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UW Strategic Planning

Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century

Resource Videos: Innovative Teaching Techniques

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Through the Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century initiative, the UW is systematically addressing how we approach teaching and learning in the digital age. These efforts put learning first, using technology as a tool to enhance and enrich student engagement and free up valuable class time for richer interaction. They meet the needs and expectations of an increasingly diverse and digitally savvy UW community by anticipating and responding to developments in cutting-edge pedagogy, and the omni-presence of transformative, integrated technologies.

UW Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century:

  • serves an increasingly diverse UW community
  • involves more innovative pedagogies and experiential learning
  • is more collaborative
  • is supported by technology
  • is aware of changing student expectations

See the visioning document Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century for details.

Selected accomplishments

UW-IT and collaborators on all three campuses continue to develop and support tools for teaching and learning:

  • Negotiated contract language to protect the intellectual property of faculty creating courses using Canvas. The UW agreement supersedes the standard Canvas terms of use and was negotiated through the Internet2 consortium to provide very specific protections for faculty and student intellectual property and data privacy.
  • Guided development of new technology-enhanced active learning classrooms in Odegaard Undergraduate Library.
  • Developing ways to use learner-based analytics to send personalized support to students; UW Tacoma has received national attention for a pilot program.

The Teaching with Technology Fellows (TTF) program redesigned 40 face-to-face UW courses to online or hybrid formats that have enrolled over 5,000 students, to date.

UW-IT and the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), in collaboration with partners on all three campuses support faculty as they teach using new technologies:

  • “In Practice” Workshop Series focuses on using technology in ways that advance student learning and engagement. Winter 2015 topics include Tweeting from the Classroom, Using Video for Student Assessment and Feedback, and Clickers and Classroom Response: Evidence-Based Practices.
  • Fifty-nine faculty from 25 departments redesigned 40 courses enrolling more than 5,000 students during 2013–14 through the Technology Teaching Fellows Institute at UW Seattle. During the week-long workshops offered by the Institute, which was seeded by donor funding, faculty worked with UW-IT staff to convert classes to online or hybrid formats. Faculty also received ongoing IT support for a year, and shared out their experiences with others on campus. Participants found the week-long experience useful; see their comments on page 8 of the UW-IT 2013 Annual report.
  • Continued intensive hybrid and online course development institutes on UW Bothell and UW Tacoma campuses. Thirty iTech fellows at UW Tacoma have also worked intensively in digital pedgagogy, developing courses for a hybrid EdD and an online Criminal Justice degree, among others. Sixty one faculty have participated in the UW Bothell Hybrid Course Development Institute and Online Learning Institute since 2010 and 15 additional eFellows will redesign courses this year. The UW Bothell institute team is drawn from units including the UW Bothell Teaching and Learning Center, which has received national recognition for excellence from the Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
  • Produced a report series on teaching with technology, featuring more than 60 innovative faculty and staff.
  • Launched Distinguished Teaching Award for Innovation with Technology.
  • Offer Faculty and Professional Learning Communities on a variety of topics, including Flipping the Classroom (62 faculty in 2012–2013), Active Learning Techniques, and Mentoring Undergraduate Researchers.
  • Provide extensive resources on the CTL web site on topics including Flipping the Classroom and Promoting Student Engagement through Active Learning.
  • Reviewed campus learning spaces usage.

Near-term goals

  • Implement recommendations for campus learning spaces.
  • Create resources and pilot tools for evidence-based teaching/active learning.
  • Support teaching and learning around career readiness and collaboration.
  • Support implementation of the Diversity Requirement.

Campus partners

Leadership

Steering Committee and Working Groups