Learning by Design: Translating and Implementing Olin Principles at Your Institution
A Three-Day Immersive Institute for Educators
Build Tailored Curriculum Suited for Your Institution
What is the Learning by Design Institute at Olin College?
Learning by Design is a three-day immersive institute for all educators – including those from liberal arts-focused colleges, minority-serving institutions, community colleges, K–12 schools and institutions with traditional or emerging engineering programs – seeking practical, transferable approaches to interdisciplinary student-centered project-based learning.
Drawing on Olin's deeply interconnected educational philosophy—from intrinsic motivation to curriculum structure and inclusive practice—this institute, from July 8 -10, 2026, helps participants learn and experience, then adapt approaches that support student agency, collaboration, and meaningful problem solving. Unlike traditional professional development, this program blends theory, practice, and co-design so that you leave with ready-to-apply insights and instructional ideas tailored to your unique context.
Across education, many instructors are asking how to create learning environments that are rigorous, relevant and deeply engaging. They are seeking ways to:
- Inspire students to take ownership of their learning
- Design experiences that balance intellectual challenge with meaningful support
- Bridge theory and practice in ways that honor institutional and cultural context
- Cultivate classrooms where collaboration, creativity and curiosity flourish
This institute is not designed to replicate Olin’s model. Instead, it is structured to help you identify, extract and adapt core curricular design principles. During interactive coaching sessions, we'll learn about your teaching and curricular needs and then work with you to thoughtfully integrate them into your own courses and institutions. The goal is not imitation, but translation: strengthening learning experience in ways that work where you teach.
Example Sessions
- Effective teaming
- Project-based learning in studio courses
- AI’s place in the curriculum
- Integration of arts, humanities, and social science and math, science, and engineering
- Developing civic mindedness
- Integration of hands-on fabrication into the curriculum
- Transdisciplinary course design
- How first-year courses can set community and learning expectations while delivering content
- Capstone courses that are truly culminating experiences
Who Should Attend?
This institute is ideal for educators and leaders from:
• Institutions with traditional or emerging curricular structures
• Minority-serving institutions
• Liberal arts colleges
• Community colleges
• K–12 schools
• Institutions with traditional or emerging curricular structures
Participants do not need to be engineers or work in STEM. The institute is designed for anyone interested in designing more engaging, inclusive, and effective learning experiences.
For more information
Or to reserve your spot in this year's Learning By Design Institute, email:
What You'll Experience
During the three-day institute, participants will:
- Engage with and learn Olin's foundational educational design frameworks—such as goal-driven planning and theory-informed practice—to ground instructional choices in research and experience.
- Apply concepts through hands-on activities and reflection, ensuring that ideas don't stay abstract but become actionable in your classroom, school, or program.
- Co-design practical artifacts you can use in syllabi, lesson modules, or learning experiences that reflect both your goals and what we learn together.
- Share and workshop ideas with peers across diverse institutions, building a professional network for ongoing collaboration and inspiration.
During the Learning by Design: Translating Olin Principles to Your Institution program, you'll apply concepts through hands-on activities and reflection, ensuring that ideas don't stay abstract but become actionable in your classroom, school, or program.
What You'll Gain
You'll leave with co-designed activities, assignments and instructional strategies—not just ideas, but artifacts ready to integrate into your courses, syllabi and learning experiences.
Explore the core design principles tested at Olin—including motivation, spiral learning and integrative design—and how these support deeper engagement and student ownership.
Examine research-grounded approaches such as course goal alignment and project-based learning structures with clear pedagogical foundations that work across disciplines.
Share and workshop ideas with peers across diverse institutions, building relationships for continued inspiration and support beyond the experience.
Program Details
Format: In-person, immersive experience.
Location: Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA.
Duration: Three full days of hands-on learning.
Cost: $2,000 per individual. The program fee includes lunch; however travel and lodging are not included.
What You’ll Leave With
Participants leave the Learning by Design Institute with:
- An Understanding of the core design principles behind Olin's curriculum—including motivation, spiral learning and design thinking—and how these support deeper engagement and student ownership.
- Frameworks that bridge theory and practice, such as course goal alignment and project-based learning structures with clear pedagogical foundations.
- Strategies for creating equitable and inclusive learning environments, informed by how identity, context and student experience shape outcomes.
- Tools for integrating STEM fluency and arts, humanities and social sciences in non-STEM and STEM settings alike.
Join Us at this Year's Learning By Design Immersive Institute
Reserve your spot, today!
Sign up by Email
