Welcome to the Innovation Studio

About  | Engage | Meet the Team 

WHY INNOVATION STUDIO? 

Innovation for teaching and learning is born through our collaborations and interconnectedness as educators. In this spirit, the Innovation Studio is a dedicated space at the conference for you to explore the pervasive challenges we face in the classroom and to craft innovative approaches for better reaching our unique populations of learners.

WHAT IS THE INNOVATION STUDIO?

OLC Innovate is not a passive conference experience! Join the designers in the Innovation Studio for a series of live experimental sessions, design thinking challenges, the sharing of trade secrets, and more! This year, the innovation studio hosts a series of studio stations exploring the design thinking process, considering issues of diversity and access in designs, resident expert designers showcasing their work, and a conference retreat and reflection space for making sense and meaning of all of your wonderful learnings from the space and conference overall. Make the Innovation Studio your hub and your home base at OLC Innovate 2022, using it as a space to be inspired, network with colleagues, and reflect throughout the conference.

STOP BY OUR STATIONS

• GAMIFICATION: Explore gamification and interactive video tools that you can use to engage with your population in innovative ways.
• AUGMENTED & VIRTUAL REALITY: Engage with Augmented and Virtual Reality tools that we can use for face to face and online situations.
• ESCAPE ROOMS: Join us to take the one page escape room challenge! Can you figure out the clues?
• ENGAGEMENT & ACCESSIBILITY: Find out innovative ways that you can use PowerPoint to engage with your audience in different ways. Become an digital accessibility champion by learning simple tricks you can use to create accessible content. (Tool kits will be given out, too, to support your own work within your work environments!).

COME PROTOTYPE WITH US: Accessibility Engagement Prototypes…. “How Might We?” 

Come and spend some time ideating about accessibility and engagement. What online engaging activities do you need that meet accessibility expectations? How might we generate ideas and work with vendors such as Merlot to create content for a variety of disciplines? 

Come spend some time in various design thinking sprints centered around accessibility and engagement. From here, we will build a Community of Practice that will design and develop pieces for distribution.

IRON CHEF BATTLES

In this renaissance of emerging technology, being able to craft a killer recipe for engagement on the fly is an invaluable skill. We invite you to join us for some fiery pedagogical competition in the Technology Test Kitchen during our second annual Iron Chef Battles.

A zesty combo of popular TV cooking competition shows (Iron Chef, Chopped, etc.), we’re pairing exhibitors and educators into teams to battle for bragging rights over who can create the most exciting new recipe for technology. We’ll be holding four qualifying heats in the TTK with a high-energy finale on Friday at the end of the conference.

Here’s a Taste of the Event:

• The battle will take place during one of the 45 minute networking breaks (held on Tuesday, April 12th).
• Up to five teams will be presented with a pedagogical challenge and a set of tech “ingredients” that they’ll weave together to create an innovative solution.
• We’ll have displays hooked up to see the teams’ brainstorming process, a journalist documenting and sharing all of the recipes, and emcees roaming about to keep things fresh.
• A panel of judges and the audience will vote on which “recipe” they’re most excited to try.
• Creativity wins the day here, with instant disqualification for any team that offers a “sales pitch” for a product instead of a pedagogical solution.

The battle will consist of a unique challenge question around a pedagogical theme, with several themes aligned to the conference strands.  You’ll be able to combine several effective practices and technology tools to create a “recipe” for how to solve that challenge question. 

CHECK OUT SESSION DETAILS HERE!

While the Innovation Studio might not have live programming during our virtual conference, there is plenty to take up asynchronously. Find challenges and design thinking resources in our asynchronous engagement space.

• Innovation Studio Asynchronous Design Challenges

Looking for something to do in between sessions? Perhaps you are curious about participating in one of the OLC’s design challenges. Check out the Innovation Studio (located in the Exhibit Hall).

• Gamification and interactive video tools
• Augmented and Virtual Reality tools
• Escape Rooms For Student Success
• Accessibility toolkits
• And don’t forget to checkout the Iron Chef Battle (taking place within the Innovation Studio)