Our Mission
The Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning helps position Bentley University for a promising future by catalyzing and investing in innovative ideas from across the institution. The Badavas Center partners with faculty, staff, students, alumni, and corporations to support current educational experiments, connect existing teaching and learning assets in new ways and help launch strategic initiatives.
Our Offerings: From Concept to Action
Through a blend of individualized support, group workshops, programmatic initiatives, and enterprise-level strategies, we empower faculty and staff to elevate teaching and learning experiences at Bentley University and beyond. As an innovation center, we are consistently iterating, piloting, ideating, and building, and we welcome new opportunities to partner with you! Here are a few examples of what we do:
High-Impact Practices
Assisting faculty in integrating impactful teaching practices, such as Badavas’ research-based five Pedagogical Pillars, to optimize student learning outcomes.
Thought Partnerships
Collaborating with educators and centers to develop innovative ideas, including Pre-Bentley programs, GlobAL Action, and First Year Experience.
Enterprise & Curriculum Innovations
Partnering with groundbreaking innovations that shape Bentley’s academic landscape, build its capacity to excel in the future, and advance Executive and Professional Education.
PADE Opportunities
Building scale and pedagogically advanced digitally enabled capabilities through faculty support in creating digital content and facilitating experiential learning.
What's Brewing in Badavas?
Bagels @ Badavas
Join Bagels @ Badavas for collaborative discussions and creative teaching approaches over breakfast.
Student Showcases
Discover student achievements and creative work at the Badavas Student Showcases.
Pedagogical Innovation Unleashed
Explore creative teaching strategies and the role of play with the Pedagogical Innovation Unleashed workshop series.
Department Visits
Develop forward-thinking educational solutions to address unique departmental interests.
Book Club
Explore groundbreaking AI research in education with our Book Club's latest pick, "Teaching with AI."
Spark Sessions
Discover and try new educational strategies at Spark Sessions through dynamic student and faculty-led ideation.
Bagels @ Badavas
Bagels @ Badavas provides an informal space for convening to foster collaboration and ideation around a given topic in teaching and learning. Informal sharing and learning opportunities among faculty enable the sharing of best practices, innovative teaching methods, disciplinary insights, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Informal learning fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity, providing faculty with the freedom to explore topics beyond the confines of traditional curriculum and spaces. Creating spaces for convening, such as Bagels @ Badavas, enhances understanding through shared perspectives and collective problem-solving, nurturing a sense of community and mutual support among participants and ultimately strengthening the collective expertise of the academic community. These practices not only enhance individual teaching effectiveness but also contribute to a vibrant culture of intellectual exchange and collegiality within academic institutions. Bagels @ Badavas topics have included Community Building in the Classroom, Feedback vs Feedforward, Active Learning, Global Action Learning, and more!
Join us on Wednesday, October 16th at 11:00 AM to discuss how to use storytelling as a teaching tool. We look forward to seeing you at Badavas!
Student Showcase
Student Showcases at Badavas are one-hour sessions where students and faculty from a specific course share their creative and captivating work with the broader community, providing a space to convene and celebrate student achievement.
The next Student Showcase is “Art to Art-ificial Intelligence: The Future of Humans”, led by Professor Mita Das from the Mathematical Sciences Department. Join us for an exciting exploration of the profound question: What makes us human?
In this one-hour session, Bentley’s FDS students will share their thought-provoking work on human identity and its evolving nature in the age of artificial intelligence and algorithms. Their creative projects reflect a deep engagement with the theme of Math and Nature: Observations of Humanity in a World of AI.
Don't miss this chance to celebrate student achievement, enjoy treats, and engage in insightful discussions!
Date: December 3rd
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Location: The Badavas Center (AAC 160)
Pedagogical Innovation Unleashed
Pedagogical Innovation Unleashed is a interdisciplinary cohort-based workshop series that aims to empower educators to incubate new teaching
approaches & explore the role of play in the learning process.
Interested? If you are a Bentley instructor, join the Unleashed Cohort 2024-2025 this fall! Contact Liz Paushter (epaushter@bentley.edu) for details.
OPPORTUNITY
The "Unleashed" faculty embark on a pedagogical journey as a cohort, exploring areas of teaching innovation, such as:
- "Inquiry Illuminated: Igniting Curiosity in the Classroom"
- "Precision and Flexibility: Crafting Structural Excellence with Iteration in Teaching Approaches"
- "Scholarly Play: Exploring the Role of Play in Teaching and Learning"
- "Applying Innovations: Practical Transformation in Teaching"
EXPERIENCE
- Dive into bold experimentation, from interactive tech to experiential activities, pushing teaching boundaries.
- Form a collaborative learning group of educators (the "Unleashed"), becoming thought partners beyond the workshops, sharing insights and challenges.
- Iterate and adapt your teaching practices, and explore the transformative role of play in education, unlocking creative and engaging approaches to enhance student learning.
Department Visits
Department Visits offer a pedagogical partner in discipline-specific teaching and learning conversations, programs, and ideation.
The Badavas Center is dedicated to helping departments push the boundaries of innovation within each field. We offer departments a space to think creatively and strategically about their unique challenges and opportunities. Through targeted support and guidance, departments can leverage their disciplinary expertise to develop innovative solutions that not only address current needs but also anticipate future trends. In doing so, Badavas helps foster a culture of innovation and excellence within each department, ultimately driving meaningful progress and impact in their respective fields.
Most recent department visit: Department of Management, with a focus on experiential learning!
“Giving Students a World-Wide Audience Through Wiki Education” webinar with Dr. Tamara Ledley from Natural & Applied Sciences and Andres Vera from Wiki Education, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization who promotes the integration of Wikipedia into coursework by educators. Join us to hear how Dr. Tamara Ledley uses Wiki Education to help students develop their research, writing, and media literacy skills, enhance their ability to synthesize and present information, and build global perspectives. See flyer for more details.
Book Club
The teaching and learning ecosystem—Badavas Center, Academic Technology Center, Learning Design, and Bentley Learning & Teaching Council—offered a book club on texts about teaching and learning. The upcoming text was Teaching with AI.
Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to A New Era of Human Learning: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way we learn, work, and think. Its integration into classrooms and workplaces is already underway, impacting and challenging ideas about creativity, authorship, and education. In this groundbreaking and practical guide, teachers will discover how to harness and manage AI as a powerful teaching tool. This book presents emerging and powerful research on the seismic changes AI is already creating in schools and the workplace, providing invaluable insights into what AI can accomplish in the classroom and beyond.
The Bentley Learning and Teaching Council welcomed author C. Edward Watson ("Eddie") to campus for the 2024 Colloquium!
The Bentley Library has two copies available for borrowing: Print Copy and Audiobook. Feel free to request these resources from the library!
Spark Sessions
These faculty and/or student-led ideation sessions are sponsored by the teaching and learning ecosystem--Badavas Center, Academic Technology Center, Learning Design—and are intended to engage faculty, spark curiosity, and engender willingness to try new things together.
Most recent Spark Session: "Crack the Case: Case-Based Teaching with Generative AI" with Professor Bill Schiano!
Stay tuned for information on future Spark sessions! In the meantime, take advantage of Bagels @ Badavas, Innovation Incubation Hours, Book Club, and more!
