Thanks to all of the innovation fellows who joined us for the reunion yesterday. Each table had a lively discussion about what they found valuable about the fellowship (especially from the perspective of time) and what they want to try next. We asked each table to share just two insights from that discussion. Here is what we heard:
Benefits of the Innovation Fellowship included:
- Dedicated space and time to think about teaching
- Discussion with colleagues devoted specifically to teaching, and even more so with structure and guidance.
- Collective knowledge of SEU faculty
- Better understanding of risk in the classroom and strategies for helping students feel more secure by managing their expectations
- Value of discussing your pedagogical project repeatedly with colleagues and support staff who can help you realize your idea
To give you a snapshot of one table’s discussion, fellows from the first two years sitting at my table discussed how they iterated and refined their teaching experiment in later semesters until they found the right fit and how important it was to reflect on what they had done.
Our table also included a discussion of study abroad and how it offers an opportunity to develop student agency and confidence by giving students the opportunity to lead individual days of the itinerary for the group. Another insight was importance of not packing in too many activities so that students had the time to reflect.
Finally, what’s next? Fellows at my table were looking at integrating more video into their courses for a variety of reasons, including:
- Using Canvas to give video feedback to students on assignments
- Flipping the classroom (moving content out of class to allow for more time for discussion, collaboration, and problem-based learning in class)
- Helping students connect to content by filming in locations off of campus or presenting difficult concepts in a different way
The new Digital Media Center in the library can help both you and your students with video projects.