Issue link: http://uwashington.uberflip.com/i/223926
Pedagogy First A broad UW partnership maximizes how technology supports teaching and learning Y ou might assume that immersing yourself for a full week in Canvas, the UW's new learning management tool, would be strictly an exercise in technology. But for the 36 faculty who redesigned their courses with Canvas and other learning technology tools as part of the Technology Teaching Fellows (TTF) last summer, it was a lot more. "You can add all kinds of gizmos and whizbangs to a class, but that doesn't mean students are going to learn better," said participant Betsy Evans, Associate Professor of Linguistics. "The pedagogy has to come first." Ben Marwick, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, agrees. "The priority through the TTF workshop was always maximizing benefit to students. Technology was part of that solution, but the primary intention was improving teaching and learning." That intention was baked into TTF, thanks to the broad partnership that put the program together—UW-IT, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), UW Libraries, and the Provost's Office, including advice and support from experts at UW Tacoma and UW Bothell. "We had a wide variety of smart people with great expertise to support our faculty to improve the quality of teaching and learning," said Gerald Baldasty, Senior Vice Provost for Academic and Student Affairs. In particular, Baldasty said, TTF co-facilitators Beth Kalikoff from CTL and UW-IT's Tyler Fox blended their impressive respective knowledge of pedagogy and technology to keep a tight focus on teaching and learning. 8 UW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY