Workshops and Events

Introduction to Drake Institute Programs and Services:

The Drake Institute offers a variety of programs and services designed to support all who teach and foster instruction at Ohio State. Individual instructor consultations, student feedback collection services, pedagogy-focused workshops, learning communities and other structured engagements are offered throughout the year to facilitate learning and to enhance adoption and implementation of effective, evidence-based approaches to instruction.

Throughout the year, the institute offers events, programs and services that introduce the Ohio State community to these offerings and help participants identify opportunities that align with their own professional learning goals and needs.

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Active Learning:

Active learning involves engaging students in meaningful exercises and activities designed to aid their learning process. Active learning opportunities can range from brief, silent, independent thinking exercises to long, complex and/or group-based learning activities. The "active" component of active learning is not intended to suggest a required connection to physical movement, but instead is related to the idea that as active, engaged participants in the learning process, students can more effectively construct new knowledge and connect that knowledge to their experiences.

The Drake Institute strives to support the infusion of active learning strategies across all instructional contexts. Events, programs and services are offered in support of the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of active learning practices.

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Assessing Student Learning:

Assessment is the process used by educators to understand, document and respond to changes occurring in learners. This process should be considered continuous; steps are taken to collect information on the degree to which knowledge has been transferred or skills have been developed through a combination of efforts. Gauging prior knowledge/ability, monitoring student progress toward desired outcomes, encouraging student reflection on their progress, providing timely and actionable feedback to students, and offering sufficiently numerous and diverse opportunities for students to demonstrate achievement of desired outcomes after the learning has occurred are all critical steps in the assessment process.

The Drake Institute is committed to advancing the design and implementation of effective, evidence-based assessment of student learning practices and provides support for both classroom and program-based assessment needs.

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CIRTL (Program-specific tag)

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) originally funded center and current network of over 40 research universities across the United States and Canada. CIRTL supports teaching excellence in higher education with the primary goal to, “...develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to enrich undergraduate education that is accessible to all learners." The Ohio State University became an official institutional member of the CIRLT Network in 2021. CIRTL provides teaching professional development support, particularly to graduate students and postdocs interested in a career in higher education.

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Curriculum & Course Development:

Curriculum and Course Development leverages a “backward design” process, resulting in the constructive alignment of learning goals with assessment and instructional methods. In Drake Institute events, programs and services, participants learn how to combine evidence-based instructional practices such as determining instructional needs, developing goals and outcomes, designing formative and summative assessment, creating opportunities for active learning, and evaluating the course or program to build effective, student-centered curricula and courses.

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Educational Technology:

Educational technology is the integration of web-based, classroom and mobile technology into the teaching and learning process to enhance educational outcomes, improve access to learning resources, and facilitate communication and collaboration among students and instructors.

The Drake Institute centers pedagogy in its events, programs and services focused on educational technology. We encourage the constructive alignment of technologies with learning goals and outcomes as well as assessment and teaching methods. 

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Effective Learning Environments:

Creating an effective learning environment requires thoughtful integration of strategies that promote student engagement, motivation, and success. We offer programs and services that equip instructors with practical tools and evidence-informed approaches designed to enhance their teaching practices. The Drake Institute’s Effective Learning Environments core competency area features Teaching Endorsement opportunities to all instructors on topics such as advanced use of educational technology, classroom conflict and ethics, and approaches that foster a strong sense of belonging and growth culture among students.  With a focus on building supportive, responsive, and engaging learning environments, the programs and services offered within this core competency area empower educators to cultivate spaces where engaged and meaningful learning can thrive.

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Professional Development Support:

Continuous reflection on teaching practices and teaching philosophy is a highly effective way in which an instructor can improve their teaching. Documenting these reflections can also be useful for the academic job market, annual reviews, teaching awards, and for promotions and tenure. The Drake Institute offers events, programs and services on composing effective reflections on professional development, such as teaching statements and teaching portfolios.

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SoTL/DBER Research:

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is an evidence-based exploration of the teaching and learning process. The goal of SoTL is to improve teaching and learning, and it can include using evidence-based strategies, scholarly teaching, and adding to the evidence of scholarship of teaching and learning. In STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields DBER (discipline-based education research) includes developing generalizable theories and models.

The Drake Institute strives to support the use of evidence-based teaching practices and adding to the evidence by introducing educators to SoTL/DBER practices, supporting the development and completion of projects, and elevating the dissemination of SoTL/DBER projects and educational innovations developed at Ohio State.

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Using Feedback to Improve Teaching:

Gathering mid-semester feedback or throughout a course creates opportunities for instructors to have conversations about teaching and learning with their students and add transparency to instructional methods and course design. It also presents an opportunity to implement small changes to the course before the end of the semester. To support instructors in understanding and using student feedback, the Drake Institute offers events, programs and services designed to help instructors gather, interpret and make use of student feedback through the duration of the course and beyond.

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Academic Integrity in Online Courses

Helping students avoid academic misconduct can be tricky in any modality. The online space presents additional considerations, both in the way we communicate expectations and in the way we design and set up assignments. This session focuses on many aspects of academic integrity, including what it looks like in the online environment, why students choose to cheat, and what you can do about it in your own online courses. We share ideas for how to prevent cheating and discuss the technology available to you as an instructor. You will have opportunities to reflect on past teaching experiences and to make initial decisions about modifications to future assignments and exams.

Active Learning with Technology

We know that engaging students with lectures, course materials, and each other positively contributes to their academic success. Yet it often feels difficult to invest students in these interactions. In this video, we will help you build a basic understanding of active learning and review some useful active learning strategies to apply in your course. Then we'll explore how technology can enhance active learning to foster a more engaging and student-centered experience. You will have the opportunity to investigate university-vetted tools and apps and reflect on how their uses and features could support active learning in your classroom.

Carmen Essentials for Student Success

Whether you’re teaching online or in person, setting up your course effectively in CarmenCanvas will be crucial for you and your students. This video explores best practices for sharing your syllabus, using the Gradebook, posting course materials, and communicating with students online. We will review Ohio State's expectations for all Carmen courses, share examples of effective courses, and address how to create a learning environment where students feel connected and informed. Additionally, we discuss the student experience of learning in a digital space.

Course Design for Online Courses

Designing an online course can be challenging for even the most successful, experienced instructors. This self-paced, asynchronous learning experience will help you tackle the steps involved by guiding you through a course design process known as backward design. Participants will incorporate evidence-based practices to plan an effective, inclusive course that will meet Ohio State's expectations for quality online learning.

Designing Assignments for Your Online Course

Whether you're new to online assignment design or wish to improve an existing assignment, this video workshop will offer strategies for creating effective assignments that best meet the needs of your students. We will share resources and suggestions for how to design assignments for the online environment, with an emphasis on authenticity, inclusivity, and alignment to your course outcomes. Multiple examples will be shared throughout the session, and you will have opportunities to apply best practices to your own course.

Effective Grading in Carmen Canvas

Whether you are teaching in person or online, using Carmen to grade and give feedback helps you be more efficient, organized, and transparent, while allowing students to easily find and interpret their grades on assignments and exams.

In this video, we share best practices for developing a meaningful rubric, because the Carmen rubric tool is only as useful as the rubric you create. You will have an opportunity to work on one of your own rubrics and learn how to add it to a Carmen course. We will also demonstrate the SpeedGrader tool, show you how to set up Quiz questions to provide efficient feedback, and highlight the functions of the Carmen Gradebook.

Engaging Students in Online Collaboration

Whether you're teaching face-to-face or online, student-to-student interaction is essential for a successful course. But we don’t always have time to let students collaborate during class, and it’s easy to get stuck in a discussion board rut. This video material will spark your creativity for other ways to engage students in collaborative learning in online spaces. By understanding the elements of collaboration that drive learning, you’ll identify opportunities in your own course, create an activity, and begin using the CarmenCanvas tools that support student collaboration.

Increasing Student Engagement with Top Hat

Top Hat is a web-based student response system that enables you to poll your class, present discussion prompts, and display lecture material for a more interactive experience. In this session, you'll learn how Top Hat can help you engage your students and create opportunities for active learning. We will explain and demonstrate the basic features of the tool, such as creating questions, launching polls, syncing rosters, and integrating with Carmen. We'll also cover planning lessons with Top Hat templates.

Instructional Approaches to Hybrid Courses

Hybrid courses offer unique opportunities for both instructors and students. In this workshop, we explore design principles for hybrid courses that help students meet learning outcomes in effective and engaging ways. We will discuss the benefits and limitations of various instructional strategies and explore tools for supporting rich synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences in face-to-face and online components of a course. Additionally, we will address special considerations for teaching a hybrid course given the challenges of the pandemic. You will have opportunities to strategize potential approaches to your own hybrid course.

Introduction to Teaching Online

Designed to support Ohio State instructors who will be teaching online, this course explores the key considerations and affordances of the online learning environment and guides you to begin making choices for your online teaching.

Introduction to Teaching Online is a fully online, self-paced experience delivered via CarmenCanvas. The course provides a variety of resources, including readings and videos, as well as opportunities to interact with content and peers through activities and discussion. You will learn essential elements of online teaching with a focus on using evidence-based practices and leave with a set of concrete next steps and resources to support your future teaching.

Making Your Course Accessible to All Learners

What is accessibility, and why does it matter? This video session will get you started in making your course accessible to all learners. You'll consider how to adjust or reinvent your course materials, activities, and assignments to improve the learning experience for your students. We’ll guide you to proactively apply principles of Universal Design for Learning and accessibility and share university resources to support you in this endeavor.

This material provides an introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and accessibility. UDL refers to principles and best practices for ensuring that all activities, assignments, outcomes, and instruction are designed so that students have multiple ways to interact with content and be assessed on their learning. Accessibility, in the context we use it, is the practice of designing content and using technology so that students with vision, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities can successfully navigate, use, and benefit from them.

Promoting Interaction and Engagement in Carmen Zoom

CarmenZoom provides an excellent way for students to connect with us, our course, and each other in online or mixed delivery classes. How can we best engage them and promote learning in this space? This video focuses on gauging student reactions, checking for understanding, and creating opportunities for peer interaction in CarmenZoom. We review various tools—polling, breakout rooms, chat, reactions, annotation, and whiteboard—and consider how to effectively utilize these features in your synchronous online or mixed delivery courses.

Technology-Enhanced Teaching

This 5-hour, fully asynchronous online course provides Ohio State instructors with evidence-based best practices and examples of practical applications to effectively incorporate technology into class activities, assignments, and teaching strategies. 

During this course, you will identify the key considerations and affordances of integrating technology into your courses and begin making choices for doing so. The content focuses on how technology can enhance student learning and how to choose tools that will help your students meet learning outcomes. By the end of the course, you will have begun the planning process for choosing technology tools and have a set of concrete next steps to develop skills and find resources for using those tools.