Welcome

Welcome

Welcome to L4: Living Lab Learning Library! This site is a resource exchange for innovative teaching practices, ideas big and small, and a place where educators within and beyond City Tech can interact with each other, share classroom activities and search for inspiration.

Find and Share Activities

Browse What Worked for Us? for an index of categories on the right side of the page. Select the appropriate categories to find activities that might work in your classroom. Likewise, you can find a chronological list of all the projects and assignments contributed on Activities.

Sharing is simple! ‘Submit your Activity‘ and complete the form. It’s as easy as that. This site is public so you don’t need to be logged in or an OpenLab member to explore the site and share activities.

More About Us

This site is an outgrowth of “A Living Laboratory: Revitalizing General Education for a 21st Century College of Technology,” a major grant-funded project centered on the idea of using City Tech and its location as a “living lab.”

What was “A Living Laboratory”?

It was the College’s biggest grant— a five-year $3.1M initiative (2010-2015) funded by the U.S. Department of Education Strengthening Hispanic-Serving Institutions (Title V) program. The mission, to re-envision General Education as a “living laboratory” using City Tech’s signature strengths – hands-on experiential models of learning and our vibrant Brooklyn Waterfront location.

Four activities worked together towards institutional transformation:

  1. The Gen Ed Seminar: brought together diverse groups of Faculty Fellows  to revitalize General Education through place-based learning and high-impact educational practices. More via the Gen Ed seminar site;
  2. The OpenLab: created a new digital platform to support open teaching and learning at City Tech, and enhanced the intellectual and social fabric of the college community;
  3. A Culture of Assessment: integrated comprehensive outcomes assessment into the General Education curriculum;
  4. The Brooklyn Waterfront Research Center: built an endowment to support student and faculty research at this newly-created City Tech institution. More via the BWRC site.

Now that the grant has come to a close, those initiatives continue to be an active part of City Tech’s institutional culture in new and exciting ways.

  • The Gen Ed Seminar: Now an ongoing fixture at City Tech, the General Education Seminar is designed to make General Education more visible in our classrooms and courses. Participants explore, implement and assess a variety of teaching practices proven to engage students. For more information, contact contact the Living Lab General Education Seminar Co-Directors, Javiela Evangelista (jevangelista@citytech.cuny.edu) and Cailean Cooney (ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu).
  • The OpenLab: Now a thriving digital platform for open teaching and learning at City Tech, its membership is growing daily as students, faculty, and staff meet there to learn, work, and share their ideas. For more information, visit OpenLab About.
  • A Culture of Assessment: City Tech continues to support integrated comprehensive outcomes assessment into the General Education curriculum. For more information, visit the AIRE.
  • The Brooklyn Waterfront Research Center: Affectionately known as the BWRC, the Brooklyn Waterfront Research Center is now a vibrant City Tech institution that supports faculty and community research, including public talks and conferences. For more information, visit BWRC.
  • L4: Living Lab Learning Library: This site is a continuation of the innovative teaching practices inspired by “A Living Laboratory” and developed by City Tech faculty. Here faculty can exchange innovative teaching practices, ideas big and small, and it serves as a place where faculty can interact with each other and with the larger community of educators.

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