Active Teaching Lab — expansion pack

low-commitment, structured explorations of cool teaching tools and techniques to teach more effectively
Active Teaching Lab
GOAL: Capacity Building at the faculty level;
create deeply-embodied and socially-
playful environments & experiences for
learners
Successes
faculty tell us they like
• light-touch: no commitment, low-stress, casual
• environment: safe, playful energy
• stories: by peers of pedagogical problems and solutions
• hands-on: pressure to try
• how-to sheet: to take home and get into more deeply later, or share
• community: interdisciplinary
• discussions: on mitigations/alternatives
• videos: to share (or for when they couldn’t come)
• awareness: where to go for more information, integration with other
programs
faculty tell us they want
• more offerings: different times for those who teach Fridays
• training: deeper explorations of campus-supported tools & processes
• local talks: facilitated pedagogical discussions with departmental colleagues
Needs
Because it is a safe &
playful, low-risk
environment where
faculty are aﬃrmed for
trying, the Active
Teaching Program
inspires a willingness to
try new things, and
those experiences
generate new
discussions and new
ideas.
Lure with low-risk involvement.  
Inspire with stories. 
Motivate with hands-on success.
This is an overview of a successful Faculty Development program that I hope to expand. Read
more about it at bit.ly/activeteach

Learning Environment Inspired By…
structured explorations of cool teaching tools and techniques to teach more effectively
To begin with, you should know that my teaching philosophy emphasizes creating deeply-
embodied and socially-playful environments & experiences for learners

A weekly safe space and refreshments for structured explorations of cool teaching tools
and techniques instructors use to engage students and teach more effectively.
1. Socializing and Introductions
2. An Instructor’s Story
• what I wanted
• what I tried
• what happened
• what I’d do next time
3. Hands-On Activity (Demystify)
4. Unpack Pedagogy and Discuss
So, last Fall we proposed the Active Teaching Lab as a way to realize a playful, social, and
hands-on environment.

A Grand Experiment
Active Teaching Lab
It was to be, in my mind at least, a grand experiment.

Feb 13: Michael Maguire
on Google+ Communities
Feb 20: Brian Esselman,
on Piazza
Feb 27: Morton Gernsbacher
on synchronous chat
Mar 27: Ryan Martinez
on Student Videos
Mar 13: Linsey Steege
on Wordpress
Mar 20: Tom Dubois
on Wikipedia Editing
Mar 6:
Open Office Hours!
Apr 3: Spring Break Apr 10: Lane Sunwall
on Webquests
Apr 17: Cathy
Middlecamp on Mobile
Field Research (Siftr)
Apr 24: Ed Hubbard
on TopHat
May 1: Nick Balster
on Scapple for
Course Design
Feb 06: SoftLaunch
Michael Maguire on
Google+ Communities
May 8: Shawn Peters
on Teaching with
Twitter
Find out more at
bit.ly/activeteach
Active Teaching Lab
Amazingly, it was approved, and so, this Spring we invited a dozen innovators from across
campus to share their stories. The events were light-hearted, safe, playful, and generally quite
fun.

Active Teaching Lab
We create a dozen one-page, very basic, self-paced Activity Sheets that participants could
follow according to their comfort.

Active Teaching Lab
and two quick videos for each session: a short one just of the speaker telling their story, for
people who just want a taste; and a longer one of the rest of talk, in case they want to hear the
Q&A, and hear the rest of the discussion around the tool.

“Great use of time - well-organized. Thank you!”
“Great job!!! This is so important.”
“Wonderful!”
“Loved having time to get into the tool!”
“John’s energy and enthusiasm is fantastic!”
“It’s so valuable to hear about what other folks are doing on campus! Thanks!”
“Great format - a good use of time.”
“I am loving these sessions!”
“Interesting and useful, and efficiently presented”
“Nice job. People - me included, really engaged.”
“Provides practical application of tool.”
“Incredible session today. So relevant and incredibly well-done hands-on portion.”
“Very interesting to explore what others are doing on campus.”
“Very useful and practical! I can begin to think of how to incorporate and have a person [expert on a
certain Academic Technology tool] to connect with.”
“The series is a very good idea. Please continue these discussions. Very useful!”
“Presenter was thoughtful about use of WordPress. Appreciated candor about benefits for students’
learning as well as ‘glitches’.”
“Such a great place to play and not feel technologically vulnerable.”
“These have been fun and informative.”
“Love this community”
“Great session! Covered many disciplines”
“So much to learn!”
“Gave me many ideas on possible uses in courses”
“Every meeting so far has been very informative & filled with practical, useable info.”
“Great, compelling topic.”
“Everything about Active Teaching Labs is wonderful! Thanks”
“As a technologist working in the back, it is motivating to see the practice on the front end.”
“These have been fun and informative.”
“Love this community”
“Great session! Covered many disciplines”
“So much to learn!”
“Gave me many ideas on possible uses in courses”
“Every meeting in this series so far has been very informative and filled with practical, useable info.”
“Great, compelling topic.”
“Everything about Active Teaching Labs is wonderful! Thanks”
“As a technologist working in the back, it is motivating to see the practice on the front end.”
“Nice to see application, and talk through implementation risks and mitigations.”
“Will be back”
“Will attend because I learn new tools, how they were used, and get inspired for using them in the
future”
“I made a YouTube video--easy!”
“Wanted to connect with others around active teaching and learning”
“Intrigued by the subject - I want to use student videos in assignments”
“Great format. I like the emphasis on hands-on practice.”
“Enjoyed presentation and interaction with audience”
“Learned from others in attendance”
“...I think this technology could be integrated around campus in many ways!”
“Love seeing tech tools applied with a sound pedagogical foundation”
“I can extrapolate this tool to many, many curriculums.”
“These aren’t just tool demonstrations, but a chance to be inspired and challenged to extend our
thinking about instruction.”
“I am signed up for next week!”
“Lots of ideas to explore and consider”
“Always good ideas”
“Great group and great presenter”
“Always something to learn”
“Thank you for offering these labs; very successful”
“Best thing around!”
“I’ll likely play around with a few of these tools.”
“Thank you for offering the Active Teaching Labs! And for keeping this an open community of
designers, faculty, etc.”
“I have been interested in using Scapple for course/lecture design, & wanted to see how someone
else uses it for teaching.”
“Very helpful to learn from people who actually teach & use tech as a tool”
“Great people, great ideas, free breakfast :) “
“Interested in mind maps - and think of Nick Balster as an especially insightful speaker / teacher”
“I like the mix of people and hearing their questions and comments.”
“It does feel like a safe place to get introduced to tools.”
“It’s interesting, motivating and exciting to see new tools being used by actual instructors.”
“Interested in both teaching and tools for teaching”
“super helpful, useful information. Well-prepared presentation. Very well done.”
“Enjoy learning new tools & specifically how they are actually used in context”
“Helpful to learn about ‘new’ methods / tools from others with experience and similar interests”
“Great community to meet, work with and learn from - share knowledge”
“Benefit from seeing tools in action, hearing experience of current users”
“Great session - thank you!!!”
“Interested in conversations about teaching in general, interested in mind mapping in particular, had
not heard of Scapple”
“Excellent, thank you for organizing”
“Interested in tools for backward design”
“Keep ‘em coming!”
“Wanted to bring my boss to the Twitter session specifically”
“A friend brought me because she knows I was interested in the topic”
“Useful tools and usage suggestions”
“Great primary content, but also conversations, networking, and software other than topic”
“Idea generation; connect with others”
“The value is not only in the experience presented by the instructor, but also in the wealth of tools that
are included in the worksheet. AWESOME! :)”
“Learn pedagogy of teaching and learning, how academic tools can help”
“Great people, cross-discipline ideas”
“Continue lifelong learning”
“Needs to have more hands-on time, less lecture” - [we knew that today :( ]
“Keep it going!”
“I like that I always come out with multiple new tech ideas - i.e., Today’s Meet, etc.”
“Thanks!”
“Need to try out various tools with great DTI mentors looking over our shoulders”
Active Teaching Lab
The feedback from participants was good. It seems that we found a campus need, and had
begun filling it.

We Make House Calls!
Ask about the Active Teaching Lab RoadShow!
We toyed with the idea of bringing it on the road,

…which we did, collaborating with Beth Fahlberg and Jerzy Jura to hold a “Showcase” in
Nursing.

What it does for you
Active Teaching Lab
We surveyed participants on what they thought of the Lab…

Impact on teaching
Active Teaching Lab
how it impacted their teaching…

What could we do better?
Active Teaching Lab
and what we could do better…

Successes
faculty tell us they like
• light-touch: no commitment, low-stress, casual
• environment: safe, playful energy
• stories: by peers of pedagogical problems and solutions
• hands-on: pressure to try
• how-to sheet: to take home and get into more deeply later, or share
• community: interdisciplinary
• discussions: on mitigations/alternatives
• videos: to share (or for when they couldn’t come)
• awareness: where to go for more information, integration with other programs
faculty tell us they want
• more offerings: different times for those who teach Fridays
• training: deeper explorations of campus-supported tools & processes
• local talks: facilitated pedagogical discussions with departmental colleagues
Needs
Active Teaching Lab
and we took stock of this feedback of What Worked and What’s Needed so we could try to
meet more needs

Low-risk lures.
Stories inspire.
Success motivates.
Active Teaching Offerings
Because it is a safe & playful, low-risk environment where faculty are aﬃrmed for trying, the
Active Teaching Program inspires a willingness to try new things, and those experiences
generate new discussions and new ideas.

Gateway drug.
It is light touch, low-risk, low-commitment environment, with inspiring stories of what the cool
kids are doing, and hands-on successes that reassure them that they can “handle it” — it is
an excellent recruitment environment for FE programs.

Active Teaching Lab
• every Friday morning
• Sterling 2425
• hands-on / pedagogy
• focus on experimental tech
• stories by faculty
• what I wanted
• what I tried
• what happened
Active Teaching Showcase
• as requested ~1x / month
• departmental spaces
• facilitated showcase
• organized by department faculty
• faculty share teaching methods
• facilitate pedagogical structures
• peer/colleague learning
• lead with methods
• direction to support / solutions
Tested Success
Lab Showcas
so, what can we do next that — 
• builds off the Lab’s participant-identified successes?  
(story, hands-on, pedagogy, engaging & fun) 
• addresses participant-identified needs?  
(more times, more depth with specific tools, bring it to them) 
• complements other AT programs and staff strengths? 
(Blend, REACH, UCIRA, L@UW, etc.)
With the Lab and Showcase tested, we want to build on strengths participants identified, and
address needs that they shared.

Active Teaching Workshop
• every Tuesday afternoon
• Middleton room 120
• AT and Blend-promoted tech
• led by IT staff (AT / campus)
• what works
• how to start
• next steps
• where to ﬁnd support
Active Teaching Lab
• Sterling 2425
• what I wanted
• what I tried
• what happened
Active Teaching Talk
• as part of department meeting
• facilitated conversations
• departmental teaching challenges
• solutions from campus / labs
• idea generation
• peer / colleague learning
• lead with challenges
Expansion Packs
Tested Success
Lab Showcas
TalkWorksho
Active Teaching Program
and so we propose our Fall 2015 Expansion Pack, adding in-depth WORKSHOPS for
supported-tool and technique investigations (at a time to catch those who can’t come to the
labs); and adding faculty-requested (and departmentally-hosted) light-touch TALKS to reach
new participants who don’t/won’t come to us.

Target 
Participants
Commitme
nt /
Motivation
Focus Cost
Lab
individual
instructors  
& instructional
support
1 hour / 
self-selected
highlight motivated faculty,
explore what faculty do/use,
ground practice to pedagogy
bagels, coffee
Worksho
p
individual
instructors  
& instructional
support
1 hour /  
self-selected
hands-on workshops by staff
for supported tools
discussed in Blend
and other AT programs
bagels, coffee
Showcas
e
faculty who  
don’t come to us
90-120
minutes / 
colleague-
nudge
facilitate department-specific
sharing of
teaching problems/solutions,
ground practice to pedagogy, and
connect to other campus solutions
and teaching resources
none
Talk
faculty who  
don’t come to us
20-30 minutes /
departmental-
nudge
sharing of
none
Each of the four parts builds on the successes of the Active Teaching Lab, and fills a specific
gap on campus. Like the Lab, they are safe and playful, facilitated informal spaces that
model and encourage risk-taking in teaching & learning.

Scenarios.
Would you like to go through a few scenarios for each? (we already know what the Active
Teaching Lab looks like)

Scenario 1: On week X of Blend@UW, Timmo
discusses how several faculty have used Case
Scenario Builder to create blended activities. A
number of participants are very intrigued and ask
where they can find out more about CSCR. Chad
replies “It turns out that next Tuesday from 2-4pm
there’s an Active Teaching Workshop on CSCR!”
Scenario 2: IT staff have gotten several requests on
how to setup and use campus’s newly-recommended
student-response system. They answer: “There’s an
Active Teaching Workshop on it in October!”
Scenario 3: EDUCAUSE highlights an awesome way
to use Google Docs to simplify course administration
across several LMSs. An IT person in Nursing has
been playing with this process and sees great benefit
in prepping LMS-portable courses for the Canvas
transition. He offers to lead a workshop.
Workshops on tools and processes applicable
to a broad audience, led by various IT staff,
connected to broader campus initiatives
and programs by the AT facilitator.
Tech Overviews: 1) Feature IT staff, 2) basic principles and how to get started, 3) identify and
recruit interested users for campus CoPs and deeper ad hoc workshops/interest groups, 4)
direct to resources.

Scenario 1: The chair of Department X wants his
faculty to blend more, but doesn’t know where to start.
The department is across the board in technology use.
The chair invites an AT facilitator to the first 30 minutes
of the department meeting. The facilitator engages the
group with a quick activity to determine their primary
concerns and individual problems. The facilitator
qualitatively codes them into broader categories of:
discussion engagement, grading, and difficulty
navigating in D2L. The facilitator shares 3 tricks (used
by X,Y, and Z) for engagement, shares one quick tip
for grading that addresses some of their needs, and
shares that a “Navigating D2L” workshop will be held
in 3 weeks. After the meeting the facilitator follows up
with the group with a grading resource, and follows up
with one individual on another concern that was
specific to that individual. Faculty are impressed both
at the facilitator’s immediate helpfulness, but also at
the breadth of programs available for them that they
didn’t know about. Three show up at the next AT
Workshop, and two eventually sign up for Blend@UW.
The Talk also helps AT identify campus needs.
Informal facilitations of department-specific
teaching technology issues, directing to
potential campus solutions and support, but
always providing simple “try this one thing
tomorrow” solutions.
Trust-gaining: facilitator 1) determines needs, 2) shares quick tips, 3) points to resources, 4)
follows up to group and individuals on additional resources

Scenario 1: A few faculty in Department X enjoyed the
Active Teaching Talk (see above), and with the
conversation started, began talking with each other
about what they’re doing. With rapport already
developed, they asked that the AT consultant come
facilitate a discussion that objectively (to minimize self-
aggrandizing in dep) showcases different approaches
already being used, and to connect faculty who may
not know about the teaching expertise in their own
department. For AT, the Showcase also educates us on
who is doing what, whose stories we can share with
campus, and where more work is needed.
Scenario 2: Chemistry gets the okay on classroom
renovations, and wants help deciding what they want.
The School of Nursing has some great expertise, so
interested faculty from the two departments meet and
share what can be done in an active learning
classroom. After a each demo, the AT facilitator helps
the groups translate how the methods/activities can
change to accommodate the type of content taught in
Chemistry.
Informal facilitated showcases of what faculty
are already doing to blend and address
teaching issues.
Making Connections: facilitator 1) emcees discussions, 2) learns what department is doing,
3) facilitates safe departmental sharing, 4) points them to external resources.

Target 
Participants
Commitment
/ Motivation
Focus Cost
Lab
individual
instructors  
& instructional
support
1 hour / 
self-selected
highlight motivated faculty,
explore what faculty do/use,
ground practice to pedagogy
bagels, coffee
Worksho
p
individual
instructors  
& instructional
support
1 hour /  
self-selected
hands-on workshops by staff
for supported tools
discussed in Blend
and other AT programs
bagels, coffee
Showcas
e
faculty who  
don’t come to us
90-120 minutes / 
colleague-nudge
sharing of
none
Talk
faculty who  
don’t come to us
20-30 minutes /
departmental-
nudge
sharing of
none

curated introductorylow commitment
All of the Active Teaching oﬀerings are curated, low commitment, and introductory —
designed to lure, inspire and motivate. Then to guide participants to other campus resources
and programs.

Lab
Showcase
Talk
Workshop
UCIRA!
BlendCommunity
rEAcH
Blended Learning
ideas
stories
imaginings
what if?
“let’s try it”
Design Develop Deploy Evaluate
stories, examples of using
research in teaching
training by IT
on blended &  
active learning
tools &
processes
facilitated
departmental
ideas & stories
with direction
to more help
facilitated
departmental
info gathering
with quick tips
and direction
to more help
Showcase
facilitated
departmental
ideas & stories
with direction
to more help
designing active learning
for high enrollment courses
Where we ﬁt…
Inspire
Lab
ideas
stories
imaginings
what if?
Lab
ideas
stories
imaginings
what if?
Workshop
training by IT
on blended &  
active learning
tools &
processes
importance of, and
elements of, designing
blended learning stories, examples,  
crowd-sourcing help  
with blended learning
Once inspired, they’re willing to go on to programs that require a deeper commitment.

Workshop
UCIRA!
BlendCommunity
rEAcH
Blended Learning
training by IT
on blended &  
active learning
tools &
processes
facilitated departmental
info gathering with quick tips
and direction to more help
Showcase
facilitated
departmental
ideas & stories
with direction
to more help
Connecting to Resources
Lab
ideas
stories
imaginings
what if?
PTESTS LSOCP
Talk
At its heart, the Active Teaching Program is about inspiring, motivating, and then connecting
to other resources. Resources in AT will be at the forefront because those are the ones that
we are most familiar with, but we want to minimize unneeded duplication across campus as
well, so we aim to continue to be good conscientious partners with other units and programs.

Partnerships & Connections
Workshop
• UCIRA (assignment design)
• Chad (Interactive Case Studies)
• PTE (L@UW)
• Don F (video)
• Greg K (online courses)
• Design Lab (aesthetics)
• Margene (course design)
• George J (whiteboards)
• John M (Google Docs)
• LSS (so many things)
• WiSCIENCE (STEM-related)
• ComETS (so many things)
• Delta (Ach. Gap strategies)
For example, in the Active Teaching Workshops, we might facilitate a session where PTE’s
Learn@UW trainers come in and lead a session on embedding (CSCR, Google Docs, etc.), or
invite someone to present a repeat session of a popular Symposium session…

Target 
Participants
Success: inspire & motivate faculty, who move
forward on T&L path, and further conversation
Lab
individual instructors  
& instructional
support
attend UCIRA program (e.g. assignment design), attend Active
Teaching Workshop, bring colleagues to Lab, join BLCC, sponsor
a Showcase or Talk, share a story at Lab, etc.
Workshop
individual instructors  
& instructional
support
attend UCIRA program, implement in class, bring others, join
Blend@UW or BLFP or BLCC, etc.
Showcas
e
faculty who  
don’t come to us
further conversations, implement in class, attend Active Teaching
Lab, bring colleagues to Lab, join BLCC, sponsor a Talk, share a
story at Lab, etc.
Talk
faculty who  
don’t come to us
further conversations, identify REACHers, attend Active Teaching
Workshop, bring colleagues to Lab, join BLCC, sponsor a
Showcase, share a story at Lab, etc.
Active Teaching Success

A Grand Expansion
Active Teaching Lab
It will be a grand expansion of a grand experiment.

The Future
is Exciting!
Thank you.

The Grand Experiment
Active Teaching Lab

• focus on supported tech
• what works
• how to start
• next steps
Active Teaching Discussion
• as requested ~2x/month
• idea generation
• direct to support / solutions
• as requested ~1x/month
• department faculty lead
• direct to support / solutions
Active Teaching Lab
• Sterling room 2425
• focus on unsupported tech
• what I wanted
• what I tried
• what happened

• focus on supported tech
• what works
• how to start
• next steps
Active Teaching Lab
• Sterling room 2425
• what I wanted
• what I tried
• what happened
Active Teaching Talk
• idea generation
• peer / colleague learning
Home Away
Expansion Packs

Active Teaching Lab — expansion pack

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Active Teaching Lab — expansion pack