SPIN 2026: Charting New Paths
May 19, 2026
Join us on Tuesday, May 19th, for the third, annual Spring Pedagogy Institute focussed on “Charting New Paths.” Morning sessions at SPIN will focus on PSU’s new Pathways general education program. We will have a lunch program highlighting open education and PSU’s course marking grant from NEBHE. In the afternoon, we will feature peer-to-peer presentations from your colleauges across the university.
Register for SPIN now!
LUNCH KEYNOTE
OPEN EDUCATION IN A TIME OF TURBULENCE:
RECLAIMING LEARNING AS A PUBLIC GOOD
The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) as alternatives to traditional textbooks offers powerful opportunities to improve educational access and effectiveness. OERs can help alleviate the financial burden that students face from high textbook costs, but beyond that, OER offers the potential to dramatically transform teaching and learning through the adoption of Open Pedagogy. Prioritizing connection and community over methodology and content, students in open pedagogy classrooms use a critical lens in their use of digital tools for discovery, creativity, knowledge construction, and analysis. Open Pedagogy also means trusting students and supporting especially the most marginalized to find and raise their voices. Open Pedagogical strategies offer ways to be responsive to the upheavals caused by AI, attacks on higher education and growing threats to democracy. As global social and environmental problems grow ever more intractable, supporting students to become critical, creative social agents capable of building a more sustainable and just world is essential work. For educators, this raises a pressing question: How can our work in higher education more meaningfully shape the future?
Karen Cangialosi
Dr. Karen Cangialosi is a passionate change agent, dedicated educator, and student advocate with national recognition in open education, STEM ed, and digital pedagogy. As a Professor of Biology at Keene State College (now emeritus), she brought open education into the biology curriculum and led campus-wide initiatives to make science education more affordable and inclusive. She now serves as Director of Open Education & Open Science at the RIOS Institute which promotes racial justice and openness in STEM education. Her work centers on transforming higher ed systems to better serve students, especially marginalized students. Her Educause article, An AI-Driven Optimism for Transforming Higher Education (It’s Not What You Think) considers the juxtaposition of AI in education. She continues to advocate for integrating Open Science and Open Education to reimagine how we teach, learn, and collaborate in STEM, always with a focus on transparency, justice, and meaningful change. She is project director for the OCTOPUS project (Open Collaboration for Transformative Open Pedagogy to support Undergraduate Open Science Education) a collaborative effort between the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium and the RIOS Institute.
SCHEDULE
8:30 – 9:00
Breakfast & Registration
Heritage Commons
9:00 – 9:15
Welcome & Introductions
Heritage Commons
9:15 – 11:45
Pathways Presentation & Workshop
Heritage Commons
11:45 – 12:00
NEBHE Grant Presentation
Heritage Commons
12:00-1:00
LUNCH & KEYNOTE Presentation
OPEN EDUCATION IN A TIME OF TURBULENCE:
RECLAIMING LEARNING AS A PUBLIC GOOD
Dr. Karen Cangialosi
Heritage Commons
1:00-1:15
BREAK & MOVE to Lamson Library
Heritage Commons -> Lamson Library
1:15-2:00
20 Minute Fast Blasts (124)
- 1:15—1:35 | Salutogenic Practices in the Classroom, Jessie Chapman
- 1:35—1:55 | Internship Collaboration with ACAC, Chelsea Charmichael
- 1:55—2:00 | Q&A
Immersive & Hands On (003-Colab)
Ancient Echoes: Drumming Meditation, Lena Moser
Deeper Dives (114)
Oh! the Students You’ll Have, Kate Frizzell
Lamson Library
2:00-2:15
BREAK
Lamson Library
2:15-3:00
20 Minute Fast Blasts (124)
- 2:15—2:35 | Redesigning Introductory Physics – First Steps, Brad Moser
- 2:35—2:55 | Autograding: 2014 vs 2026, Nat Tuck
- 2:55—3:00 | Q&A
Immersive & Hands On (003-Colab)
Canvas Accessibility, Erika Rydberg-Hall & Megan Smith
Deeper Dives (114)
Design Thinking in Action, Elm Forge
Lamson Library
3:00-3:15
BREAK
Lamson Library
3:15-4:00
20 Minute Fast Blasts (124)
- 3:15—3:35 | Interdisciplinary Collaborations to Create a PSU Assessment Clinic, Sara Scribner & Kasey Murphy
- 3:35—3:55 | Adapting Passion Driven Statistics to Research Methods in Psychology at PSU, Melissa Paiva-Salisbury
• 3:55—4:00| Q&A
Immersive & Hands On (003-Colab)
Share and Support Session for TWP and INCP Instructors; Kate Harrington, Elisabeth Johnston, Laura Tilghman, Amanda Whitworth
Deeper Dives (114)
Design Thinking in Action, Elm Forge
Lamson Library
4:00-4:15
BREAK
Lamson Library
4:15-5:00
20 Minute Fast Blasts (124)
- 4:15-4:35 | HoME Courses as Design Studio, Molly McCahan
- 4:35-4:55 | A Deeper Dive into PSU’s Course Marking Grant, Martha Burtis
- 4:55-5:00 | Q&A
Deeper Dives (114)
Beyond the Workplan: Reimagining Faculty Reflection, Sarah Parrish & Rebecca Grant
Lamson Library
5:00 – 6:00
RECEPTION: Cash Bar and Light Hors d’oeuvres
Lamson: Study Valley
Register to Attend
PSU colleagues, we would love to have you at SPIN on May 19th! Come for as much the day as you can.
Deadline: Sunday, May 17