Guest Speaker – “Authenticity and Presence as Instructor Wellbeing”
We often hear about “student-centered teaching” and its benefits. Yet this approach can make instructors feel like their job is to become invisible, as increasing learner autonomy feels like losing the opportunity to share expertise. In truth, though, learners rightfully depend on their instructors to remain present to the people and the learning in our educational spaces.
In this session, we’ll dig into some of the research that touches on instructor presence, learning, and relationship-rich education and rethink what it means to educate and be an educator today. Ultimately, our focus will be on how to be more authentically ourselves in our teaching–and why doing so matters.
Participants will have the opportunity to engage in one or more exercises from Liz’s book, The Present Professor, Authenticity and Transformational Teaching (2025) with ample time for reflection and Q & A.