ON DEMAND: Creating Teaching through Technology Discovery Fairs to Make Teaching Visible (5 mins)

Abstract

This presentation will describe how faculty in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) designed a Discovery Fair for faculty and doc students to share effective and innovative digital technology-related teaching strategies and tools. As our college has continued growing in its quality online and technology enhanced face-to-face opportunities, we realized that we had very little opportunity to share our practices with, and learn from, our colleagues. Drawing on the discovery session format of the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), faculty in the Advanced Professional Teacher Development and International Education division in CEHD designed an informal within-college micro-conference that invited faculty, staff, and doctoral students to participate. The presentation shares our process from soliciting proposals to planning the events’ structure. We organized presenters at multiple tables at a time in two sessions where audience members were encouraged to move between tables to learn from multiple colleagues during each session. Anecdotal and survey feedback from the Discovery Fair indicated its value to faculty and staff to not only gain ideas for their own teaching, but to also build community with colleagues across divisions and program. The Discovery Fair enabled new connections and has made visible the diverse teaching through technology happening throughout the college. Greater access for faculty to effective and innovative teaching ideas enables greater access for students to high quality teaching- a central mission of the Stearns Center. We will share our tips for planning a Teaching through Technology Discovery Fair and lessons learned along the way.