The Center for Academic Innovation is playing a critical role in bringing together leaders in academic change from across the country to collaborate, share ideas and best practices, and receive professional development.
Kirwan Center Announces New Round of Elkins SoTL Fellowship Awardees
The USM Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation welcomes the 2025-2026 cohort of Elkins SoTL Fellows – USM faculty who will receive mini-grants and technical support to conduct projects focused on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).
Spring 2025 SoTL Showcase Call for Proposals
The Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation invites faculty across the University System of Maryland (USM) to participate in a spring 2025 showcase celebrating the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This system-wide event will provide a platform to share research findings and innovative teaching practices. This event is an extension of the Kirwan Center’s Elkins Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Fellows Program that has been ongoing since 2023.
Inaugural Cohort of Faculty from Five USM Institutions Named SOTL Fellows
The William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation at the University System of Maryland (USM) welcomes Dr. Kelly Elkins of Towson University as a Senior Fellow, to lead system support of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). This will include working with an inaugural cohort of faculty selected as 2023-24 Elkins SoTL Fellows from across five USM institutions.
Creating a Systemwide IRB for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
In Fall 2021, the Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation proposed developing a Systemwide IRB protocol for USM faculty who wish to engage in common types of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research projects that pose minimal risk to participants.
Silver Linings: Lessons Learned from Teaching during the Pandemic
The Kirwan Center is pleased to announce the release of Silver Linings: Lessons Learned from Teaching during the Pandemic. Featuring faculty and administrator reflections on the challenges, triumphs, lessons learned, and new instructional approaches as a result of teaching through, and since, the pandemic.
Return on Investment of Academic Innovation
In spring 2018, members of the Kirwan Center’s Academic Transformation Advisory Council (ATAC) embarked on a project to conduct analyses of return on investment (ROI) on academic innovation efforts undertaken around the system.
Many Colleges Now See Centers for Teaching With Technology as Part of ‘Innovation Infrastructure’
The survey conducted by the Kirwan Center on directors of academic-technology centers at 163 colleges and universities is featured in an new article in the Chronicle of Higher Education
Dr. MJ Bishop delivers keynote address at CELDA 2015 in Dublin, Ireland
(Adelphi, Md., Oct. 26, 2015) – William E. Kirwan Center Director MJ Bishop set the direction for the 12th annual International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age, revisiting instructional message design’s objectivist learning theory and transmission-oriented communication theory foundations, discussing current trends and issues being raised in the literature, and exploring ways the field might continue to serve as a “linking science” between learning theory and instructional practice. In her keynote address, Dr.
New report on Leading‐edge Postsecondary Academic Innovation Centers
The Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation has released today a new report detailing the emergence of a new, interdisciplinary “innovation infrastructure” within higher education administration.
This report presents the findings from the following activities conducted by the Kirwan Center:
