OPID – the Office of Professional & Instructional Development – advocates for faculty and instructors in all things teaching and learning.

About

OPID serves as a systemwide professional and instructional development resource for University of Wisconsin System institutions. Established in 1977 as the Undergraduate Teaching Improvement Council (UTIC), it was first led by a council of campus representatives who focused primarily on teaching improvement. In 2000, the program became OPID, expanding its emphases to meet the broader professional needs of faculty and academic staff with programming on topics such as faculty development in all learning environments, the systematic assessment of student learning through the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), inclusive excellence, leadership, and faculty retention. The OPID Advisory Council serves both as an advisory council and as a liaison between UW System Administration and all of the UW System institutions.

Important Dates

Spring Conference for Wisconsin Educators

APRIL 18 & 19, 2024 at the Memorial Union, Madison

 More Conference Information HERE 

 

 

 

 

 

Our teaching and learning practices begin and end with students. Engaging students in learning is an ongoing challenge and doesn’t happen without thoughtful, intentional efforts. Every class is different and requires nuanced approaches depending on the students, the class modality (in-person, online, or hybrid), and context. The Covid pandemic exposed the complex lives of our students, and instructors, and the multiple stressors that impact our lives. The pandemic may be under control, but some stressors remain. As educators, how are we ensuring that all of our students are engaged and supported to succeed? What strategies and approaches have you found effective or promising? We invite you to share your experiences engaging students in the joys of learning, and look forward to seeing you and your systemwide colleagues together at OPID’s annual conference.  

    


OPID Affiliated Teaching and Learning Events

Improving University Teaching

2024 Hybrid Conference: Foundations for the Future

This year the International Conference on Improving University Teaching celebrates its fiftieth gathering. Over the past half century, IUT has held yearly conferences in 42 cities and 25 countries.

The half century mark provides an opportunity to look back and take stock. What ideas and approaches to improving university teaching and learning have proven most effective over these five decades. How could they continue guide us in the future? How have education, students, and/or teaching changed and what foundational principles remain intact? Looking to the future, what are ways we could leverage new techniques and technologies to improve learning, guided by these foundational concepts?

Over three days in late July and early August, the 2024 conference will explore these and related questions under the broad theme of “Foundations for the Future.”  As was true the past two years, this conference will be a hybrid event. Our in-person host is the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, one of thirteen schools in the University of Wisconsin System and a major research university with 1,600 faculty serving 23,000 students, located in the city of Milwaukee on the shores of Lake Michigan. Other sessions will be held within the live but remote 72-hour format we have successfully used since 2020. We hope many participants will attend the conference in person in Milwaukee, but also warmly welcome those who choose to participate remotely.

For more information, click here.

NOW ACCEPTING 2024 PROPOSALS

International Participation Encouraged.  Deliver your Paper or Presentation In-Person or Remotely.

Submission deadline: January 12, 2024


Questions?

Fay AkindesHeadshot Akindes photo
Director, Systemwide Professional & Instructional Development
fakindes@uwsa.edu
Director, Systemwide Professional & Instructional Development
608-263-2684
fakindes@uwsa.edu

 

 

Erin McGroarty
Program Associate
608-262-8522
OPID@uwsa.edu