The Call for Proposals closed on May 7, 2026.

The landscape of higher education is undergoing a rapid evolution shaped by technological advancements, societal shifts, and global challenges. Educational development professionals play a critical role in enabling institutions to navigate accelerated change by intentionally designing learning environments and teaching practices that support the educational mission.

At the same time, innovation in teaching and learning is increasingly informed by expanded digital possibilities, notably through the proliferation of generative AI, which is reshaping pedagogical practices while raising critical questions about ethics, equity, and academic integrity (Francis et al, 2025; Wiese et al., 2025). These developments intensify the work of educational development, as professionals are increasingly called upon to navigate new opportunities while upholding evidence-based standards for effective teaching–often under conditions of limited capacity that constrain the time and attention required for thoughtful pedagogical engagement that accounts for diverse learners, contexts, and ways of engaging with knowledge (Tarchinski et al, 2025; Wright, Addy, Eynon, Rivard, 2025).

Across this work, equity functions as a core practice of effective teaching and transformative learning (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2025), enacted through the recognition of multiple ways of knowing and engaging with knowledge, and through accessible design that enables learners to pursue their educational aspirations. As pedagogical possibilities expand, particularly through emerging technologies and rapid digital adoption, educational developers must align innovation with evidence-based practices that sustain equitable, inclusive, and accessible learning environments.

Over time, the complexity of change and the increased interpretive demands of pedagogical work, coupled with organizational pressure, contribute to burnout and disengagement among those responsible for designing, supporting, and enacting teaching and learning, weakening institutional capacity for effective teaching and learning. Research across higher education and organizational studies consistently identifies burnout and disengagement as pervasive challenges within academic and professional roles. When professionals are expected to navigate constant change, diverse learning contexts, and competing institutional priorities without sufficient structures for sense-making and coordination, the resulting strain has real personal, professional, and organizational consequences that undermine individual well-being, pedagogical quality, and institutional adaptation.

Educational development professionals are uniquely positioned to support institutional resilience by designing relationship-rich organizational learning environments grounded in teaching and learning practice (Hayward et al., 2024; Benander, & Refaei, 2025). Educational development enterprises, as coordinated collections of programs, practices, and relationships, can mitigate the challenges of burnout and disengagement by enabling shared sense-making, relational support, and sustained professional engagement. By approaching educational development as coordinated, intentional design work by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, leveraging innovative technologies, and advancing evidence-based practices we can collectively address the challenges facing higher education and support teaching and learning communities to thrive amidst uncertainty and change (Zou et al, 2026; Tarchinski et al, 2025; Wright, Addy, Eynon, Rivard, 2025).

We invite proposals that engage the conference theme by examining how educational development professionals design, steward, and coordinate teaching and learning practices within complex institutional contexts. Submissions should foster meaningful dialogue, practical application, and collaborative exploration, and offer innovative, evidence-based, and actionable insights that advance educational development practice, support equitable learning environments, and build resilience for individuals and institutions in higher education.

This year’s conference theme emerged through a process of collective reflection with the POD community. Earlier this year, members were invited to share words that capture the questions, challenges, and possibilities shaping their work in educational development and higher education today. What emerged from these reflections was a community thinking deeply about its purpose, grounded in present realities, attentive to its history, and clear-eyed about the responsibility of this moment. The responses revealed a profession that recognizes educational development stands at a pivotal moment for higher education itself, one that calls for collective insight, courage, and leadership.

Across the responses, opportunities and tensions for exploration surfaced. Educational development professionals are tasked with helping institutions navigate rapid technological transformation while preserving learning that matters. Members emphasized the importance of prioritizing relational and human-centered aspects of their work with a focus on care, connection, dialogue, and meaning in learning environments that often feel strained. These reflections highlight a profession operating at the crossroads of innovation, care, and institutional change—a profession uniquely positioned to help higher education navigate complexity while upholding values and fostering systems, cultures, and practices that support transformative learning.

The conference theme emerged from these collective reflections. Rather than prescribing a single direction, it opens space for the questions the community itself is asking. It invites all of us to pause, take stock of this moment, and engage in it together. By bringing together scholarship, lived experience, and collaborative inquiry, we can meet this moment as a community by clarifying the role educational development must play in the future of higher education and by strengthening the profession as a vital infrastructure for teaching, learning, and institutional transformation.

• How do our educational development efforts design conditions that support well-being, resilience, and sustained engagement amid burnout and organizational strain?
• How are equity, accessibility, and inclusion enacted through our pedagogical and design choices, and standards of effective teaching and learning?
• How are emerging digital possibilities, including generative AI, reshaping pedagogical practice, and how do we exercise agency in aligning innovation with academic integrity and evidence-based teaching?
• What structures, practices, or relationships are we building to support shared sense-making, collaboration, and interdisciplinary learning among those engaged in teaching and learning?
• How do our approaches to educational development contribute to learning environments that foster purpose, belonging, and connection at both individual and institutional levels?