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The Center for Instructional Innovation
(CII) is a resource for faculty at Western Washington University who
wish to consider new ways of teaching, modifying their existing courses
to better serve their student learning objectives, or to link them to
colleagues in other disciplines who share their values about teaching
and learning in today’s complex world of higher education.
Online Information and Resources
Those who have visited the CII in College Hall 310 are often surprised
by how friendly and comfortable an environment it is. In addition
to consulting with CII staff members and exploring the small teaching
and learning library, faculty can simply go to the CII's web
site for an impressive array of information and resources. Created
originally by Dr. Gordon Chalmers from the Department of Physical
Education, Health, & Recreation, with input from faculty and staff
over the years, the Teaching & Learning
Resources
section of the CII's web site is a bank of information for teaching
development and the assessment of student learning.
Faculty Professional Development Opportunities
More than 100 faculty and staff members attend the Professional Development
in Teaching & Learning Workshop Series (a.k.a. the "First
Thursday Series") each year, exploring issues such as diversity,
writing proficiency, active learning, assessment, intellectual development,
and instructional strategies. A full schedule is included in the Fall
edition of Praxis, as well as listed on the CII's Workshops &
Events web page.
Innovative Teaching Showcase
The Innovative Teaching Showcase
is an online publication created by the CII to highlight exceptional
teaching practices by WWU faculty. Each year, four instructors are
nominated to participate, and then work with the CII to create this
in-depth resource. The Showcase is published on the CII's website
at the end of each academic year.
Each Showcase includes three parts:
- A portfolio (like a recipe or a road map) which is written by the
instructor;
- A multimedia showcase, which includes video interviews with the
instructor and provides more detail, depth, and perspective on the
innovative approach; and
- An institutional goals section that links the approach to specific
student learning outcomes.
The "showcased" instructors meet with the CII staff to discuss
the approach for which they were nominated. Staff members describe what
is involved in the process, and work with the instructor's schedule
to set a date for the Portfolio, as written by the instructor, to be
drafted. CII staff then draws out key questions from the Portfolio that
the instructor will answer during a videotaped interview. The interview
is edited into short movies that are accessible on the Showcase website.
The last part of the process involves working with the instructor to
align his or her innovative approach to one or more rubrics for student
learning outcomes as identified by Washington State.
Instructors who have been showcased often find that taking the time
to reflect on their teaching in this way is a rewarding and enlightening
process. They especially enjoy having the online record of their innovation.
Undergraduate Program Support
The CII works closely with programs associated with the Vice Provost
for Undergraduate Education, including the First-year
Interest Groups Program (FIGs). In this capacity, the CII offers
academic consultation and multimedia design and development services
to all instructors involved in FIGs. The projects that the CII creates
arise from the professional personalized consultations. Project complexity
ranges from creating course websites to developing interactive web applications,
video projects, and other tools that meet the instructor's objectives.
Recent examples are as follows:
- An anthropology professor thought that playing songs from various
indigenous cultures at the beginning of class might help her students
become more engaged in class. The project expanded to include video-based
screens to accompany the music that are rich with information about
each culture, including demographics, maps, photographs, and interesting
facts, such as the role of music in the culture.
- An astronomy professor wanted her students to be able to analyze
some characteristics and computations in order to identify a black
hole. The interactive web application that resulted from this consultation
allows students to enter various data for computations and choose
various objects to see how they behave in "The Orbiter."
- An art history professor returned from a trip to Europe wishing
that she could transport her students--not only to the ancient remains
of medieval villages--but back in time as well. Using 3D gaming technologies,
"The Medieval Village" project allows students to enter
the village through the gates, walk the cobbled paths, enter the centralized
Cathedral, and wander the grounds that are peppered with artifacts
of the era.
Student employees at the CII often carry out research that complements
or contributes to each project, in addition to developing them. With
significant communication and feedback from the instructor, the project
is completed in time for use in the instructor's course. Once a project
is complete, subsequent support for new versions are offered.
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As Undergraduate Program support grows and changes, so will the focus
of the CII. The vision is to continue supporting faculty instructional
efforts in lower division programs and large lecture courses in the
general education program, and begin to develop national connections
to other institutions that support faculty efforts in undergraduate
learning.
Further questions about the CII or the CII's representatives, please
contact the office at 360-650-7210, cii@wwu.edu,
or by stopping by College Hall 310.
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Four case studies were published by the CII in 2001 to provide examples
of what the CII has done for faculty at Western. The case studies are
available in PDF format, (requiring the free
Acrobat Reader plugin) for your web browser:
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