AUK’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching holds the second Excellence Lab on Innovative Pedagogy
The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) at the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) held the second Excellence Lab on Innovative Pedagogy, focusing on the theme of “connection.” At this virtual workshop, facilitators from the E.U. instructed and mentored 24 faculty members from different AUK colleges on methods for building strong connections between students and learning content, enhancing and improving classroom interaction, as well as inducing critical thinking by students.
The overarching objective of this workshop was to guide trainees on how to use learning resources to remove
obstacles in connectivity with students, helping trainees (faculty members) to devise methods for motivating
students and enhancing their creativity. The desired result is to build a stimulating and engaging
partnership between the teacher and his/her learners (students). Particular emphasis was placed on the two
themes of “connection” (building bridges between students, and between students and learning content) and
“motivation” (creating a successful mindset in learners that maximizes their engagement with the learning
process).
Training activities included virtual instruction by the trainers, followed by group discussion and
reflection. Training content focused on pedagogical tools for designing a course, building emotional
connections in the classroom and practical tools for encouraging learners’ attentiveness.
The session concluded with an assignment for trainees, in which they are required to provide a written response to four key questions:
- What do students need to learn?
- What exercises can you integrate into lessons?
- What different resources can you utilize to respond to different learning preferences?
- How can you integrate collaboration with students into lessons?
CELT is committed to supporting and promoting innovative approaches to pedagogy, continuously striving to improve learning and teaching methods at AUK. CELT’s Innovative Pedagogy Program (IPP) is designed to build the capacity of AUK faculty members in modern and effective teaching methods, focusing on maximizing the connectedness and engagement of students with educational curricula. It targets faculty members (trainees) via a series of six workshops entitled “Excellence Labs”, covering six key themes, referred to as the “6 C’s”. These are consciousness (lab 1), connection (lab 2), curious creativity (lab 3), confidence (lab 4), communication (lab 5) and creative assessment (lab 6).