This is an archive of the ACE Workshop website. While all of the original content is available, some features (like forms) may no longer work and there may be broken links (indicated with a strike-through). 

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The ACE 
Framework

Back to the CoLab

A guide for decision-making and professional development planning during times of crisis.

Complicating the Conversation: The ACE Framework in Context

The ACE Framework is designed to be flexible and adaptive, allowing faculty to employ it in any teaching context. However, we acknowledge that some course contexts are particularly challenging to take into hybrid or online modalities. From this page, you can follow links to advice and resources for tackling some of these challenging learning contexts. If you think of something we’ve missed, please submit your idea below!

Experiential Learning

Resources for classes that involve labs, internships/clinicals, performances, field trips, hands-on creation/fabrication.

Project-Based Learning

Resources for classes where students learn through the design and implementation of large-scale and/or real-world projects.

Large Lecture Learning

Resources for classes that depend upon larger-scale classroom settings and traditional lecture content delivery.

Exam-Intense Learning & Proctoring

Resources for classes that use high-stakes testing, particularly to prepare students for real-world and certification exams.

Supporting First-Year Students Online

Resources for courses that teach only or primarily first-year students who are new to the campus community.

Are you teaching a class in the fall that has a particularly challenging context we haven’t addressed above? Fill out this form with details so we can get back to you and, perhaps, create a new resource list for this site. 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

About the Workbook

The Workbook is an online space for you to record your reflections and assignments for the Workshop.

Participants at PSU will be using an Office 365 Word Document (available via the “Files” section of the “General” channel in the ACE Workshop Teams space).

Participants at other institutions should check with their Workshop Facilitator(s) about where to work on their Workbook.

About the Discussion Forum

The Discussion Forum is an online space where all the members of the Workshop can share ideas and reflections and build community

Participants at PSU will be using the ACE Workshop Teams space).

Participants at other institutions should check with their Workshop Facilitator(s) about where to access their Discussion Forum.

About the VidSpace

The VidSpace is an online space for synchronous video meetings among participants (that can also be recorded and shared for asynchronous access).

Participants at PSU will be using Zoom (available via the Zoom tab in the ACE Workshop Teams space).

Participants at other institutions should check with their Workshop Facilitator(s) about where to access their VidSpace. 

About the ACE “Institutional Level”

The ACE Framework is primarily designed for faculty who are readjusting their curriculum during times of regional, national, or global crisis. But in order for the work that faculty do with their assignments and courses to be most effective, it should be aligned with the institutional mission, which should guide policy and structural planning related to curriculum and teaching.

The institutional level of the framework is a reminder to faculty that if their adjustments at the assignment- or course-level are difficult to operationalize successfully, it could be due to larger policies and structures that are mis-aligned with the ACE Framework; advocacy may be warranted to bring the institution into alignment.

The institutional level of the framework is also a call to university policy-making committees, administrators, Boards of Trustees, and legislators that there is much work to be done to prepare university policies and structures to support students and faculty who are learning and teaching through challenging times.