Wellspring:

The Aquifer Educator Consortium Annual Meeting

Our annual gathering for the people who make Aquifer's mission possible.

What Is Wellspring?

Wellspring is Aquifer's annual in-person conference, held each fall. It's where the field's leading educators come together to turn shared expertise into what comes next for health professions education. Consortium members, Board of Directors, and Aquifer staff gather in one place for a few days of real work and real connection, side by side.

Who's in the Room?

Wellspring is by invitation, open to Aquifer Consortium members, the Board of Directors, and Aquifer staff. These are the educators and experts whose insight and expertise shapes every case, course, and tool Aquifer creates, so it's only fitting that they're the ones who help shape what's ahead. If you're part of the Consortium, this gathering exists for you.

Plenary Speaker

Gain Fresh Insights

Hear from a distinguished voice in health professions education or leadership.

Professional Development

Grow Professionally

Grow as an educator and a leader alongside peers who understand the work.

Course Board & Committee Work

Drive Innovation

Join discipline teams as they advance Aquifer's courses and content.

City & Community

Make Meaningful Connections

Experience social programming shaped by the host city, a new location every other year.

2026 Spotlight

San Antonio, TX | September 23–26, 2026

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Nikki Woods

Nicole (Nikki) Woods, PhD is the Richard and Elizabeth Currie Chair for Research in Health Professions Education. She is also Director of The Institute for Education Research (TIER) at University Health Network and Senior Scientist at The Wilson Centre, University of Toronto. Dr. Woods leads an internationally recognized research program that uses methods and principles from cognitive psychology to advance medical education theory and practice. Her research has significant implications for education across the developmental continuum and various health disciplines. A Fellow of the Karolinska Institute Prize for Medical Education Research since 2019, Dr. Woods is currently a Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. In 2021, Dr. Woods was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN.

Theme:

Knowledge Matters in Every Age:

Designing the Next Chapter of Case-Based Learning

Session Description:

As information becomes increasingly abundant and increasingly easy to generate, retrieve, and synthesize, what does this mean for how we develop clinical reasoning and expertise? Drawing on research from cognitive psychology, the learning sciences, and health professions education, this interactive keynote will explore why knowledge structures remain fundamental to reasoning, judgment, and adaptive expertise in the digital age.

Together, we will consider both the opportunities and risks created by new technologies, including the possibility of de-skilling and never-skilling. Using case-based learning as our design space, we will examine how principles such as productive struggle, cognitive integration, and preparation for future learning can help us rethink when and how learners engage with cases. We will collectively imagine how AI and other digital resources might support, rather than circumvent, meaningful learning.

Participants will have opportunities to apply these ideas to their own teaching and consider how we might design the next chapter of case-based learning to build expertise that works for today and for tomorrow.