Speaking

Thanks to my writing and podcasting, I’ve been fortunate to get the chance to visit a variety of higher education institutions to give talks and lead workshops. I’ve lead dozens of interactive sessions in the United States and elsewhere, all aimed at developing more intentional creative, and effective educators.

See below for descriptions of the talks and workshops I’m often asked to give. I’m happy to adapt one or more of these talks to meet your teaching community’s needs or come up with something useful that goes in a different direction. If you’re interested in bringing me to your campus, please contact Jamie Brickhouse / redBrick Agency (jamiebrickhouse@redbrickagency.com).

Please note for in-person speaking engagements, I typically ask the host to cover my travel costs, including food and lodging, as well as provide an honorarium. For virtual engagements, I ask for a smaller honorarium. I’m happy to discuss specifics over email.

“Dr. Bruff’s presentation was clear, compelling and perfectly tailored to resonate with our Speaker Series audience. His examples were original, timely and effectively presented (cognitively and visually).” — Janet Rankin, Ph.D., Director, Teaching + Learning Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

AI-Aware Teaching: Designing for Learning and Assessment in an Age of AI

With generative AI making its way into all manner of domains, educators have a role to play in teaching students how to use AI effectively and ethically, as well as when to avoid using it altogether. Even when AI can be useful for a particular task, it’s not always useful for learning how to do that task. How can we support learning when AI tools are ubiquitous?

In this keynote, we’ll explore strategies for minimizing the use of AI by our students when it’s likely to undermine learning, as well as assignment structures that thoughtfully integrate AI in the learning process. Whatever your mix of resisting and engaging AI, you’ll learn about teaching principles and practices for supporting and assessing learning in this age of AI.

Integrating AI into Assignments to Support Student Learning

With generative AI making its way into all manner of domains, educators have a role to play in teaching students how to use AI effectively and ethically, as well as when to avoid using it altogether. This can be hard to do when we’re still figuring out what roles AI might usefully play in our teaching and scholarship! In this session, we’ll consider ways to explore this rapidly evolving space by working with our students, not against them, through the use of assignments that thoughtfully integrate generative AI in the learning process, with concrete examples from a range of disciplines.

“Derek gave a wonderful workshop about ChatGPT, pointing away from a reactionary approach rooted in suspicion and toward the fundamental pedagogical practices that can help educators navigate this new landscape.” – Gina Hurley, Associate Director, Yale University Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning

“Derek was the right speaker at the right time for our faculty. As all of higher education works to address Generative Artificial Intelligence, he was able to engage faculty in thinking about not only the current state of AI and what it means to syllabi and assignments, but also what the future might hold for these technologies. His blend of discussion, active learning, and live polling engaged faculty at all levels of comfort throughout his talk.” – Ed Finn, Director of Instructional Technology, Design, and Assessment, Valparaiso University

“Derek’s warm and engaging persona combined with his vast experience and research-based insights makes him an ideal speaker for any faculty development-focused event.” – Eric Fournier, Director of Educational Development, Washington University in St. Louis

“Derek Bruff performed a rare feat in this time of rapid change: He gave the audience solid, evidence-based advice for teaching and learning in the age of AI—no cheerleading, no doom and gloom, just useful, engaging tips for teaching effectively in this moment.” – Samuel Huskey, Senior Faculty Fellow for Digital Humanities, Center for Faculty Excellence, University of Oklahoma

Students as Producers: Authentic Assignments for Deep Learning

As students turn to generative AI as a shortcut when faced with “busy work,” many educators are building more authentic assignments into their courses. These are assignments that are drawn from realistic professional contexts and require students to build cross-cutting skills like critical thinking, communication, and teamwork. The “Students as Producers” approach offers a template for designing more authentic assignments by engaging students not just as consumers of information but also producers of knowledge. This webinar will share examples of this approach from a range of disciplines and identify key ingredients for supporting students in deep learning.

“Derek provided an expert balance of engagement, content, and processing. This was practical, thought-stimulating, and engaging.” – Scott Hamm, Assistant Director, Adams Center for Teaching and Learning, Abilene Christian University

Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching

Chalkboards and projectors are familiar tools for most college faculty, but when new technologies become available, instructors aren’t always sure how to integrate them into their teaching in meaningful ways. As faculty interested in supporting student learning survey the changing landscape of technology, determining what’s possible and what’s useful can be challenging. In this session, we’ll explore several teaching principles for matching technology to pedagogy, principles that can help us make intentional and effective use of technology in our teaching.

For more information about my 2019 book, Intentional Tech, visit my Books page.

“Derek’s focused keynote presentation and applied workshop session on ‘intentional technology’ affirmed and strengthened faculty’s investment in purposeful use of technology, especially in the in-person course context. Grounded in research on student learning, Derek expertly modeled different ways of engagement using technology and offered memorable images to remember the principles, such as ‘wheels on chairs.’ He conveyed sensitivity to our institutional context and paid special attention to ensure that his examples were applicable across disciplines and instructional settings.” – Gabriele Bauer, Director, Villanova University Institute for Teaching and Learning

Teaching in Stereo: Strategies for Class Participation

“Derek engaged faculty from a wide variety of disciplines in hands-on experiences during his workshop on strategies for participation. By the end of the workshop, it was clear that participants left with new ideas to implement in their own courses.” – Beate Brunow, Associate Director, Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Penn State

“Derek provided faculty with concrete ideas they can immediately apply in their classrooms, doing so in a way that even those who are new to student-centered teaching felt comfortable. He modeled good teaching, showing the conference attendees what some of these strategies looked like in action.” – Stacy Duffield, Director, Office of Teaching and Learning, North Dakota State University