About the Keynote

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Join us for the 15th annual ITL conference!

This year’s keynote address is: 

“Teaching in an AI World: Building Confidence and Finding Our Way” presented by Educator, Author and Speaker: Flower Darby

“The advent of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools is causing a seismic shift in the way we go about our day-to-day personal and professional lives. Instructors who are already exhausted after more than three years of teaching and learning turmoil may feel despair at the thought of these chatbots and their potential to wreak havoc on teaching, learning, and assessing student work. We need not panic, however. We’ve undergone significant shifts in our personal and work routines in the last few decades (think internet and smartphones and the impact these have had). We can adapt to this new AI-fueled challenge as well. Time, calm, and curiosity will help us find our way. “

Keynote Speaker Bio:

Flower Darby celebrates and promotes effective teaching in all modalities to advance equitable learning outcomes for all students. She’s an Associate Director of the Teaching for Learning Center at the University of Missouri. Prior to that, she held roles such as Assistant Dean of Online and Innovative Pedagogies, Director of Teaching for Student Success, and Senior Instructional Designer. These roles have allowed her to build on her experience teaching in person and online for over 27 years in a range of subjects including English, Technology, Education, Leadership, Dance, and Pilates. In her current work and publications, Darby empowers faculty to teach inclusive and equity-focused classes in all modalities. Her recent books include The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching (2023) and Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes (2019), and she’s an internationally sought-after keynote speaker.