ETOM Fall 2026 Conference

The University of Olivet
320 S. Main Street
Olivet, MI 49076

Conference Theme: Human-Centered Learning in an AI World

Keynote Speaker: José Antonio Bowen

José Antonio Bowen has been leading innovation and change for over 40 years at Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southampton (UK), as a dean at Miami University and SMU and as President of Goucher College. Bowen has worked as a musician with Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck, and many others and his symphony was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music (1985).

Bowen holds four degrees from Stanford and has written over 100 scholarly articles and books, including the Cambridge Companion to Conducting (2003), Teaching Naked (2012 and the winner of the Ness Award for Best Book on Higher Education), Teaching Naked Techniques withG. Edward Watson (2017) and Teaching Change: How to Develop Independent Thinkers using Relationships, Resilience and Reflection (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021).

Bowen has appeared in The New York Times,Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and has three TED talks. Stanford honored him as a Distinguished AlumniScholar (2010) and he has presented keynotes and workshops at more than 300 campuses and conferences 46 states and 17 countries around the world.  In 2018, he was awarded the Ernest L. Boyer Award (for significantcontributions to American higher education). He is a senior fellow for the American Association of Collegesand Universities.

Keynote Session: Are we asking the right questions about human thinking and AI?

AI is a new form of labor that is already changing learning, research and work in higher education: flooding the world with synthetic content, but also raising expectations for speed, polish and productivity. As technology challenges existing skills, it also invites us to ask what learning goals need to change: what forms of human judgment, interpretation, and reflection need to be cultivated more intentionally? AI has also exposed long-standing assumptions that our existing methods were really developing the critical thinking and reflection we value. Campuses have responded with new policies, task forces, and programs, but these are
operational responses to an epistemological crisis. The future of higher education will depend less on how quickly campuses adopt AI than on whether they can clearly articulate the purpose of learning in a world where knowledge work is no longer exclusively human.

Keynote Workshop: Teaching with AI

This practical session will help you discover what AI can do. While trying to balance the need to prepare students for an AI world with the potential damage AI might do to human creativity and critical thinking, there will hands-on time see how AI can search for ideas, expand perspectives, customize assignments and engage students in learning. Can we both reduce cheating and raise standards? We will consider a broad range of new assignments in different disciplines (including writing).

Draft Schedule

• 9:00 – 9:30 Light Breakfast and Welcome
• 9:30 –10:30 Keynote Session
• 10:40–11:30 Keynote Workshop
• 11:40–12:30 Breakout Sessions 1
• 12:30 – 1:20 Lunch
• 1:30 – 2:20 Breakout Sessions 2
• 2:30 – 3:20 Breakout Sessions 3
• 3:30 – 4:00 Wrap-up and Raffle

Call for Proposals

AI has the potential to change how we teach, learn, and work. How do we ensure that people, learning, and human connection remain at the center? ETOM invites proposals that share practical ideas, lessons learned, and questions worth exploring. Sessions may address AI, other educational technologies, or broader approaches to:

• Teaching and learning
• Connection and belonging
• Equity and access
• Authentic assessment
• Human-centered technology
• Leading through change

The deadline for submission is Wednesday, October 7, 2026. Accepted presenters get 50% off the registration fee.

Registration

This is a members-only event. The registration fee is $200. Accepted presenters pay $100. This fee covers the conference and food. Travel and hotel are at your expense. If you need to stay overnight, recommendations for lodging and restaurants can be found on the University’s Commencement Page.

The deadline for registration is Wednesday, October 7, 2026.