by Michaella Thornton, Assistant Director for Instructional Design, Reinert Center
Last week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the 38th Annual POD Network Conference, Reinert Center Director, Dr. Debra Rudder Lohe, presented her findings on “The Open Studio: Extending the Traditional Workshop” as one of 24 POD Innovation Award nominees. The creative idea that Debie shared with others in Pittsburgh, focused on how the Reinert Center creates, “dedicated time for faculty to apply lessons learned to their own teaching situation” after Center-sponsored events, workshops, and facilitated conversations.
The “open studio” concept was judged by a committee of POD Network members and assessed on four criteria: originality, scope and results, transferability, and effectiveness. Of the 24 projects nominated for this award, the Reinert Center was one of five finalists. This is quite an accomplishment considering that the POD Network is the organization dedicated to “advancing the research and practice of educational development in higher education since 1976.”
Congratulations to Debie and the Center for being selected as finalists for the Innovation Award! Special thanks to Chris Grabau and Jerod Quinn, instructional designers, for designing the excellent supporting materials for this project (e.g., poster and one-sheet). And special thanks to all the SLU faculty who have attended an Open Studio session and provided feedback on the experience.
To read more about the “open studio” concept, and why the Reinert Center uses this approach, please click the following link: POD2013_Innovation Award Onesheet.
The Notebook 