Innovations Academy:Creating a Culture of Teaching Excellence and Innovation

Peg BalachowskiAnne BrackettElliot Stern

Genesis of IA: Why a “new” model of professional development for faculty?

(1) We send instructors away to hear big ideas, but these rarely result in big changes in the classroom.

Genesis of IA

(2) Faculty rarely have the time to creatively implement the strategies they bring back from conferences.

Genesis of IA

(3) We wanted to create a critical mass of forward-thinking instructors to change our culture.

Genesis of IA

(4) We have innovators and experts but no pathway for broader dissemination.

“We infuse innovative learning and state-of-the-art pedagogy—such as an emphasis on critical thinking and collaborative learning—into all course offerings.”

EvCC Strategic Plan 2012

Q1:•What is the culture of professional development on your campus?

Q2:•What do faculty on your campus

say they need or want to be successful in the classroom?

Innovations Academy

• One week (four days) in summer• One coordinator • Four facilitators (internal experts)• Sixteen participants • Taught almost exclusively by active

learning• Faculty paid $1000 – not free money!

Master Schedule

Time Monday, August 27--Jo-Ann Sickles

Tuesday, August 28—Lolly Smith

Wednesday, August 29--Mike Nevins

Thursday, August 30—Peg B

8:30-9 Breakfast Welcome, register iClickers, share goals -Whole cohort—GWH 268

Reflect on Monday session—Homeroom groups-- GWH 268

Reflect on Tuesday session Homeroom groups-- GWH 268

Reflect on Wednesday sessionHomeroom groups-- GWH 268

9-noon Whole cohort in their pods—GWH 268

Whole cohort in their pods—GWH 268

Whole cohort in their pods—GWH 268

Whole cohort in their pods—GWH 268

Noon-1 On your own On your own On your own On your own1-4 Whole cohort

in their pods—GWH 268

Whole cohort in their pods—GWH 268

Whole cohort in their pods—GWH 268

Whole cohort in their pods—GWH 268

4-5 Breakout in Homeroom groups

Day 1: Got Group?

• How to create collaborative learning exercises that work• How to facilitate

collaboration• Faculty spent

afternoon creating collaborative exercises from their own course content

Day 2: Turn it Around

• Flipped Classes• Wiggins (backward) Course Design• Faculty learned how to teach elements of their

own course content and accomplish course objectives by Flipping and using Wiggins

Day 3: Technology

• Video capture hardware (Smart Podiums)• Tegrity (screen and audio

capture program) software• Jing software• Faculty spent most of the

day in hands-on activity, creating their own Tegrity or Jing

Day 4: Engagement & Assessment

• Energizing students and faculty with Student Engagement and Collaborative Learning Techniques (SETs and COLTs)• Formative Assessment Techniques (FATs)• Followed by an extended discussion of factors

that will encourage more innovation

Q3:•These are the big ideas that we

chose – what would you choose?

Follow-up

Faculty participants were required to…• Have follow-up with home-group

colleagues• Visit each other’s classes or share

experience of changing their teaching methods• Assess effectiveness of changes• Write reflection paper

Assessment

“We practice evidence-based decision making throughout the college.”

EvCC Strategic Plan 2012

Q4:•What are the incentives that would encourage faculty to attend?

What motivated participants?

Was the experience more worthwhile than a conference?

Will they use more collaborative learning in their classrooms?

Will they use video capture technology in their classrooms?

Will they employ backward planning or flipped class techniques?

Will they employ new engagement techniques and FATs and SETs?

Will we get “diffusion” across campus?

Q5:•What are the obstacles?

What are the obstacles to classroom follow-through?

How many employed new tools in Fall classes? (n=16)

• Flipped class (or activity) 10• Tegrity/Jing videos 11• iClickers 3• SETs 8•COLTs 10• FATs 2

The secrets of IA’s success from the participants….

IA was hands on.

• “Bravo for letting us figure things out ourselves instead of demonstrating techniques while we watched.”

IA inspired faculty to grow and improve.• “I have used iClickers and Tegrity in

the past, and experimented with flipped classes in XXX class on main campus, but this was the first time that I felt I did it well, with the kind of forethought and deliberate planning that makes a good lesson great.”

IA participants made bridges.• “One of the best parts of IA was

getting to work…with instructors from other departments and getting to know them personally… I felt a true sense of connectedness and community.”

Viva the IA!

• “The IA was a unique experience because I was not learning in isolation away from the campus. Having the time to learn from the same colleagues who teach the same students on the same campus is a worthwhile investment…as a result of the IA, I feel more connected to the campus culture than I ever have…Viva the IA!”

Did we change the culture?

•Division meetings•Amplification effect•Classroom visitations•They have found their voice on

campus

Q6:•What model would work best for your campus?

Q7:•How are you going to make this

a real experience on your campus?

Questions for us?

• Peg Balachowski• mbalachowski@everettcc.edu

• Anne Brackett• abrackett@everettcc.edu

• Elliot Stern• estern@everettcc.edu