Initial Publication Date: April 28, 2026

Information for Workshop Conveners

It is our goal to support all workshop conveners in designing, planning, and executing workshops that follow best-practices. To that end, this page provides information about those best practices and the Serckit tools that can be used before, during, and after your workshop. If you have any questions about how to implement these features, contact your web team support person.

Jump Down To: Tools to Support Best-Practices | Other Resources | On-Site Logistics | Deadlines

2026 Workshop Leader Webinar

Click to view or download the webinar screencast (MP4 Video 1435.8MB Apr28 26)

Workshop Leader Webinar Slides (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 8.5MB Apr28 26)

Related Resource

EER 2023 Workshop Planning: What we’ve learned from 2022 workshop evaluations (Acrobat (PDF) 49kB Apr5 23)

Workshop Best-Practices

Planning an effective workshop is much like planning an effective learning experience for students in the classroom and lab. What goals do you have for the participants? How will the workshop effectively engage participants and ensure that the goals for participants are met? How will you assess whether participants have benefited from the workshop? Here are some best practices that have been gleaned over more than a decade of running workshops in On the Cutting Edge and InTeGrate.

Show Workshop Best-Practices

Active engagement of participants during the workshop: Nothing is deadlier or less effective than a workshop where participants do not participate. Give people an opportunity to participate actively in every session using a variety of techniques: small group discussion, large group discussion, short problem-solving tasks, etc.
Model effective pedagogy: The most successful workshop sessions are those taught with good active pedagogy in mind and the least successful sessions are those where a presenter simply stands up and talks.
Give participants time to interact and share experience/knowledge: Participants bring valuable experience and ideas to workshops. Structured mechanisms for sharing experiences and expertise must be an integral part of every workshop program.
Emphasize practical applications: An emphasis on practical applications and strategies is an important aspect of effecting change in teaching practice.
Give participants time to make progress on a specific task that connects the workshop topic to their teaching: Time to work individually during the workshop allows participants to reflect and to make progress on adapting workshop content to their own needs. This can be effectively supported during the workshop by providing opportunities for participants to work one-on-one or in small groups with workshop leaders.
Make sure that participants leave the workshop with specific plans for future action: Workshops can produce a wide variety of results ranging from changes in teaching practice and development of new learning resources to department-level planning and community-wide action. In all cases, workshop time devoted to planning next steps and feedback from peers is critical.
Provide materials and examples: Examples of how the workshop topics can be applied in the classroom and field are particularly valuable resources for participants.
Require some preparation in advance of the workshop: Coming prepared is as important for a workshop as it is for a class. A variety of approaches can be used to prepare participants for the workshop including reflection on their goals for the workshop, development of project ideas for completion at the workshop, assembling materials for sharing, pre-workshop discussion, and participating in surveys of participant needs.
Make use of the workshop website: Use the program page to organize documents that you would like the participants to access either prior to or during the workshop. Additional pages of resources can be added to your website if you wish. Each workshop also comes with a private workspace for use by the workshop participants (more information below). The website will be a resource that your participants can return to when they want to make use of what they learned.

Tools to Support Best-Practices

Serckit (formerly the SERC CMS) was designed with support for these best-practices in mind. Through Serckit, you have access to a variety of tools to facilitate the run up to, execution of, and follow-up to your workshop at the Rendezvous.

Participant Email List

Each workshop has a private email list that includes the participants and convener(s). This email list can be used to broadcast information to all of your participants and can also be configured to allow discussion between participants if you wish. This can be a good way of generating participant interaction around particular topics ahead of your workshop. This will be emailed to the lead convener for each workshop, and will be periodically updated with new registrants.

Pre-Workshop Survey

You can use Serckit's survey tools to gather information about your participants to aid in customizing your program for them, or you may choose to create your own survey though another tool. We recommend posting such surveys far enough in advance of the Rendezvous that you will be able to get a good response rate and also have time to digest the information that you receive. If you want assistance, contact the EER co-chairs or Workshop lead.

Workspaces

Each workshop can be provided with a private workspace for use by the workshop participants. Participants can easily record discussion notes, synthesize community consensus, draft teaching or outreach materials, develop action plans and many other activities. You can see examples of how Workspaces can be used in the context of a workshop in this Example Workspace from On the Cutting Edge. If you want to configure a workspace to support the kind of interaction that you want to facilitate, please have a conversation with EER co-chairs or Workshop lead far enough in advance (by July 5 at the latest) to set things up.

Action Plans

If you wish, you can have participants complete and upload an Action Plan for what they will do with what they learned in your workshop. We have a generic Action Plan Template (Microsoft Word 26kB Jun15 15) that you can use directly or customize for your workshop.

Workshop Roadchecks

All multi-day workshops will have road check evaluations mid-workshop. These short, online forms provide formative feedback on the structure and focus of the workshop as a way of improving subsequent sessions. Conveners will have access to the de-identified data from these forms and make use of the feedback as they see fit. Note that the data will not be anonymous. Please allow 10-15 minutes for participants to provide this feedback at the end of the workshop day.

Show Roadcheck Questions

What are the top one or two things you learned today that you will use in your professional work?

Do you have any comments, concerns, suggestions, or complaints about any aspect of the workshop that you would like to bring to our attention?

What aspects of the event were the most valuable for you and why? What aspects of the event were the least valuable for you and why?

What do you need out of the workshop sessions tomorrow (and the next day) to satisfy your goals for attending the workshop?

End of Workshop Evaluations

All workshops are required to have an End of Workshop Evaluation and you will be provided with a form to use. This exit survey will be tied to your workshop goals and is designed to get formative feedback on the workshop format and how it serves participants' overall meeting goals, as well as feedback for you. You will be provided with a link to your online survey with standard questions. Please allow 10-15 minutes for participants to provide this feedback at the end of the workshop.

Other Resources

You can read more about the lessons learned over the years of Cutting Edge and InTeGrate workshops on those project websites:

Logistics

On-Site

Each workshop room has Wi-Fi access and a projector. Please bring your own laptop to use for presentations (including adapters). Also, plan to bring any supplies you might need. Let us know in advance of any special needs.

Deadlines

April 19: Have a clear program that can be published on the website.
June 7: Have finalized program with details, including but not limited to, details down to the half hour on the live page; communicate with EER co-chairs or Workshop lead to support on features that are needed (pre-surveys, workspace, roadchecks).
July 5: Finalize details of workshop support with EER co-chairs or Workshop lead as needed. Requests made after this date may not be honored.