Staff Member Enhances Teaching and Learning to Prepare Students for Changing World

“I’m just suited for the kind of work we do, which cuts across disciplines in ways that make it hard not to get excited about coming to work,” Bryan Smith said.

Smith is the assistant director for the University of Cincinnati’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CET&L), where he facilitates course design and strategic initiatives for the center. “Naturally curious” and “wedded to learning,” Smith says there is never a day where he’s not discovering something new.

CET&L works with a broad network of teachers across the university to promote, train and support faculty in the use of research-based instructional practices to support student success in a rapidly changing world. At the heart of most of these practices, Smith says, are systems and models that allow students the opportunity to evaluate, apply and adapt knowledge to new or different contexts.

"No matter the discipline," Smith said, "What the Center really supports is working across boundaries to celebrate and strengthen a diverse learning environment that privileges discovery. In that goal we're looking to create and recognize learning experiences that challenge and support students and faculty." 

To that end, eLearning brings a slew of new tools to the table that make the classroom environment more engaging and interactive.

“There is no learning without technology,” Smith said. “We take a lot of what's already assistive for granted--even language is technology. Any conversation that helps us leverage the power of the tools available to us to create stronger learning is a conversation worth having.”