Ballon Open Doors Days — A Week of Pedagogical Sharing
The Hilary Ballon Center for Teaching and Learning is thrilled to announce an exciting initiative: “Ballon Open Doors Days.”
Scheduled for Week 5, February 19- 23, 2024. This week-long initiative will provide participating faculty the opportunity to join other faculty’s classrooms and gain insights into different interdisciplinary perspectives and teaching techniques. Volunteer to open your classroom doors to a small group of colleagues, or visit a classroom.
What Are Ballon Open Doors Days?
This classroom cross-visit week is an opportunity to facilitate an enriching exchange of pedagogical techniques and foster interdepartmental connections through classroom lab, and arts workshop visits.
Faculty members will be “Hosts,” and open their classroom doors during Week 5 of the Spring 2024 semester, allowing participants, “Visitors” to observe first-hand how other Hosts engage students and deploy classroom teaching techniques. In addition, visitors get to see how faculty approach topics outside of their own discipline. Visitors should then reflect on what sparked their interest, their key takeaways, and any new teaching approaches to try. The collective community engagement will strengthen our teaching and learning communities of practice.
Similar initiatives have been taken at other institutions. Here are two examples for you to explore: Faculty Bulldog Days at Yale University and The Open Classroom at Vanderbilt University.
Who Can Join Ballon Open Doors Days?
All faculty are encouraged to participate in this week-long event. You can explore different teaching methods or observe a different teaching context to gain inspiration for your own.
Observation Norms: This exercise is purely optional, formative, and for the benefit of the visitors. This is not evaluative of the host in any way. Deans and Associate Deans cannot observe within their Division. Faculty should not observe colleagues they may be considering for tenure, promotion, or renewal in the future. We encourage colleagues to visit classrooms outside their programs and/or divisions.
Stay tuned for more updates on Ballon Open Doors Days!
