Office of Instructional Innovation

Overview

The Office of Instructional Innovation offers College of Education instructors a broad range of technology integration services to enhance teaching and research. We also help faculty choose the best technology tools to achieve instructional or research objectives.

Professional Development Opportunities for Faculty

Camp OI2 

Designed to prepare instructors to teach online and hybrid courses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this collection of 15-minute self-paced modules provides an excellent starting point for those who are new to these approaches. Topics covered include:

• Organizing Online Learning Experiences,
• Building Online Community,
• Presenting Information (Live) Effectively Online,
• Facilitating Discussion Online,
• Scaling Online Instruction, and
• Assessing Learning Online.

Camp OI2 is available for any member of the UT-Austin community. Participants receive virtual badges for the successful completion of each module. Get started

OI2 Training

Designed to ready preservice teachers to work with K-12 students in online environments, these 15-minute self-paced modules introduce fundamental frameworks for understanding how we communicate and learn in virtual spaces. Introductory modules include:

• Computer-Mediated Communication
• Online Learning & K-12 Learners -- while examples come from younger learners, the lessons can be applied to college students.

OI2 Training is available for any member of the UT Austin community. Enroll now

Digital Literacy Repository

A collection of resources for anyone interested in learning how to smartly navigate the digital age.

Learning from Texas Education Innovators

This podcast from the Office of Instructional Innovation covers teaching, learning, and innovation. Faculty experts share what it is like to conduct cutting-edge research, how an innovative course came into being, or what happens when they try a new teaching strategy for the first time.

Faculty Working Groups

Working groups provide opportunities for instructors to share successes and innovations, troubleshoot teaching challenges, and engage in a collaborative learning process to become even better teachers and users of educational technology. The groups are small, personalized to your interests, and typically meet once per month. Each group is facilitated by a staff member from the Office of Instructional Innovation. To join a working group, contact OI2 at oi2@utexas.edu.

@oi2ut on Twitter

The latest news on teaching and learning innovations.

Technology References

Educational Technology Resources

This curated collection of recorded workshops, articles, and quick video tutorials is designed to answer your questions and help you become productive with tools such as Canvas, Zoom, Panopto, and lecture recording.

Technology Tools

OI2 has developed a number of tools that extend the capabilities of Canvas to create new opportunities for learning. Contact oi2@utexas.edu for more information or to have any of these tools configured for use in your course.

Journal

Our journal application provides a blog-like experience where each student has a personal space for reflections, reading responses, and other writing assignments. Journals can be private (shared only between the student and instructor) or public (shared with other members of the class). The journal supports interaction and engagement by supporting student comments on each other’s posts.

Chat

Our chat app was developed for Diane Schallert in our Department of Educational Psychology and is available for anyone to use. Based on Dr. Schallert’s research, the app enables real-time, small-group discussions using text. Transcripts of each chat session are recorded and made available to the instructor. The app supports variation in how discourse occurs in a classroom.

How We Help

Our Staff