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RIDLE 4X

Rethinking Instructional Design for Learning Engagement (RIDLE 4X)

 

Bringing faculty together to discuss ideas, challenges, and research around teaching and learning
  • What Is RIDLE 4X?

    XCITE has launched four Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) in Spring 2023. In collaboration with the Office of the Provost and the Council of Deans, XCITE is inviting select faculty who teach undergraduate courses from each of UCR's colleges to participate in this new faculty professional development and course design opportunity.

    The purpose of RIDLE 4X is to provide UC Riverside faculty members with time, space, and support to participate in an interdisciplinary professional development and course design collaboration to enhance their teaching, increase student success, and foster collegial discussions around teaching and learning practices at an R1 university.  

    RIDLE FLCs are based on a design thinking model which uses human-centered collaborative research methods to foster meaningful shared understanding around teaching and learning, including opportunities to engage with faculty peers and students in a supportive and dynamic community. The underlying framework has been proven to aid in the design and delivery of deep and meaningful learning experiences through the development of Social, Cognitive, and Teaching presence.

    FLCs are collaborative learning experiences which unite people through a common interest or set of problems. The strength of a FLC is in the interaction between participants' diverse ideas and how such dialogue creates opportunities for innovative teaching and learning. 

  • Precedent

    The RIDLE 4X initiative builds from the success of the XCITE 2022 RIDLE pilot. This cohort consisted of thirteen UCR faculty from across 10 departments. The success from the pilot was largely due to the enthusiasm, support, and dedication of its participants.

    As Dr. Kelly Downey from Computer Science described the experience, “I have learned so much from the material, activities, speakers, librarians, students, and other instructors. I look forward to days that we have RIDLE meetings because the meetings are always fun and I leave full of ideas and excited to implement them.”

    Dr. Annika Speer, Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production states, “RIDLE was such a generative experience, both for learning and building community with faculty and staff.” 

    Dr. Martha Cleveland-Innes, co-researcher on the CoI framework, congratulates the RIDLE awardees stating, “This is so progressive. This is the university of the future. You are doing things that absolutely need to be done. What you are doing is so important to a new way of doing a university.”

  • Time Commitment

    The FLCs will kick off March 27, 2023 and will run until December of 2023. In April, all four communities will adjourn for four communal meetings in which XCITE and invited guests will introduce the Community of Inquiry model, supporting technologies and diversity, equity, and inclusive teaching practices. After these initial meetings (which will be hybrid and also made available asynchronous), the individual FLCs will determine their own meeting schedule and format.  Each community will consist of 15 faculty members, with a faculty lead as well as an XCITE facilitator.  

  • What are the four 2023 RIDLE FLCs?

    RIDLE DX | Advance Digital Inclusion: Develop Equitable and Inclusive Pedagogy

    • Explore digitally inclusive pedagogical competencies for teaching success
    • Design course activities that support student belonging and equitable learning
    • Apply learning science research to engage learners in a digital environment 
    • Discover tools & methods that support inclusive teaching and learning
    • Identify how we can best assess if our classroom creates belongingness and is equitable 
    • Explore data on opportunity gaps for evidence-informed pedagogies
    • Consider how we might integrate high-impact practices into your curriculum

    XCITE Facilitator: Dr. Deborah Nelson dnels009@ucr.edu

     

    RIDLE FX | Foster Flexible Teaching: Design for multiple modes of learning

    • Identify learning affordances of an online, hybrid, blended, or flipped classroom
    • Design for multiple teaching and learning modalities 
    • Explore authentic assessments for addressing academic dishonesty
    • Apply evidence-based practices for student engagement in multiple teaching modalities 

    XCITE facilitator: Dr. Swati Ramani swati.ramani@ucr.edu

     

    RIDLE LX | Empower Active Learning: Engage Your Students   

    • Explore ways to improve academic achievement and to reach student outcomes more equitably using active learning strategies designed to increase student engagement and motivation. 
    • Share creative pedagogical or technological solutions to potential challenges that come with implementing active learning strategies.
    • Develop new techniques for grading and assessing active learning.
    • Familiarize yourself with ways to address some of the unique challenges that arise with active learning strategies in high-enrollment contexts.

    XCITE facilitator: Samantha Eastman samantha.eastman@ucr.edu

     

    RIDLE RX | Promote Equitable Learning: Deliver Just-in-time Academic Solutions 

    • Identify challenging content in past courses
    • Design activities necessary to assess student understanding of content
    • Identify areas of understanding and those needing intervention
    • Explore solutions to content challenges with or without technology integration
    • Design interventions in the form of adaptive learning, supplemental instruction, and supplemental content
    • Identify resources and opportunities to supplement student understanding of the material
    • Recognize the benefits that just-in-time interventions have on student engagement and motivation

    XCITE facilitator: Israel Fletes israel.fletes@ucr.edu

  • How do I participate?

    For questions about the RIDLE 4X initiative, contact Dr. Swati Ramani at swatir@ucr.edu