda Management Institute
- Dr. Pamela Tanner, Tennessee State University
- Dr. Ryan Upshaw, Millsaps College
- Dr. Vahıde Yığıt-Gençten, Adiyaman University, Turkey
Office of Student Access and Wellness: Accessibility Support Services
The University of Arizona Global Campus is committed to providing an equal opportunity to access a full educational experience within the programs and services provided.
Those who would like to request accommodations such as captioned videos, transcripts, or live remote captioning to ensure access should contact the Office of Student Access and Wellness at access@uagc.edu to submit a request for services. If you have any accessibility-related questions, please email access@uagc.edu as soon as possible and by, November 1st. Access and Wellness will work to support any requests made after this date however late requests cannot be guaranteed.