Meet the 2019-2020 Active Learning Fellows

In May, Learning Innovation held the kick-off week for our 2019 Active Learning Fellows. We welcomed our largest group of faculty members for the Active Learning Fellows so far – fourteen faculty from a wide range of departments – who will be spending the summer and fall exploring new methods of encouraging deeper student engagement and learning through active classroom methods and techniques.

Kick-Off Week

During the kick-off week, faculty explored and practiced several practical active learning techniques.  In addition, we:

  • drafted course goals for student-centered, engaged learning;
  • examined techniques for creating great group work and team-based assignments;
  • discussed ways of holding students accountable for out-of-class work;
  • looked at methods for formatively assessing learning to gauge how students are progressing and
  • examined ways to help students more deeply engage in course content.
Consultant Seth Anderson leads an active learning exercise during the Fellowship.

Upcoming Fellowship Activities for Summer and Fall

This summer, the Fellows will meet for a series of follow-up sessions on topics they want to explore in-depth and, in the fall, will be visiting each others classes to get ideas and reflect on their own teaching. Topics the Fellows will be exploring include inclusiveness and equity in the classroom, creating a learner-centered syllabus, active learning in large classes, and designing effective complex long-term assignments.

The Fellows have formed groups of three or four to visit Fall classroom sessions of their colleagues for ideas they can bring into their own teaching. (Learning Innovation offers this service for all Duke faculty through our Visit a Classroom program.)

The Active Learning Fellows discussing ideas written on a board.

The Learning Innovation Faculty Fellows program is typically offered each summer and fall. However, we can arrange similar programs during the year for departments with a group of faculty that want to redesign courses or programs of study or to change or assess some aspect of teaching in their area.

If you would like additional information on the Fellows program, please contact us.

Below is a complete list of Learning Innovation’s 2019 Active Learning Fellows. We are excited to work with our Fellows over the next few months.

The 2019 Active Learning Fellows

Group photo of the 2019 Active Learning Fellows

Satya Achanta
Assistant Professor
Anesthesiology, School of Medicine

Sheri Branson
Instructor
Recreation & Physical Education

Jamie Browne
Instructor
Thompson Writing Program

Zoe Isabella
Instructor
Biology

Hai Li
Associate Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering

Laurie Mauger
Lecturer
Biology

John Roberts
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine, School of Medicine

Kateri Salk
Visiting Assistant Professor
Environmental Science & Policy Division, NSOE

Jessica Sawyer
Research Assistant Professor
Pharmacology and Cancer Biology

Daniel Scolnic
Assistant Professor
Physics

Maria Tackett
Assistant Professor of the Practice
Statistical Science

Erin Tanhauser
Instructor
Biology

Shira Viel
Assistant Professor of the Practice
Mathematics

Saskia Ziolkowski
Visiting Assistant Professor
Romance Studies