WisCEL Anniversary

On Friday, November 14, people involved with the creation and implementation of the Wisconsin Collaboratory for Enhanced Learning (WisCEL) gathered at Wendt Commons to celebrate the center’s third anniversary. As a recent feature in Inside UW noted, “Staff at WisCEL’s two learning centers, located in College Library and Wendt Commons, work closely with instructors to not only incorporate technology into curricula, but also to rethink how course architectures and instructional strategies can allow for innovative approaches to learning.”

The WisCEL center has been “a great partner with the library” according to Carrie Kruse, director of College Library.  “While the library is extremely busy in the evenings, there is capacity during daytime hours, which exactly fits the instructional needs of the active learning space. We can leverage the full use of the space during all hours the library is open.”

Sarah Mason, WisCEL’s associate director, noted, “There’s a lot of interest in blended-learning and active-learning instruction models on campus, and this is one of the few places were instructors can do it.” A UW-Madison news article from 2012  highlighted WisCEL as one of the major success stories of the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates (MIU).  At that time, “students in WisCEL sections of pre-calculus-level math and engineering courses consistently earned more A, AB, and B grades — and fewer D and F grades — than students in the non‐WisCEL sections of the same courses.”  Another article, “WisCEL Ties Technology with Teaching” was recently featured in The Badger Herald.

We’re pleased that both campus administrators and students are acknowledging the value of this initiative and College Library looks forward to a long and successful partnership.