U-M faculty develop innovative teaching projects for the university’s third century

November 25, 2014
Contact:
  • umichnews@umich.edu

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan has awarded funding to three faculty groups in the first round of Transformation grants from the university’s Transforming Learning for a Third Century program.

The Third Century Initiative, created two years ago by the U-M president and provost, challenged faculty to develop innovative, multidisciplinary teaching and scholarship methods as the university approaches its bicentennial in 2017.

“Our faculty are incredibly passionate about our students and the ways in which we teach them. They are excited about developing and testing new approaches that have the potential to transform our students’ educational experiences,” said Provost Martha Pollack. “These grants will enable faculty to bring some important new approaches to scale.”

Nearly 100 smaller projects have been funded out of the $25 million earmarked for Transforming Learning for a Third Century, but the three announced today are the first grants for which faculty were eligible to receive up to $3 million.

“These projects represent a range of activities, from the high intensity engagement of the master class model, to the interdisciplinary transformation of health care education in integrated curricula that better mirror practice, to the large-scale, digitally mediated, personalization of student advising that will allow students to be better directed toward high-impact engaged learning practices tailored to their needs,” said James Holloway, vice provost for global and engaged education. “Each of these projects will create long-term change in the way we educate students here at Michigan.”

The projects include:

  • Interprofessional Health Education and Collaborative Care—A $3 million grant has been matched by the deans from the seven health sciences schools (College of Pharmacy, Dental School, Medical School, School of Public Health, School of Social Work, School of Nursing and School of Kinesiology). The five-year, $6 million program, will work to transform the way faculty teach more than 4,000 health professional students, with an ultimate goal to impact the patient experience, population health and the cost of health care.
  • Personalizing at Scale: Engaging Every Student as an Individual—A $1.4 million grant involving faculty and staff from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; College of Engineering; Office of Digital Education and Innovation; and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. This grant will allow the team to create a Digital Innovation Greenhouse, which will build on existing personalized education technology to ensure that tailored advising of students in all U-M 19 schools and colleges will be possible by the end of the three-year project.
  • Master Class—A $285,000 project the developers call a “new model of intensive collaborative learning” for architecture students in the Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning. The plan calls for three master classes to be conducted in each of the project’s five years. Students will spend two-to-three days working with visitors selected for their expertise, ability to inspire students and the contemporary issue in architecture they represent.

 

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