Instructional Design Certificate Workshop Offered to AUA Faculty

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YEREVAN, Armenia — Over 20 faculty members from different programs across the American University of Armenia (AUA) participated in a highly engaging workshop on instructional design. The event, conducted on January 11-14, 2022, was led by AUA lecturer, education consultant, researcher, and teacher trainer, Anna Gevorgyan, and hosted by the University’s newly established Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. 

The four-day professional development workshop supported AUA faculty in continuing to enhance their teaching skills by incorporating more active learning techniques. Various components of instructional design were covered, such as learning objectives, Bloom’s Taxonomy, constructive alignment, formative and summative assessments, scaffolding, zone of proximal development, and interactive learning. Faculty that attended all four days of the workshop earned a certificate of completion in instructional design.

A major aim of the workshop was to help faculty implement active learning instruction in their classes. Attending faculty were able to go through and experience the different active learning techniques used throughout the workshop. Some of the techniques covered included the optimal use of various questioning techniques, jigsaw, think-pair-share, speed-dating, concept maps, and Lego/play-based creation and presentation.

When asked about her thoughts on the workshop, Lori Najarian, AUA adjunct lecturer of Freshman Seminar and fitness courses, stated, “I would recommend it not only to those that have never had much teacher training but even to those who have had extensive teacher training. I was exposed to a lot of diverse ideas from teachers coming from different backgrounds and different subject areas. I also really liked being able to collaborate on ideas on how to use these multilayers of learning strategies that we discovered, which will nicely fit within our classes.”

The AUA CTL will be conducting more instructional events throughout the semester and will be running this same workshop again before the beginning of the 2022 Fall semester. Additionally, CTL will officially launch its website and social media presence within the next few weeks. 

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) supports faculty to inspire, cultivate, and continuously enhance the educational process and student experience through research-based, creative, pedagogy and instructional design.