The Teaching Innovators program was the initial program offered by the CIDL for the MLI. It is a comprehensive, professional development program that focuses on the development or redesign of courses to promote active, engaged classroom experiences for students through the purposeful use of technology.

The Teaching Innovators program is an internally funded competitive grant program in which recipients receive a stipend and funding for materials, software, and hardware required to ensure the success of the individual projects.

Each participant in the Teaching Innovators program participates in a weeklong workshop that focuses on sound pedagogical practices and instructional design processes. Support is ongoing throughout the academic year with instructional design and technological support from CIDL team members.