2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Exploring LLMs in a Reflective Teaching Toolkit for Engineering Faculty

Presented at Faculty Development Division (FDD) Technical Session 1: Generative AI and Transformations in Faculty Work

Teaching evaluations are important for faculty development and promotion. However, poorly designed teaching evaluations are often inherently subjective. Therefore, an increasing number of institutions are seeking ways to create holistic evaluation processes for engineering instruction and teaching. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the institution is piloting a new system for defining and evaluating excellent teaching based on four major criteria: instruction design, instruction delivery, inclusivity and ethics, and reflection and evolution. In this paper, we outline a teaching toolkit designed for engineering faculty to support the university’s goal of documenting reflective teaching practices. Our initial motivation is to mitigate the perception of reflection practices as time-consuming and abstract. The toolkit presented here is designed as a guide for faculty to reflect on teaching practices, set goals for teaching improvement, and conduct student surveys and focus groups to support the goals. This toolkit is piloted in three Aerospace and Bioengineering courses. The lessons learnt from the toolkit development support faculty in documenting reflective teaching practices and lower the barrier for entry for engineering faculty to engage in reflective processes with peers and students.

The toolkit can be found at https://publish.illinois.edu/reflectiveteachingtoolkit/.

Authors

Wayne L Chang University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Dr. Wayne Chang is a teaching assistant professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.
Natalie M Taylor http://orcid.org/https://0009-0008-6017-1991 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Natalie Taylor (she/her) is a PhD student in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include soft robotics and inclusive teaching practices, particularly for students with physical disabilities in laboratory environments. Natalie previously earned an M.Eng. in Bioengineering and a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Divya Bendigeri University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Divya is a fourth-year undergraduate bioengineering student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Sandra Edward University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Sandra Edward is a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Sandra earned her M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and her B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky. Her research interests include soft actuators, biomaterials, microdevices, and additive manufacturing techniques. She has experience with mentoring/teaching students in engineering design courses, and with evaluating STEM courses for improvement.
Prof. Caroline Cvetkovic http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3035-7313 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [biography]

Caroline Cvetkovic is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she instructs courses in quantitative physiology, neural engineering, biofabrication, and heat transfer. She earned her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Neuroregeneration and Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist Research Institute.
Prof. Holly M Golecki http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3691-0420 University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Dr. Holly Golecki (she/her) is a Teaching Associate Professor in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences at the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine. Holly studies biomaterials and soft robotics and their applications in the university classroom, in research and in engaging future engineers in human-centered design. Holly received her BS/MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and her PhD in Engineering Sciences (Bioengineering) from Harvard University.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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