2023-2024 Articles
Reflecting on an Inspiring Journey: Inaugural Instructional Innovation Fellowship Second Year Concludes
Throughout the 2023-2024 academic year, the IDEAS team had the privilege of facilitating knowledge exchange meetings for an exceptional group of innovative instructors at UMass Amherst. 12 fellows shared innovative teaching practices and technology applications used in their classrooms.
Empathy, Creativity, and Well-Being in Classrooms: Recommendations from the IIF Fellows
At this year’s concluding session of the Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF), three fellows shared their insights and strategies for fostering a classroom environment rooted in empathy, creativity, and socio-emotional well-being for both teachers and students.
Being Creative Educators: Empowering Student Choice and Leveraging Video Lectures
The Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF)held its 7th session on April 5th, 2024. Two fellows, Prof. Lisa Lehmberg and Prof. Bjorn Nordtveit, shared their creative teaching methods in this meeting. Prof. Lehmberg presented her use of digital tools like choice boards, hyperdocs, and student-made adventure mini-projects to give students more control over their learning. Prof. Nordtveit shared his expertise in creating high-quality instructional videos for his courses
Activating Student Participation: Classroom Insights from the IIF Fellows
A defining feature of 21st-century teaching is a student-centered approach where students take ownership of their learning. Students seek to be actively involved in their own learning process and to participate in significant, meaningful ways both in and outside of the classroom. This month’s Instructional Innovation Fellows showcased...
Practicing Flexibility, Creativity, and Student-centered Learning in the Classrooms
The Instructional Innovation Fellowship kicked off its spring sessions with our fifth meeting on Friday, February 9. This session was all about bringing creativity and flexibility into the classroom.
From Artificial Intelligence to Virtual Presence: How Faculty Members Navigate Teaching in the Digital Age
The Instructional Innovation Fellowship kicked off its spring sessions with our fifth meeting on Friday, February 9. This session was all about bringing creativity and flexibility into the classroom.
Transformative Teaching: How Can Diversity and Technology Transform Traditional Teaching?
For the IDEAS Instructional Innovation Fellows, every day offers opportunities for more effective and engaging teaching methods. While these innovators vary greatly in their approaches and techniques, they share a common goal: to create a more inclusive educational experience that caters to the diverse needs of today's learners.
Teaching with Heart: Innovative Practices for Empathetic and Engaging Learning
In an educational landscape increasingly defined by rapidly evolving technology and shifting societal dynamics, the essence of teaching should remain rooted in the human connection. This is the message from the IIF fellows during the second meeting of the 2023 Instructional Innovation Fellowship on Friday, October 13, 2023, at Bartlett Hall.
Meet the 2023-2024 IDEAS Instructional Innovation Fellows
The Instructional Design, Engagement and Support (IDEAS) team is thrilled to introduce the new group of 12 fellows for the 2023-2024 Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF). These fellows are all about innovation in teaching with technology, and we’re excited to kick off this journey with them.
2022-2023 Articles
Reflecting on an Inspiring Journey: Inaugural Instructional Innovation Fellowship First Year Concludes
Starting the Fall of 2022, the IDEAS team had the privilege of facilitating knowledge exchange meetings for an exceptional group of innovative teachers at UMass. We wrapped up the first year of the...
From Analog to Digital: The Many Ways to Engage Students in Classrooms
In our seventh meeting of the Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF) on a bright and sunny Wednesday morning on April 26, three fellows presented their innovative tech tools and teaching ideas.
From TikTok to Classroom Standards: Making Classrooms More Connected and Engaged
In the sixth meeting of the Instructional Innovation Fellows (IIF) this March, Li Hou and Kelsey Whipple presented on the topics of using Tik Tok in Chinese language learning to make language learning more relevant and connected to students and the importance of collaboratively creating classroom standards to promote safe and inclusive learning communities respectively.
Empowering Students through Knowledge Co-Creation: Innovative Approaches to 21st-Century Learning
On a bright and crisp morning on March 8th, 2023, the 5th meeting of the Instructional Innovative Fellows convened at Bartlett Hall. Three innovative fellows shared their unique approaches to teaching, centered around promoting learners’ agency and co-creating educational resources for 21st-century learning.
ChatGPT and Emerging Technologies- How IDEAS Innovation Fellows are Embracing Change in Their Teaching
This Spring, the Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF) meetings resumed with exciting discussions on how to embrace technology, including A.I. tools and social media, to give students agency in their learning, and promote critical thinking skills and professional readiness. In our fourth meeting...
Creative Assessments and Student Collaboration
Interested in learning about student engagement and collaborative tools or ways to make your classroom projects meaningful and impactful? Some UMass Amherst instructors shared what they do during the third meeting of the Instructional Innovation Fellowship.
Creative Teaching Methods from the IIF
Interested in learning about student engagement and collaborative tools or ways to make your classroom projects meaningful and impactful? Some UMass Amherst instructors shared what they do during the second meeting of the Instructional Innovation Fellowship.
IDEAS Instructional Innovation Fellowship (IIF) launched!
The Instructional Design, Engagement and Support (IDEAS) team supports innovative strategies for teaching effectively with technology. One way we do this is engaging with instructors on a regular basis to talk about how they use instructional technologies to meet pedagogical goals.