We’re Golden at Fifty!
Big blog news today! This entry marks the fiftieth Mosaic Initiative blog. This notably numbered issue appears just three years since the debut of the inaugural Mosaic blog in November 2017. So much has happened in that short time that we have published a blog and a half per month (on average) for the last three years. That is a terrific amount of blogging!
As envisioned at the outset, the Mosaic Initiative blog has become a platform to share our evolving story with active learning classrooms at Indiana University. We’ve invited our many IU stakeholders — faculty, students, staff, and administrators – to share their contributions to the Mosaic Initiative. This blog is a place to highlight our diverse perspectives on active learning classrooms. It is also a creative venue through which to share resources on how to teach in our Mosaic classrooms, as many of our blogs have featured approaches and faculty recommendations, many of which appear on our Mosaic website for easy access. Additionally, the blog has served as a digital archive of resources for how we support faculty in our active learning classrooms, including downloadable copies of handouts that colleagues at other universities could use with their own faculty.
International Readership
A quick check of our analytics for the Mosaic Initiative blogs reveals that our Indiana University readership has been significant. Out of the over 10,000 reads, 40% have been from in-state. A big statistical surprise was how large the national and the international audience is for the blog. So far, we have readers representing 118 countries and 49 states (and Washington D.C.). Our blog’s broad and growing audience highlights the worldwide interest in active learning classrooms.
Our Most Popular Blogs
To reflect on how far we’ve come, I’m re-sharing some of our most popular posts since 2017, written by various contributors to the Mosaic Initiative representing a few of Indiana University’s eight campuses.
Student Blog: In one of our most read blogs, Indiana University Junior, Mary Clare Novak, shares her experiences with Mosaic classrooms in the IU Media school. She describes her first impressions of an active learning classroom, her favorite features of a Mosaic classroom, and her realization that a Mosaic classroom is a “bonus teammate.”
Faculty Blogs: We have featured a number of blogs by Indiana University faculty. For example, Yu Kay Law and Kelly Hanson share their experiences and insights from the Mosaic Design Symposium, held June 15, 2018 on the IUPUI campus. Elaine Monaghan, IU Media school Professor of Practice, shares about teaching in one of the IU Media School’s Mosaic classrooms. In his blog, Jeremy Price shares how he uncovers student experiences and perceptions of their Mosaic classroom through their drawings.
Staff Blogs: One of my own blogs provides a reading list for those who want to become familiar with the literature on active learning classrooms. Garry Cummins, IU’s Principal Learning Spaces Engineer, shares his impressions of an observation of a Mosaic classroom. Former Mosaic Research Intern and current Visiting Research Scientist at the IU School of Education, Suraj Uttamchandani, reflects on how instructors can use student evaluations to get feedback on their experiences in their active learning classrooms.
Onward to Blog 100
Next month we start writing towards our one hundredth blog. Look for more features from our many Indiana University stakeholders. Interested in learning more about IU’s Mosaic Initiative? Visit our Mosaic Initiative site or follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with what’s next for Mosaic.
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