Wayne State University
Warrior strong
Login
Search
School of Medicine
OLT

Innovations in Teaching

Innovations in Teaching is a faculty enrichment initiative designed to engage basic and clinical science faculty in activities that are designed to leverage their knowledge, skills, and resources in order to maximize their abilities to create a learner-centered teaching culture; enact evidence-based instructional methodologies, increase their leadership opportunities, and advance their contributions to research in academic medicine.

Our services:

Instructional Design

Whether you are designing a new course or revamping an existing course, the Office of Learning and Teaching is ready to collaborate with you to materialize your vision and achieve your goals. Our team of Faculty Learning Specialists can work with you to identify and tailor a course design that complements your instructional style, fosters your students' cognitive and affective engagement, and is grounded in the learning sciences. Take a look at what we have to offer:

Understanding by Design: Beginning with the End in Mind (Backward Design)

The team of experts in the Office of Learning and Teaching will work side-by-side with faculty to:

  • Identify the best structure and flow of their course 
  • Unpack institutional and national standards to identify course objectives 
  • Unpack course objectives to identify what students should know and be able to do by the end of the learning cycle (learning objectives)
  • Design and integrate active learning instructional activities
  • Determine constraints affecting course design and identify strategies to remove any barriers

Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education (UDL)

The team of experts in the Office of Learning and Teaching will work side-by-side with faculty to:

  • Identify equitable ways to ensure that all students gain access to the undergraduate medical education curricula through multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement
  • Identify and integrate technologies to increase students' access and improve students learning outcomes
  • Identify strategies for presenting content in a variety of ways
  • Identify and eliminate learning distractions 

Blended Learning and the Flipped Classroom

The team of experts in the Office of Learning and Teaching will work side-by-side with faculty to:

  • Unpack course objectives to identify learning objectives and design instructional activities
  • Identify and integrate evidence-based instructional strategies and best practices that support the principles of the learning sciences
  • Integrate and align synchronous and asynchronous learning events to learning objectives
  • Design and sequence interactive learning events support students as they investigate, experiment with, and apply new or expanded knowledge to real-world contexts through practical application  

Differentiated Instruction (DI)

The team of experts in the Office of Learning and Teaching will work side-by-side with faculty to:

  • Identify, tailor, and integrate evidence-based instructional strategies and best practices that support the principles of the learning sciences for students demonstrating performance multiple levels of performance and rigor 
  • Identify and integrate evidence-based strategies and best practices that promote effortful learning 

Pedagogy of Practice: Master Teacher Series

Looking to sharpen the tools in your teaching toolkit? You are in the right place! The Office of Learning and Teaching has developed a master teacher workshops series complete with resources that you can use to make your lectures more engaging and participatory promoting deeper levels of learning for students. 

  1. Problem-based Learning (PBL) 

The Least You Need to Know about PBL (pdf)- Problem-based Learning is a learner-centered instructional method that promotes self-directed learning by engaging small teams of students in facilitated sessions with a structured case delivered over multiple days. Throughout the process, students are identifying their own learning objectives and seek out high-quality resources to learn from and teach others in order to meet the learning objectives. 

  1. Team-based Learning (TBL)

The Least You Need to Know about TBL (pdf)-Team-Based Learning is a whole class learning experience in which students work within teams to respond to complex multi-faceted questions and engage in dynamic classroom discussions to evaluate the characteristics of responses to arrive at a deep-level of learning.

  1. Case-Based Learning (CBL)

Case-based learning is a way to introduce students to real-life applications of course content and concepts by providing scenarios that introduce a problem and then walk students through the process to a solution.

The Workshop Series

Details coming soon

Digital Educational Resources

One of the best ways to reach students and balance their intrinsic cognitive load in a 21st-century learning environment is through digital educational tools such as mobile apps and other eLearning resources. The Office of Learning and Teaching has curated a list of top digital learning tools that have transformed the ways in which educators are connecting with their students. Please contact us to learn more about these innovations. 

  1. JiTT Infographics are novel teaching tips adaptable to an array of clinical specialties and include foundational Specialty and sub-specialty teaching principles that deliver evidence-based clinically relevant strategies to trainees and clinical faculty in their environment and can be used alone or adapted for resident-as-teacher programs.
  2. Poll Everywhere is an online service that allows teachers to ask their students a question. The students answer the question using their mobile phones, Twitter, or web browsers. Both the question and the student's responses are displayed live in Keynote, PowerPoint, and/or on the web.
  3. Kahoot! is a tool used by teachers to administer quizzes, discussions, or surveys. It is a game-based classroom response system played by the whole class in real-time. Multiple-choice questions are projected on the screen. Students answer the questions with their smartphone, tablet, or computer. Available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.
  4. Mentimeter Use Mentimeter to interact with students by creating and integrating formative assessments into your PowerPoint presentations, Livestream meetings on Zoom, and Teams to test students' knowledge in fun and engaging ways. Suitable for all types of education, from primary school to higher education. Mentimeter is the perfect tool to increase engagement, and also make sure that everyone's voice is heard.
  5. Flipgrid is designed to help with group discussions but in a way that doesn't leave any student on the spot. As such, it's a great tool for those less socially able students to express their thoughts and feelings with the class. The ability to re-record responses helps take off the pressure, making this a very enabling tool for education.
  6. Nearpod offers teachers an easy-to-use app for creating interactive lesson plans, presentations, assessments, and digital content. Nearpod allows teachers to create digital lesson plans, share them with students during class, and track individual progress. Lessons are comprised of teacher-created slides that can include text, video, images, websites, questions, quizzes, polls, and assignments. Students are able to follow the lesson on their own devices at their own pace or teachers can lead a synchronized session where students can follow the lesson in real time. Available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.
  7. Evernote is an impressive organizational app for teachers. Its limitless uses range from planning a course to delivering a lesson plan to capturing feedback after class. It allows you to take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, and record voice reminders and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at school, at home, or on the go. Available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.
  8. Popplet is an excellent way for students to create graphic organizers to organize and share what they have learned! It is easy to use, allows the user to incorporate images and text, and can be exported to photos to be shared via a website. Popplet is a simple and innovative way to organize a student's thinking by mapping their thoughts in a text, drawing, or image feature. Available on iPhone and iPad.

Podcasts

  1. Key Lime Podcast- Key Literature in Medical Education (KeyLIME) is a weekly podcast produced by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. They bring you the main points of a medical education article in under half an hour! Articles that are important, innovative, or will impact your educational practice are discussed.  
  2. Medical Education Podcast- A podcast brought to you by John Wiley & Sons Ltd with commentary and interviews related to the Association for the Study of Medical Education's journal Medical Education.
  3. South East Michigan Consortium on Medical Education (SEMCME)- SEMCME offers courses, workshops, and programs for those involved in medical education in clinical, hospital, and ambulatory settings such as clinical faculty, program directors, coordinators, residents, chief residents, and attendings.
  4. Teaching in Higher of Ed- This is the space where we explore the art and science of being more effective at facilitating learning. We also share ways to increase our personal productivity, so we can have more peace in our lives and be even more present for our students.
  5. Lecture Breakers- The Lecture Breakers podcast is the place where college professors, instructors, and educators share innovative teaching strategies, practical ideas, teaching tips, and resources to help you break up your lecture, energize your classroom, increase student engagement, and improve learning.
  6. The Cult of Pedagogy- Teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, educational technology -- if it has something to do with teaching, we're talking about it.
  7. NEJM This Week- Audio Summaries- Want to hear the latest in medical research, reviews, and perspectives from the NEJM? Our summaries are available weekly.
  8. And, so much more

To learn more about other faculty enrichment opportunities offered through the Office of Learning and Teaching, Faculty Consult Request