Instructional Design
We use our expertise in learning technologies and digital pedagogies to partner with faculty and instructors in implementing instructional technology, developing instructional projects and digital course materials, and sharing effective practices. We can help you with projects big and small, from using Canvas, to redesigning your course to optimize for remote and hybrid learning.
Support Course Redesign for Remote and Hybrid Learning
Are you re-thinking your face to face course as we move to a remote or a remote and hybrid setting? We have expanded our instructional design support services with the goal of helping instructors as they redesign their courses for remote or hybrid delivery. Our instructional designers’ expertise in digital pedagogies and learning tools provides instructors with the collaborative support needed to redesign courses that have an appropriate blend of teaching and learning practices. A well-planned course will enhance student engagement and student outcomes, while also reserving instructor time for course content rather than administrative details. This support can include a wide range of course design and development activities, which we can identify through an initial consultation.
Blended Learning
Are you looking for new ways to engage today’s students? Are you trying to meet the challenge of expanding class sizes? Our instructional designers have expertise in learning technologies and digital pedagogies and can partner with you to leverage technology in ways that are appropriate for your teaching and learning practices. We can partner with you to collaboratively design the most appropriate blend of learning technology and digital pedagogy for your course. With an eye toward designing your course for improved student engagement and outcomes, our team brings expertise in the use of Academic Technology Solutions’ platforms, tools, and capabilities to your course design needs. In addition to helping you develop the right blend for your course, our team can work with you to design assignments that can inspire creativity and engagement in students while helping them practice higher-order thinking skills. We can help you design and set up a particular assignment, incorporate digital learning tools in your curriculum, or flip your class.
Digital Pedagogy/Canvas Training
We provide one-on-one consultations and departmental and general Canvas workshops to help you leverage Canvas and other learning tools to engage students with active learning strategies. We can help you with a wide range of digital pedagogy issues, from building and designing your Canvas course site to using Canvas’s collaboration features to engage students. We can customize our current training opportunities to fit the needs of your division or department.
Assessment of Emerging Technologies
We evaluate and conduct pilots of emerging technologies, such as classroom response systems, blogging platforms, and video management platforms, for university-wide adoption. We work with service providers to ensure that their tools are feature-rich, FERPA-compliant, and meet the university’s privacy and data security standards.
Ready to partner with us?
Collaborative Learning and Classroom Pedagogy, Part 1: Approaches to Successful Collaboration
Author’s Note: This is the first installment in a series of posts concerning collaborative learning and how best to implement it in the classroom. ATS instructional designers Michael Hernandez and Joe Olivier contributed content to this installment. As educators...
Using Active Learning Strategies to Engage Entrepreneurship Students
This post is part of an ongoing series to promote active learning strategies and teaching tools that can support instructors in using them. Academic Technology Solutions (ATS) is hosting the new active learning series Try IT: Academic Tech for Active Learning. The...
Promote Student Engagement Using Active Learning Exercises
This post is part of an ongoing series to promote active learning strategies and teaching tools that can support instructors in using them. Active learning is an area of particular interest on the UChicago campus this year, with the Chicago Center for Teaching and...