The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT, formerly OID) and CEILS (Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences) collaborated to host an all-day, campus-wide event, Teaching at UCLA: A Symposium to Showcase Innovation and Inspire Excellence, held on March 6, 2019 at the UCLA Faculty Center. Erin Sanders O’Leary, Director of CEILS, and Adrienne Lavine, Faculty Director of CAT, welcomed the packed room. Our goal was to showcase and celebrate the breadth of teaching innovations across the UCLA campus and to illuminate how, while there are disciplinary differences in learning outcomes and teaching practices, there is much to share and learn from each other. We also highlighted progress across higher education by exposing UCLA attendees to a national leader in the field. The event was a resounding success, with 147 attendees from across the breadth of our campus.

The symposium featured an inspiring keynote talk by Dr. Andrea Greenhoot, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas. She addressed “How Redefining Teaching Can Supercharge Learning.” The event also included 14 lightning talks by UCLA faculty, all of whom have actively engaged in innovative instruction, as well as six 45-minute, hands-on workshops led by UCLA educational leaders. A panel of articulate UCLA students presented their perspectives as learners exposed to current teaching methods in a discussion of teaching practices that best enable them to learn.

Executive Vice Chancellor Scott Waugh spoke briefly at the lunch hour about our new urgency to enhance teaching that improves learning, closes learning outcome gaps, and makes good on the promise of an outstanding education for students now paying an even higher share of the cost of their education. Scott also proudly announced the new name of OID as the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, an organization whose mission he has long championed.

The schedule of events, list of speakers, and links to their talks can be found at https://teaching.uit.ucla.edu/events/teaching-symposium-innovation.