The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW), an intensive 24 to 30 hour event, is a laboratory approach to the improvement of teaching and learning and can be conducted in a variety of formats. The ISW is facilitated by people who teach, for people who teach. Each ISW ideally comprises a group of four to six participants and one or two facilitators. Participants review basic ideas about teaching, check current practices, and are encouraged to try new instructional strategies and techniques within the safe environment of the group. The ISW may also include sessions about teaching skills, learner needs, and other teaching and learning themes that arise in learning environments.
The ISW is a developmental activity and is a peer process. While facilitators have had training in the ISW facilitation process, they are instructors just like the participants. The ISW is a collaboration between facilitators and participants that is grounded in active, experiential learning, and based on principles of learning-centered instruction. The ISW raises awareness of and sensitivity to some of the many dimensions of diversity and explores how to help learners benefit from opportunities presented by diverse classrooms.

The ISW engenders competence and confidence as an instructor.

• work closely with peers to improve each other’s teaching
• practice a variety of instructional strategies and techniques
• increase awareness of participatory learning concepts
• connect with colleagues from a range of disciplines
• experience the diversity of a contemporary classroom
• recognize the importance of establishing a positive learning environment
• increase knowledge of self as a teacher