During Tuesday's retreat, there will be presentations on active learning, the current status of "Van Leer II," and our current plans for using stand alone, hands-on experimental modules in courses that traditionally do not have labs.  We will also have a presentation on Tuesday by College of Engineering Dean Gary May.

During the retreat, breakout groups will discuss and provide input on the following topics:

Hands-on Experimental Modules:  A number of required courses in our new undergraduate curricula have already been designed to exploit these modules.  The TESSAL Center (http://www.ece.gatech.edu/research/tessal/index.html) is our local resource for supporting these efforts.  How can TESSAL best work with the faculty teaching those courses?  Which other courses could also use hands-on modules, and what should the focus of those modules be?  

Active Learning:  Problem-based learning has received quite a bit of attention on campus in recent years and can be viewed as one type of active learning.  Are there aspects of active learning that we should integrate into how we teach our courses in order to better engage our students?  If so, which ones should be specific components of the structure of our courses (such as the hands-on modules developed by the TESSAL Center will be)?  Are there best practices from active learning that can be used to improve our teaching?

Van Leer II and the Renovation of Van Leer:  Of the buildings on Georgia Tech's construction 'wish list,' our new building is the only one that is associated with a single school.  What can we do to take full advantage of both this new building and the renovation of Van Leer?  Are there opportunities that can make these projects more useful for our programs and/or more attractive to prospective donors?