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About

What it Is

The Innovative Teaching Showcase is an online series publication created by the Center for Instructional Innovation (CII) at Western Washington University (WWU) as a way to highlight and share exceptional teaching practices by WWU faculty. Some instructors are showcased because of the way they teach an entire course, a single lesson, or the way they approach all their classes. At the heart of each Showcase is the innovative method instructors use to facilitate their students' learning in unique and creative ways.

For each edition, several WWU instructors who exemplify the Showcase teaching strategy theme either are nominated or self-nominate to be featured. The CII Advisory Board reviews and selects nominees for inclusion in each Innovative Teaching Showcase. Selected instructors work with the CII to develop the resource over several months. The published work remains on the site indefinitely.

The Innovative Teaching Showcase is a series publication (ISSN: 2374-9415) with issues dating back to 1999.

Openness

The spirit of the Innovative Teaching Showcase has always been to provide open access to academic best practices. This began well before the "Creative Commons" and open license movements. We have now placed the most appropriate license on each page of the publication, which is: "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International" (CC BY-NC-ND). This means that people may use the materials posted for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate attribution is provided and the same license is posted with the content wherever it goes. To use the content in a more customized way, contact the instructors for permission. Some recordings are not posted as Creative Commons due to the inclusion of purchased music which holds a different copyright. For this reason, "unless otherwise noted" is included in our license description. Full details are available on the "Colophon" page of each edition of the Showcase.

What it Includes

The CII works with several instructors for each edition to develop and publish their innovation on the Showcase website. Each section is composed of three parts:

  • a portfolio (written by the instructor) describing the innovative strategy in detail (what it is, how it is done, why it works, what students think, and future directions);
  • examples of the work in the form of syllabi, assignments, and supporting documents; and
  • clips of recorded interview with instructor.
    • Note that as of 2026, interviews are audio-only.

Benefits for Instructors

WWU instructors find that compiling and sharing teaching best practices outside the scope of their department or the tenure and promotion process is a rewarding experience. By contributing to this resource, excellent teaching methods can inspire others at Western and beyond. The CII presents innovations from the Showcase website at campus-based functions as well as national conferences. Featured instructors, too, find the persistent resource is useful for sharing their work with others, as part of their tenure and promotion materials, and in other professional venues.

Showcase Team

The student technology assistants in the CII work with the CII director/project manager as a team, contributing their complimentary talents and skills to each Showcase. The student employees are able to gather useful work samples to add to their portfolios and working skills they can draw upon as they enter their new professions. This publication simply would not exist without the talents of scores of students who have worked at the Center for Instructional Innovation over the years. Indeed, the project takes significant time to develop, especially during spring term, and support is especially essential from area directors in Academic Technology and User Services and the Vice President for Business & Financial Affairs.