Ten years ago the NYU Arts & Science Office of Educational Technology was launched with the goal of advancing innovations in teaching and learning by offering instructional design services and educational technology enhancements to all faculty. Over the ensuing decade, the Office has fostered the growth of major innovative teaching initiatives across Arts & Science, with a wide portfolio of projects and services ranging from the launch of Arts & Science’s first online Masters program to flipped classroom and large-scale textbook replacement projects. Notably, the Office facilitated the Arts & Science pivot to emergency remote, and later, hybrid, instruction during the pandemic.
The resounding success of the Arts & Science pivot to remote instruction has underscored the fact that technology is now acknowledged as a core component of effective teaching and learning rather than a recommended enhancement. This has always been the case in the Office’s work, where pedagogy is the primary consideration in any project. Over the past year, our most popular programming offering, which has served almost 100 graduate students and faculty members, is the pedagogy-focused Teaching to Engage asynchronous online mini-seminar. Our team members are all academics with either PhDs or MAs in Arts & Science disciplines and extensive teaching experience. Many of us have also worked in centers for teaching and learning excellence at other institutions before joining NYU.
The change of our name to the Office of Teaching Excellence and Innovation highlights the alignment of our work with key opportunities identified in the 2023 NYU Self-Study draft document, in particular with the recommendations in the Educational Effectiveness section to elevate the praxis of teaching and promote teaching excellence. In addition to our Teaching Innovation Award series, which has provided recognition and rewards for teaching excellence since 2020, our office has offered support for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (which is singled out in the Study as a key element of elevating teaching praxis) as a service since 2018.
The complete alignment of our existing work with our new name means that you won’t see any of our current services going away. Instead, we’ll be piloting and growing new services or new directions within the existing services that fill areas of need such as support for teaching observations, curriculum development, inclusive teaching and design, and alternative grading practices. Your department liaison will remain the same.