Our Story
Over ten years ago, Sabancı University (SU) adopted the global effort to rethink the role of faculty and students in undergraduate education and prioritize “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” (SoTL) that values evidence-based teaching approaches. Many courses in the first-year core curriculum at Sabancı University, managed by the Foundations Development Directorate (FDD) , have adopted learner-centered active learning approaches based on SoTL, working with more than 1,000 freshman students every year. Among them, the Science of Nature (NS 101/102) Courses have been the flagship in adopting an interdisciplinary and full-scale student-centered course design based on active learning.
Such a learner-centered approach is unique especially for large freshman courses in Turkish universities, and over the last 10+ years we have accumulated a variety of experiences, resources and data with our freshman students. We have also established professional development programs for instructors and teaching assistants of the core curriculum courses to help them improve necessary skills to become effective facilitators in the student-centered learning environment. Previously, we offered six workshops mainly to STEM educators; This year’s workshop expands the scope to include all disciplines beyond STEM.
The Workshop on Learner-Centered Approaches in College Education in the AI Era is aimed at sharing teaching resources and experiences we have gained while developing various core corriculum courses. This will also provide a valuable professional development opportunity for college-level educators, who are interested in SoTL and in applying innovative approaches to their courses. Moreover, the workshop explores how digital learning tools including AI-supported technologies can be integrated into learner-centered teaching. We invite academics from Turkish universities in any discipline to join the workshop! The workshop is organized by the Promoting Excellence in Education and Resources Sharing (PEERS) Initiative*.
* The PEERS initiative was established by SU educators from all faculties and units, primarily the members of FDD. PEERS serves as a platform for sharing FDD’s extensive experience in innovative and student-centered active learning approaches, developed through the core curriculum teaching across disciplines. PEERS offers workshops and seminars for SU members as well as educators from other Turkish universities, fostering pedagogical improvement and innovation as well as promoting collaborations across universities.
