Game-Based Experiential
Learning for Agriculture:
Practical Strategies You Can Use Tomorrow

Presented by:  Barbara Chamberlain, New Mexico State University

Wednesday, May 27, 2026
11:00 AM EDT / 10:00 AM CDT

Agriculture educators frequently teach complex systems, interconnected processes, and decision-making under constraints — all areas where game-based learning is especially powerful. In this interactive session, Dr. Barbara Chamberlin from New Mexico State University’s Learning Games Lab will demonstrate how simple games — digital or paper-based — can strengthen student engagement, systems thinking, and career-relevant life skills.

Participants will explore:

• Games for teaching agriculture concepts
• How games strengthen experiential learning and reflective practice
• Strategies for integrating gameplay into existing labs, lectures, or online modules
• How to connect game-based activities to workforce competencies such as communication, teamwork, and decision-making

Everything presented will be directly relevant to teaching agriculture, food, the environment, and applied life sciences, and will be adaptable even in high-enrollment, lab-based, or extension settings. By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Identify simple teaching games that model agricultural or natural resource systems.
2. Apply two or more game-based strategies in their own classrooms without needing new technology or software.
3. Guide reflection and debriefing to strengthen experiential learning outcomes and student professional skills.
4. Adapt game-based learning to fit different course types: introductory undergraduate courses, labs, community college programs, and extension workshops.
5. Evaluate learning using quick, classroom-friendly assessment methods.

This session focuses on intentional engagement design, showing how game-based strategies can transform abstract agricultural concepts into immersive, decision-driven reflective practices of learning experiences. Participants will explore Strategies for integrating gameplay into existing labs, lectures, or online modules and how games and simulations connect game-based activities to workforce competencies and foster communication, systems thinking, collaboration, teamwork, and applied decision making core competencies in modern agriculture.

We look forward to seeing you May 27!

Beyond the Trip: Pairing Research
with Experiential Learning Abroad

Presented by:  Jeneen Fields,  Purdue University, Daniel Foster, Penn State University , Liz Karcher, Penn State University, Lacey Roberts-Hill,  Texas Tech University, Shweta Trivedi, North Carolina State University , and Melanie Miller Foster, Penn State University

Thursday, May 14, 2026
11:00 AM EDT / 10:00 AM CDT

What are the best strategies for developing and carrying out research that makes use of a study abroad experience? Are you looking to add a research opportunity to your experiential learning event? Collecting data and capturing outcomes can not only lend to the literature but also help inform better practices for subsequent experiences! Join us for a panel and workshop with six faculty members who will share their best practices in pairing research with experiential learning. The fourth webinar brings the series full circle by demonstrating how experiential learning particularly global experiences can be intentionally paired with research, assessment, and scholarly outcomes. This session helps faculty translate experiences into evidence of learning, student inquiry, and SoTL outputs.
Designed takeaway: How to document, assess, and extend experiential learning for student impact, grants, and promotion and tenure. Attendees will be able to:

1. Establish a set of questions that can influence research on a stud abroad trip
2. Access relevant literature that articulates methods for high impact study abroad research
3. Compose a proposal for research to complement the outcomes of a study abroad trip

Keep an eye on your inbox for more information on the final session of the series! We look forward to seeing you May 14!

Beyond the Trip: Pairing Research
with Experiential Learning Abroad

Presented by:  Jeneen Fields, Purdue University, Daniel Foster, Penn State University, Liz Karcher, Penn State University, Lacey Roberts-Hill, Texas Tech University, Shweta Trivedi, North Carolina State University, and Melanie Miller Foster, Penn State University

Thursday, May 14, 2026
11:00 AM EDT / 10:00 AM CDT

What are the best strategies for developing and carrying out research that makes use of a study abroad experience? Are you looking to add a research opportunity to your experiential learning event? Collecting data and capturing outcomes can not only lend to the literature but also help inform better practices for subsequent experiences! Join us for a panel and workshop with six faculty members who will share their best practices in pairing research with experiential learning. The fourth webinar brings the series full circle by demonstrating how experiential learning particularly global experiences can be intentionally paired with research, assessment, and scholarly outcomes. This session helps faculty translate experiences into evidence of learning, student inquiry, and SoTL outputs.
Designed takeaway: How to document, assess, and extend experiential learning for student impact, grants, and promotion and tenure. Attendees will be able to:

1. Establish a set of questions that can influence research on a stud abroad trip
2. Access relevant literature that articulates methods for high impact study abroad research
3. Compose a proposal for research to complement the outcomes of a study abroad trip

Keep an eye on your inbox for more information on the final session of the series! We look forward to seeing you May 14!

Are you just getting started with EL? Join us to get some tried and true ideas, as well as advice from other educators! Are you a seasoned pro? Join us to share your tips and tricks or R&D (rip off and duplicate) some new ideas! Are you somewhere in the middle and just looking to engage in some fun, informal conversation? Join us! NACTA Coffee Chats are free to all NACTA members, hour-long facilitated, informal discussions, hosted once a month. Topics will be shared in advance so you can come and get what works for you or skip what doesn't sound as interesting.

Our second session is titled, “The More, the Merrier. Experiential Learning in Large Enrollment Courses.” As always, at the end of the session, we will be soliciting ideas for upcoming Coffee Chats so we can be sure and talk about what matters to you!

“The More, the Merrier. Experiential Learning in Large Enrollment Courses”
Friday, April 17, 2026, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
To join this NACTA Coffee Chat, click here.
Meeting ID: 841 6168 1798
Passcode: 063504

We look forward to seeing you!

Are you just getting started with EL? Join us to get some tried and true ideas, as well as advice from other educators! Are you a seasoned pro? Join us to share your tips and tricks or R&D (rip off and duplicate) some new ideas! Are you somewhere in the middle and just looking to engage in some fun, informal conversation? Join us! NACTA Coffee Chats are free to all NACTA members, hour-long facilitated, informal discussions, hosted once a month. Topics will be shared in advance so you can come and get what works for you or skip what doesn't sound as interesting.

We hope you'll join us for our first session, "What Counts as a Learning Experience: Considering Size and Scope of EL." At the end of the session, we will be soliciting ideas for upcoming Coffee Chats so we can be sure and talk about what matters to you!

What Counts as a Learning Experience: Considering the Size and Scope of EL

Friday, March 27, 2026, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
To join this NACTA Coffee Chat, click here.
Meeting ID: 812 1696 2831
Passcode: 685198

We look forward to seeing you!

Teaching with AI in Agriculture: Myths, Tools, Ethics, and Hands-On Strategies

Presented by: Katelyn Nelson, DeElla Wiley, and Mazin Salim Mohammed Palakuniyil, of the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn University

12:00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM CDT
Wednesday, March 25, 2026

AI tools are increasingly becoming part of the higher education landscape, but many faculty are still exploring how to use AI effectively, ethically, and in ways that support student learning without overwhelming them. This webinar invites NACTA educators into a practical conversation about AI tools relevant to teaching in agriculture, environmental sciences, life sciences, and applied STEM fields. The session will move from demystifying AI to practical demonstrations and shared discussion, followed by consideration of ethical and privacy questions. Participants will leave with greater confidence in approaching AI thoughtfully and strategically in their teaching.

Designed takeaway: How to integrate emerging AI technologies into learning while maintaining academic integrity, transparency, and student skill development. Attendees will be able to: differentiate fact from myth about AI and Generative AI in higher education; Identify primary AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, discipline-specific tools) and understand their strengths/limitations; use practical prompting strategies for lesson planning, activity creation, syllabus development, assessment support, etc.; guide students in responsible use of AI, including transparency, citation, and academic integrity; recognize key privacy, data, and ethical concerns relevant to both instructors and students, especially important in agriculture-related fields with sensitive datasets and develop or revise a classroom AI policy aligned with teaching practices. Consequently, participants can gain improved teaching efficiency, enhanced experiential learning supporting student creativity, communication, and problem-solving while building responsible AI citizens within agricultural professions.

Series Schedule (please note all sessions take place at 12:00 PM Eastern / 11:00 AM Central)

• Sessions 2 and 3: Beyond the Trip: Pairing Research with Experiential Learning Abroad
  Session 2 - April 8, 2026, Session 3 - May 13, 2026
• Session 4: Game-Based Experiential Learning for Agriculture: Practical Strategies You Can Use Tomorrow
  May 14, 2026

Keep an eye on your inbox for more information on each of these upcoming sessions. We look forward to seeing you on March 25!

Are you just getting started with EL? Join us to get some tried and true ideas, as well as advice from other educators! Are you a seasoned pro? Join us to share your tips and tricks or R&D (rip off and duplicate) some new ideas! Are you somewhere in the middle and just looking to engage in some fun, informal conversation? Join us! NACTA Coffee Chats are free to all NACTA members, hour-long facilitated, informal discussions, hosted once a month. Topics will be shared in advance so you can come and get what works for you or skip what doesn't sound as interesting.

We hope you'll join us for our first session, "What Counts as a Learning Experience: Considering Size and Scope of EL." At the end of the session, we will be soliciting ideas for upcoming Coffee Chats so we can be sure and talk about what matters to you!

What Counts as a Learning Experience: Considering the Size and Scope of EL

Friday, March 27, 2026, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
To join this NACTA Coffee Chat, click here.
Meeting ID: 812 1696 2831
Passcode: 685198

We look forward to seeing you!

Teaching with AI in Agriculture: Myths, Tools, Ethics, and Hands-On Strategies

Presented by: Katelyn Nelson, DeElla Wiley, and Mazin Salim Mohammed Palakuniyil, of the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn University

12:00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM CDT
Wednesday, March 25, 2026

AI tools are increasingly becoming part of the higher education landscape, but many faculty are still exploring how to use AI effectively, ethically, and in ways that support student learning without overwhelming them. This webinar invites NACTA educators into a practical conversation about AI tools relevant to teaching in agriculture, environmental sciences, life sciences, and applied STEM fields. The session will move from demystifying AI to practical demonstrations and shared discussion, followed by consideration of ethical and privacy questions. Participants will leave with greater confidence in approaching AI thoughtfully and strategically in their teaching.

Designed takeaway: How to integrate emerging AI technologies into learning while maintaining academic integrity, transparency, and student skill development. Attendees will be able to: differentiate fact from myth about AI and Generative AI in higher education; Identify primary AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, discipline-specific tools) and understand their strengths/limitations; use practical prompting strategies for lesson planning, activity creation, syllabus development, assessment support, etc.; guide students in responsible use of AI, including transparency, citation, and academic integrity; recognize key privacy, data, and ethical concerns relevant to both instructors and students, especially important in agriculture-related fields with sensitive datasets and develop or revise a classroom AI policy aligned with teaching practices. Consequently, participants can gain improved teaching efficiency, enhanced experiential learning supporting student creativity, communication, and problem-solving while building responsible AI citizens within agricultural professions.

• Sessions 2 and 3: Beyond the Trip: Pairing Research with Experiential Learning Abroad
  Session 2 - April 8, 2026, Session 3 - May 13, 2026
• Session 4: Game-Based Experiential Learning for Agriculture: Practical Strategies You Can Use Tomorrow
  May 14, 2026