/Office of the Provost
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

CELT Annual Teaching and Learning Symposium

The Future of Learning 

Open to Stony Brook University Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students. Hosted by the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Office of the Provost.

 

Workshop: AI Tools and Techniques

  • Open to all faculty & staff
  • Location: Union 103
  • Time: 10 AM - 12 PM
  • Registration required

AI literacy isn’t just about choosing the right tool, it’s about asking better questions and evaluating the responses. In this hands-on session for educators, we’ll explore how effective prompting builds on the critical writing and thinking skills you already teach and value.

You’ll learn how to craft prompts that are more literal and human-centered than those typically used with a search engine. Because AI responds to natural language, it requires the same clarity and nuance you'd use when guiding smart but inexperienced interns. Prompting isn’t engineering, it’s communication.

Through interactive exercises and experimentation with a range of rapidly evolving AI tools, you’ll gain practical techniques and a realistic understanding of how AI is reshaping human work and thought. You’ll leave with ideas for integrating AI into your teaching and research in meaningful, responsible ways.

Workshop: Creating Custom Bots for Teaching & Learning

  • Open to all faculty & staff
  • Location: Faculty Commons, Melville Library
  • Time: 2:30PM - 3:30 PM
  • Registration required

In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to build their own custom bot in just minutes.Together we’ll walk through the full workflow of creating an instructional bot and why doing your first custom bot “the hard way” matters. 

By intentionally constructing prompts and understanding how the bot interprets them, educators gain insight into the pedagogical choices that lead to more authentic, effective student interactions.

Participants will leave with a ready-to-use custom bot, examples of simulation prompts, and a clear framework for integrating these tools into their teaching.

To fully engage in the hands-on components of this workshop, participants are encouraged to arrive with a fully charged personal device.

Workshop: Feedback Fruits Hands-On Workshop

Presented by: Melinda Jakus, Partner Manager, USA & Canada, FeedbackFruits

  • Open to all faculty & staff
  • Location: Faculty Commons, Melville Library
  • Time: 4:00PM - 5:00PM
  • Registration required

Discover how to turn your course into a more interactive, collaborative, and feedback-rich learning environment with FeedbackFruits! 

This workshop explores all the FeedbackFruits tools available at Stony Brook—from Interactive Video and Interactive Document to Peer Review, Group Formation, Team-Based Learning, Automated Feedback, and more.

If you're looking to strengthen student engagement, streamline assessment, or bring more active learning into your teaching, this session is for you.

To fully engage in the hands-on components of this workshop, participants are encouraged to arrive with a fully charged personal device.

Symposium

  • Faculty, TAs, postdocs, and academic staff 
  • Location: SAC A Ballroom
  • Registration required

 

Keynote: Teaching and Thinking with AI

AI is rapidly transforming how humans work, think, create, and communicate. And it may be the fastest shift in the history of writing. AI is shattering expectations around assignments, assessment, class preparation and even attendance, and is challenging educators to design classrooms that are future-ready and inclusive. 

If AI represents the new baseline for “average” work, it’s time to rethink our policies, grading practices, and expectations.What is AI Literacy and should we be teaching it? Together, we’ll explore the skills and curriculum that matter most in an AI-driven world, why defining ‘quality’ is more important than ever and how reimagined assignments can boost motivation while reducing academic dishonesty. 

This session is open to educators of all experience levels, whether you're just beginning to explore AI or already integrating it into your teaching. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to transform how they approach teaching, learning, and assessment in ways that prepare our students for a changing world.