November 29, 2023
Emerging Technologies, Instructional Innovation Fellowship, Teaching and Learning
Sofija Zagarins presenting at the IIF 2023

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.

This narrative takes us through the stories of four fellows who presented during the third meeting of the Instructional Innovation Fellowship on Friday, November 17, 2023, at Bartlett Hall, UMass Amherst. Ali Soken builds an inclusive learning community in his education and film course; Sofija Zagarins uses Canvas to help her implement principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework; Matt Whitlock experiments with course wikis to engage his students in his philosophy class; and Fig Levefre uses a multi-purpose visualization tool called Twinery to engage students in their theatre class.


Key Takeaways:

  • An inclusive learning community can be created through empowered choices.
  • Efficiency in teaching can be achieved with Canvas's advanced features.
  • Improving class engagement in complex subjects can be done through course wikis.
  • Deep learning can be facilitated by gamification strategies.

Select a section title below to find out more about these innovative teaching strategies.