Incubator sessions generate ideas for educational innovation at UW-Madison

Offering winter interim classes, fostering degree completion, and using video and interactive technology to improve student learning experiences are among the suggestions for achieving educational innovation at UW–Madison.

These ideas were among those shared at the initial incubator sessions for the campuswide Educational Innovation campaign, aimed at enhancing student learning while improving the university’s capacity and finding new revenue sources.

UW-Madison faculty and staff are bringing ideas to the incubator sessions to launch the conversation about how the university can take advantage of new ways to support education and excellence on campus.

“The way that’s going to happen is for us to become more of who we are —creative, collaborative and entrepreneurial,” says Aaron Brower, Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning and a member of the Educational Innovation organizing team. “Conversations are occurring all across campus about how to best educate our students.”

That includes putting learning goals first and looking for opportunities to increase the university’s reach beyond resident students to nontraditional or distance learning audiences through weekend, evening, online and blended courses.

“Can we think about reaching these nontraditional students, and what kind of infrastructure do we need to support and deliver the high-quality education that our faculty, staff and students are going to expect?” asks Jeff Russell, dean of the Division of Continuing Studies and Vice Provost of Life Long Learning and a member of the effort’s organizing team with Brower and Maury Cotter of the Office of Quality Improvement.

In addition to incubator sessions with faculty and staff, Russell says the team had an “exhilarating” meeting with the Associated Students of Madison, who were engaged on a consumer level and offered an important perspective.

Using such opportunities to trade ideas is the way to move the campaign forward, Russell says.

“We need to be sharing and learning from each other – to be the constant learner, if you will – and how we take the ideas back and implement them is key,” he says.

The incubator sessions will continue over the coming weeks, with a variety of topics on tap. Upcoming sessions include:

Small departments

Tuesday, Feb. 21: Explore how small departments can address their unique niches and opportunities to leverage resources.

Microbiology

Wednesday, Feb. 22: Explore possible collaborations across units.

Curriculum redesign

Monday, Feb. 27: Rethinking your department’s curriculum as a whole to identify ways to free up time and resources while improving and sustaining student learning.

Online and blended learning

Thursday, March 1, and Friday, March 2: A discussion of online and blended learning.

All sessions run from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Entrepreneurs Resource Clinic at the west end of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. Those who want to participate and offer ideas should be prepared to share their ideas in a two-minute “flash talk.”

Registration for the incubator sessions is suggested. To register for an incubator session or learn more about Educational Innovation, visit here.

The website also offers a place for submitting ideas for educational innovation.

“Please share them,” Brower says of ideas people may submit, inviting even “half-baked” ones. “You never know where a good idea is going to come from.”