Focus on Teaching Conference
Celebrating faculty excellence
Excellence in teaching and engaging students in learning is both challenging and exciting. The Focus on Teaching Conference (FOTC) has traditionally provided a forum to:
- celebrate the work of teachers in a fun, engaging and rewarding way;
- dialogue with colleagues from across disciplines;
- engage in informed and constructive conversations related to the complexities of teaching and learning; and
- share strategies and insights that increase teaching and learning effectiveness.
Celebrating our achievements
About the Focus on Teaching Conference
Now, more than ever, we want to recognize all the ways members of our Georgian community work together, create and share knowledge, and connect learning.
Each year, the Focus on Teaching Conference brings together our Georgian community to share practices, experiences and insights about learning and teaching. Faculty and students continue to work together to explore new learning and venture into amazing futures. Join us in sharing innovative ideas and developing new passions that re-invigorate our teaching practice and our lives.
We’re excited to support and inspire our community of teachers and celebrate as we recognize all the ways we work together, create and share knowledge, and connect learning inside and outside the classroom.
Focus on Teaching Conference 2026
The Focus on Teaching Conference (FOTC) is back this year with a theme that inspires meaningful engagement and tangible impact.
FOTC 2026: The Doing Conference
“Learn it. Build it. Apply it.”
- Wednesday, April 29, 2026
- 9:30AM – 2:30PM
- In-person – ABSC Space, Barrie Campus
- Thursday, April 30, 2026
- 3:00PM – 7:00PM
- Online Synchronous – MS Teams
This 2-day conference blends practical learning with meaningful conversation, designed for immediate impact on our educational spaces.
What to expect:
- Hands-on learning you can implement right away
- Engaging sessions that address current teaching challenges and emerging innovations
- Lightning talks and awards celebrating excellence and creativity
- Opportunities to connect and collaborate with peers…both in person and online
Register for FOTC 2026
We are pleased to offer in-person and virtual opportunities to attend the conference. In the registration process, you will be asked to declare your mode of attendance.
This link takes Georgian employees to our SumTotal system (login is required).
If you require assistance with registration, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email.
Call for proposals
Call for proposals now open!
The Focus on Teaching Conference (FOTC) returns with a theme centered on meaningful engagement and real, tangible impact.
The FOTC Committee invites faculty and educators from Georgian and beyond to share practices, experiments, tools, and stories that embody learning by doing. If you have practical strategies, hands-on approaches, or innovative ideas that energize teaching and learning in the college environment, we encourage you to submit a proposal.
From small classroom shifts to bold instructional innovations, we’re looking for sessions that participants can actively experience, apply, and adapt to their own contexts. Whether your session helps attendees try something new, build a skill, reflect deeply, or leave with a tangible takeaway, we welcome proposals that prioritize interaction, application, and engagement.
Options for Proposals:
- GED Talks – Modelled after TEDtalks, GED Talks share information, knowledge, or an inspiring story about their courses or teaching experience (5-10 minutes per presenter)
- AI in Practice Showcase – Presenters will demonstrate practical, real-world uses of artificial intelligence in their courses or teaching practice (5–10 minutes per presenter)
- Successes in Teaching – Presenters share a strategy, approach, or moment that has positively impacted student learning in their course (5–10 minutes per presenter)
- Action Build Studio – A hands-on, collaborative session where presenters guide small groups through building or designing something tangible.
Please complete the information below to submit your session proposal(s) by Friday, March 27th. If you have more than one idea to share, we encourage multiple submissions.
Let’s come together to learn, build, feel, and do — and to create a conference experience that is active, practical, and energizing for all.
FOTC 2025
FOTC 2025 – Highlights
Watch the highlights of our 2025 Focus on Teaching Conference!
FOTC 2024
Mirko Chardin
Mirko Chardin is Novak Education‘s Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer. Before joining Novak, he was the Founding Head of School of the Putnam Avenue Upper School in Cambridge, MA. Mirko’s work has involved all areas of school management and student support. His greatest experience and passion revolves around culturally connected teaching and learning, recruiting and retaining educators of color, restorative practice, and school culture.
He is also a race, diversity and cultural proficiency facilitator & leadership coach for the Aspire Institute at Boston University’s New Wheelock College of Human Development and Education and is a Virtual Module Content Provider and In-Person Technical Assistance Provider for the Dept. of Ed.’s Inclusive Practice Academy.
He is a principal mentor for the Perone-Sizer Creative Leadership Institute, a former Trustee at Wheaton College and is an active hip-hop artist. Mirko presents both locally and nationally on issues of cultural proficiency, equity, Universal Design for Learning and the use of personal narratives. He is also the co-author with Dr. Katie Novak of the bestselling “Equity by Design: The Power and Promise of UDL“.
FOTC 2024 – Highlights of Inspiring Growth
Watch the highlights of “Inspiring Growth” at our 2024 Focus on Teaching Conference!
FOTC 2023
Michelle Hillier
When was the last time you really felt like your authentic self? This question trips so many people up. But remembering when you last felt truly at “home” with yourself can have a remarkable impact in your work and life. During Michelle’s interactive virtual keynote, she’ll share her personal journey of recovery and provide actionable takeaways to inspire the audience to find happiness within themselves. Using personal reflection, mindfulness and intentional movement, she’ll have us zooming into our authentic self – the self you may have lost along the way. Get curious and come home. Your inner flame hasn’t gone out.
Biography
Finding her own personal Breath & Fire has transformed Michelle’s life. Her inner flame, which was either a pilot light or a blazing inferno, is now a controlled blaze. She’s been on her own intimate healing path of recovery since 2017 from double hip replacement surgery, alcohol use disorder, grief, and a marital separation which has created a deeper sense of compassion and understanding for herself. Essentially, a road to self-love. It’s Michelle’s desire to create experiences for others that hold space for them to find their own Breath & Fire within life’s journey. Over the last two decades, Michelle has been a sought after educator, speaker (TEDx) and published author/content creator. She has transformed millions of lives with her message through large crowd presentations, workshops, trainings, content creation and one-on-one coaching and experiences. Her work has spanned a broad range of industries taking her internationally with her message.
Michelle is a dance and movement specialist, wellness and recovery coach, certified yoga and fitness teacher, mindfulness/meditation teacher, and former professional dancer. She has seamlessly merged all her passions, skills, qualifications and personal experiences to create Breath & Fire to share with individuals, groups and organizations.
FOTC 2023 – Highlights of being Better Together
Watch the highlights of everyone being “Better Together” at our 2023 Focus on Teaching Conference!
SLT Fieldside Chat – FOTC 2023
In this playful and informative video, our senior leaders discuss the present and future of the educational experience at Georgian College.
FOTC 2022
Sarah Rose Cavanagh
Sarah Rose Cavanagh is the Senior Associate Director for Teaching and Learning in the Center for Faculty Excellence at Simmons University, where she also teaches in the Psychology department as an Associate Professor of Practice. Before joining Simmons, she was an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience (tenured) at Assumption University, where she also served in the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence as Associate Director for Grants and Research.
Sarah’s research considers the interplay of emotions, motivation, learning, and quality of life. She is author of The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion (2016) and upcoming Our Monsters, Our Selves: Encouraging Youth Mental Health with Compassionate Challenge (2022). She gives keynote addresses and workshops at a variety of colleges and regional conferences, blogs for Psychology Today, and writes essays for venues like Literary Hub and The Chronicle of Higher Education. She’s also on Twitter too much, at @SaRoseCav.
Fireside Chat with Dr. MaryLynn West-Moynes and Kevin Weaver
We sat down with our past president Dr. MaryLynn West-Moynes and incoming president Kevin Weaver to ask them some hot questions while eating even hotter wings!