50 Teach-Outs and Counting: Almost 200,000 Learners Explore Topics from Practicing Gratitude to GenAI
Teach-Outs are live online learning events inspired by the Teach-Ins of the 1960s
Sean Corp, Content Strategist
Nearly 60 years ago on the campus of University of Michigan, during a period of escalation of the Vietnam War, students joined together to spend 12 hours learning about the realities on the ground in Vietnam, in Washington, D.C., and at home in Michigan. University professors, activists and students gathered to teach and learn together. It became known as the first Teach-In at U-M.
What could we learn from the Teach-In, and how could we apply it to learning in the 21st century? Those are questions that U-M faculty and leaders at the Center for Academic Innovation asked, and since 2017 they have continued the teaching and learning traditions of Teach-Ins through Teach-Outs.
They are called Teach-Outs because instead of huddling together at a central location on campus, these are online learning events attended by people all over the world. However, they share the same tradition of tackling society’s most pressing, sensitive issues, and in bringing a diverse roster of academics, practitioners, and experts to come together to explore a topic.
“We are continually exploring new modes of learning and engagement, convening people for important conversations, and bringing together multiple perspectives as we all work to solve society’s biggest challenges,” said James DeVaney, associate vice provost for academic innovation and the founding executive director of the center.
“Teach-Outs have allowed us to bring together thousands of learners from all over the world to engage in dialogue, learn from experts, and also learn from each other. The world is full of increasingly complex issues. Teach-Outs provide an opportunity for learners everywhere to level-up understanding and see themselves as problem solvers.”
From Gratitude to GenerativeAI
Six years into the Teach-Out experiment, this mode of online learning is still going strong, passing 50 total Teach-Outs hosted at the center with the launch of the ChatGPT and GenerativeAI Teach-Outs in 2023.
While nobody could have conceived of a worldwide community gathering to discuss the emerging topic and disruptive potential of large language models like ChatGPT 60 years ago, it is a perfect encapsulation of the kinds of issues the CAI Teach-Out team tries to tackle. It also happened to be one of the most popular Teach-Out of all time, enrolling more than 13,000 learners.
View an interactive timeline of the last five years of global conversations in the Teach-Out series. View timeline >>
“The world is changing rapidly, and we are always trying to open up these important conversations to our audiences of global learners. We strive to bring together multiple perspectives and create opportunities for learners to share their valuable life experiences around timely and important issues of the day,” said Rebecca Quintana, director of blended and online learning design at the center.
Among the most popular topics explored in Teach-Outs include sleep deprivation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fake news, police brutality, cryptocurrency, hurricanes and practicing gratitude.
The Next 50 Teach-Outs
The Teach-Out team is always looking to adapt and refine its process, and iterate on its own success. Often, popular Teach-Outs are updated with new information, new perspectives, and new approaches to teaching and learning.
Jenni Patterson, a senior design manager at the center who leads the development of each Teach-Out, says that much like those individual Teach-Outs, the design team is always looking at iterating the approach and production of Teach-Outs to ensure their continued success.
“We believe these Teach-Outs are having a real impact and they are appreciated by our learners, but we are also asking ourselves how we can make them better. And that is true for every step of the process - how we design and develop each Teach-Out, how we work with our expert contributors, and how we can encourage social interaction and engagement with learners once the Teach-Out is live,” Patterson said.
The calendar is quickly filling up with the Teach-Outs that will fill the calendar for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024. But the power of the Teach-Out is that you never know what topics will emerge and capture the public’s interest.
“When you come in on Monday morning, you never know if what you see in the news will mean an impromptu meeting to start work on another Teach-Out so you can present it to learners a month later. It can be stressful, but it’s also fun, and a lot of us find Teach-Outs to be some of the most rewarding projects we work on.”