Recent LASPAU Activities in Effective Teaching and Learning

Although only three years have passed since the inception of LASPAU’s Iniciativa para el Desarrollo de la Innovación Académica (IDIA), it has become an important stepping stone for many academic institutions seeking to realize their full capacity for effective teaching and learning. Between July 2008 and April 2009, LASPAU designed and implemented tailor-made programs on pedagogy and academic innovation for universities in Chile, Honduras, and Mexico.

One of the greatest benefits to universities that work with IDIA is the cadre of experts on teaching and learning who collaborate with LASPAU by sharing their knowledge and practices with program participants. LASPAU greatly values the time and energy provided by these individuals to benefit the development of Latin American higher education. Participating experts include, among many others: Philip Altbach, director of the Boston College Center for International Higher Education; Kenneth Bain, director of the Research Academy for University Learning at Montclair State University; Lori Breslow, director of the Teaching and Learning Lab at MIT; Doris Brodeur from the CDIO™ Initiative led by MIT; Jennifer Craig, Mya Poe, and Neal Lerner from the Program of Writing Across the Curriculum at MIT; James Honan from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Eric Mazur, professor at Harvard University; Enrique Ogliastri, professor at INCAE and the Instituto de Empresas; Reinaldo Plaz, president of ICA2 and associate researcher at the IADE and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Susan Russinoff, professor at Tufts University; Iris Stammberger, developer of the TALBOK™ learning system; Kathy Takayama from the Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University; and James Wilkinson, director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University.

Recently IDIA has designed customized programs for the following institutions:

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile

The Program on Effective Teaching and Learning, a seminar developed for the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI), was held on the Harvard University campus in July 2008. Twenty-four UAI professors and deans attended the seminar, which provided participants with an arena for the exploration of topics related to their academic practices, including syllabus design, classroom management, the promotion of critical thinking, and evaluation techniques. As part of the ongoing institutional collaboration between LASPAU and UAI, the IDIA staff also organized the International Seminar on Effective Teaching and Learning, which was held in Santiago, Chile, in January 2009 and featured sessions on peer learning led by Eric Mazur.

Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana, Honduras

Now in its third year, the Séneca Program for Teaching Excellence, an IDIA initiative designed for the Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (UNITEC), is continuing its work of encouraging student-centered learning at the university. LASPAU designed a one-week workshop held in Tegucigalpa in December 2008, where Doris Brodeur worked with UNITEC’s academic coordinators and professors from the engineering and business schools in order to define desired student competencies and design syllabi through which these competencies would be achieved. As a result of this exercise, a pilot project for first- and fourth-year courses is being implemented. Parallel to the curricular redesign, Kathy Takayama will evaluate the impact that the Séneca Program has had on teaching and learning at UNITEC.

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Mexico

In February 2009, the second University Leadership Seminar for academic and administrative deans from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) took place on the campus of Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas. Thirty participants, including UAT’s rector and provost, attended the four-day workshop, which expanded on topics such as leadership and negotiation that were introduced during the first seminar. Sessions were also offered in new areas crucial for competitiveness in the 21st century, including knowledge management, competency based educational models, and critical thinking.

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Honduras

Through Proyecto Aprender, an IDIA initiative designed for the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH), faculty members from UNAH’s nine campuses have been trained using the TALBOK, a learning system through which they have acquired tools and techniques for more effective teaching. The online phase of the TALBOK training was followed by two onsite seminars held in Tegucigalpa in March and April of 2009. Over 300 UNAH faculty members have now been fully trained in the TALBOK techniques and will be able to share what they have learned with their colleagues. In April 2009, UNAH faculty members were also given a pedagogical practices self-assessment to provide them with confidential and objective feedback about their teaching skills. A follow-up seminar on evaluation systems will assist UNAH in developing a permanent faculty performance assessment system.

MECESUP, Chile

In April 2009, the eight-day Program on Curricular Innovation took place on the campus of Harvard University for 20 academic and administrative representatives of 15 member universities of the Consejo de Rectores de las Universidades Chilenas. The program was supported by MECESUP, a collaborative effort between the Chilean government and the World Bank to improve the equity and effectiveness of higher education in Chile. Designed to foster a network of experts to support curricular innovation and student mobility, the program offered sessions on institutional and national challenges in Chilean higher education, including quality assurance, accreditation, credit transfer systems, competency-based curricular models, and educational technologies. The participants also observed classes at Harvard and met with faculty, administrators, and students from Harvard and MIT.

For more information, please visit www.laspau.harvard.edu/idia/ or contact Angelica Natera at angelica_natera@harvard.edu or 617-495-0488.