Scott Mahler, Director of Digital Learning Initiatives
@mahler_scott
I’ve always enjoyed summer in the Ann Arbor area. There are a lot of people coming and going with a fun but invigorating atmosphere facilitated by a multitude of events open for the public to enjoy like the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Ann Arbor Art Fair, Cinetopia International Film Festival, Detroit’s Concert of Colors, and the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival to name a few.
Similarly, the Digital Education & Innovation Lab (DEIL) is poised for an especially engaging and creative summer. We’ll have guests from across campus and beyond traversing our halls, collaborating in our spaces, and innovating in our studios. We plan to have a lot of fun as we create new learning experiences, many of which will be open for the public in the not-too-distant future.
We’re excited to work with some really dynamic individuals including MOOC stars Gautam Kaul from the Ross School of Business and Chuck Severance from the School of Information. University of Michigan Men’s Basketball Coach John Beilien and Menlo Innovations CEO, Rich Sheridan, will be joining Scott DeRue and Maxim Sytch from Michigan Ross to showcase the Michigan Model of Leadership and inspire and motivate global learners. We’ll be collecting stories from socially conscious U-M and high school students working with Barry Checkoway to develop a Youth Civil Rights Academy.We’re eagerly anticipating the opportunity to meet and learn from more great roots music performers in the wake of our recording of artist Chris Smither last fall with Bruce Conforth, for his upcoming MOOC, “American Roots Music”. A partnership with NovoEd provides an excellent opportunity to explore another platform in collaboration with CRLT to create an online version of the sought after Post-doc Short Course. Those are just some of the highlights.
Equally as exciting is the number of new projects we’re fortunate to experiment with this summer and the breadth of schools, centers and institutes they represent:
- Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design
- Center for Entrepreneurship
- Institute for Social Research
- U-M Law School
- College of Literature, Science and the Arts
- U-M Medical School
- Stephen M. Ross School of Business
- U-M School of Information
- U-M School of Kinesiology
- U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance
- U-M School of Social Work
Of course, our doors our open throughout the summer as we continue to investigate and scale new ways to incorporate digital media in teaching and learning. We welcome you to join us to explore new ideas at our “Digital Donuts” open office hours on Friday mornings. Happy Summer!
