Penn State faculty present on humanizing higher ed at 2024 Lilly Conference

SHARON, Pa. - Jennifer Jewell, teaching professor in the physical therapist assistant program at Penn State Shenango, presented at the 2024 Lilly Conference hosted by the International Teaching and Learning Cooperative earlier this summer.

Jewell, along with Pamela Pologruto, teaching professor of physical therapist assistant at Penn State Fayette, and Laura Cruz, research professor at Penn State's Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, presented "Human Interest: Pedagogical Strategies for Humanizing Higher Education," at this year's conference held in Austin, Texas.

The Lilly Conference's mission is to provide evidence-based teaching and learning techniques to promote professional development for faculty. With backgrounds in health care professions, Jewell and Pologruto looked at existing evidence-based practices concerning patient care to see what could translate well into a higher education classroom setting.

"We want our classrooms to be more than just spaces where we talk at our students and expect them to be engaged with their learning," said Jewell. "By humanizing the learning experience, our students can feel empowered to learn in a safe and responsive environment."

The presentation team highlighted humanizing strategies that focus on the development of the student as a whole person and recognize the importance of compassion for the influence that trauma can have on a student's ability to learn, among others.

"Our students have real-life stresses happening every day, and those stresses can affect their ability to engage and retain the information we cover in class," Jewell said. "As educators, we need to meet them where they are to make sure that every classroom experience is as positive as we can make it."

The session also included an interactive portion where participants were engaged in a unique exercise in which they perceive learning through the eyes of a distinctive student.

"I've incorporated strategies like these into my classes already and have seen them be successful at Shenango. I'm hopeful that others will find them just as beneficial."

Faculty members from Penn State Lehigh Valley also presented at the Lilly-Austin Conference.