Conference Program
Concurrent Sessions and the Review Process: Going the extra distance
We are very proud of being an Educational Developers Caucus that models educational development through its conference Call for Proposals and review process. Proposing a session involves working through a process, as educational developers do every day, to make the end result the best it can be. In this year of the Olympics out on the coast, it is fitting to see how your hard work, care and attention comes together in this conference. If there was an Olympics event for educational development, members of the EDC would surely win it!
The program you see before you is the result of the commitments of time, energy and expertise of a very large number of people who proposed sessions and/or acted as reviewers.
The 2010 program includes 37 sessions, led by approximately 70 colleagues from 35 institutions. Twelve colleagues from 8 institutions volunteered to be reviewers. Each proposal was blind-reviewed by 2-3 reviewers.
Those who proposed sessions built reviewers' feedback and suggestions into their re-submitted sessions. Titles, descriptions and sometimes format, changed a little, or a lot as a result of this process and the team efforts of authors and reviewers. Authors asked me to thank the reviewers for their help. I echo that sentiment and proudly present them to you:
Reviewers for 2010 EDC Conference
Cathy Baillie, Programs Coordinator, Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation, University of Toronto
Judy Chan, Educational Developer, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth, University of British Columbia
Ottilia Chareka, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, St Francis Xavier University
John Grant McLoughlin, Professor, Faculty of Education, University of New Brunswick
Eileen Herteis, Director, Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre Chair, AAU Coordinating Committee on Faculty Development, Mount Allison University
Janice Johnson, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator; Facilitator and Instructional Developer, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth, University of British Columbia
Ehsan Latif, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Thompson Rivers University
Saira Mall, Courseware Support Specialist, Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation (CTSI), University of Toronto
Siva Prasad Ravi, Assistant Professor, School of Business and Economics, Thompson Rivers University
Nicola Simmons, Research and Evaluation Consultant, Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
Ros Woodhouse, Academic Director, Centre for the Support of Teaching, York University
Alice Cassidy, Associate Director, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG), University of British Columbia
Many thanks to all session authors and reviewers. Special thanks to Kaitlin Russell, an undergraduate student assistant at TAG, for her valued help with the proposal and review summary work. Thanks too to Rias Shibab at TAG for his help early on.
Enjoy the conference, everyone!
Alice Cassidy, Associate Director, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG), University of British Columbia; Vice-chair, Professional Development, Educational Developers Caucus; Chair, Academic Program, 2010 EDC Conference
2010 Educational Developers Caucus (EDC) Conference, Concurrent Sessions
Notes:
1. If all presenters are from the same institution (and/or unit or department), these are listed once at the end of the presenters' names
2. If references are cited in a session description, presenters will make full reference citations available at the session.
3. How are sessions organized? First, multiple sessions of the same format involving the same individuals needed to be separated. Next, the rare special requests related to limitations of travel dates were accommodated. After that 'easy part', a good spread of institutions and topics was tackled and after some agonizing final rearrangements (after all, who doesn't want to go to all of them because they are so great?), here it is:
Session I: Ideas Exchange
Friday, February 19; 10:15 - 10:50 am
I a Student Street
Promoting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): A joint project, UBC Okanagan and Thompson Rivers University
Peter Arthur, Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UBC Okanagan and Gary Hunt, Coordinator, Centre for Teaching and Learning, Thompson Rivers University
UBC Okanagan and Thompson Rivers University are investigating a joint project to promote faculty engagement in SoTL. The two campuses plan to support each other in this venture and hope to develop similar and complementary strategies that will result in educating faculty more fully about the scholarly opportunities provided by SoTL projects. We seek to promote the credibility of SoTL alongside traditional research interests that pervade universities.
You are invited to contribute insights and suggestions regarding your experiences with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning on your campus. Join the conversation to forward the cause of SoTL! Let’s share the variety of SoTL initiatives at our institutions.
I b Student Street
The Learn Together Collaboratory
Sylvia Currie, Manager, Client Services – Online Communities, BCcampus; Andrew Marchand, Educational Technologist, Vancouver Island University; Paul Stacey, Director of Communications, Stakeholder and Academic Relations, BCcampus and Nancy Randall, Randall Learning Consultants, Inc.
The Learn Together Collaboratory (LTC) is an online professional development environment that aims to support networking, sharing, collaboration, communication, and partnerships for the enhancement of teaching and learning across Canada and beyond. The beta site was launched in 2008 with four core areas: 1) an expertise inventory, 2) events database, 3) post-secondary recognition awards inventory, and 4) post-secondary funding sources. Several key questions have emerged through participation:
1) What encourages you to participate in an academic online exchange?
2) How can the LTC support your work locally?
3) What international connections are important/valuable to you?
4) How can we support transition to leadership roles in the LTC?
During this session you will learn about sharing and networking opportunities the LTC currently offers to members of the teaching community at your institution. In addition we seek your ideas for needs, strategies, and design features, as well as suggestions for resources that will assist with future development. [http://www.ltcollaboratory.org/]
I c Student Street
Practical and Transformational Faculty Development for De-colonizing the Institution
Tereigh Ewert-Bauer, Instructional Development Specialist, The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan recognizes that all activities in the institution can be significantly richer and more inclusive than it has been historically. In recently revised institutional documents, the University emphasizes its commitment to achieving these goals by seeking the knowledge, skills, and perspectives that are typically excluded from Euro-centric educational institutions.
Significantly engaged in Aboriginal Education Programs, the College of Education is piloting a project supporting faculty to shift away from traditionally Euro-centric classrooms and curricula. This re-imagining requires faculty development that helps instructors to reach these goals. Ideally, we hope that this pilot project will serve as a model for a campus-wide initiative.
What challenges do we face in this type of faculty development? Let’s exchange or collaboratively create/identify successful strategies, resources, and approaches, any/all of which we can bring back to our home institutions to broaden and enrich to our roles and capabilities as educational developers.
I d Student Street
One Minute Paper: Can we improve it?
Ehsan Latif, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Thompson Rivers University
As educational developers know, instructors use a “One Minute Paper” by setting aside the last minute of class for students to answer two questions, usually relating to the most significant point and the most confusing point of the lecture. Instructors collect and review responses, then address some aspect of them in the next class.
I seek your comments and ideas on designing an empirical study of the "One Minute Paper". What are possible shortcomings of the method and how might we identify ways to overcome them? It is hoped that such a study will benefit teachers who use this method, and educational developers in their work to improve the effectiveness of this and other techniques.
I e Student Street
Creation of a Handbook for a Graduate Certificate Program in Teaching
Katherine Pettem, Facilitator, and Adam Soliman, Coordinator, Graduate Certificate Program in Teaching in Higher Education, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG), University of British Columbia (UBC)
This year we developed a handbook for our Graduate Certificate Program, which includes readings, additional resources, program guidelines, and worksheets for participants to track their progress. Inclusivity and community, scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), and educational technology are a few of the topics covered. In this session, we hope to gain your suggestions and feedback in the following areas:
Overall organization
Types of content
Availability of content to different learning styles and cultural perspectives
Ideas for year-to-year flexibility depending on group needs and dynamics.
We are especially interested in consulting with you if you are involved in similar programs at other teaching centres, and we hope to create a network in which we can share ideas on handbook and resource development for graduate student teaching programs. We will display a copy of our handbook and handouts outlining our handbook’s organization and resources for your review.
I f Student Street
Classroom Communication
Anne Scrimger, Faculty Development Consultant, Academic Development Center, Mount Royal University
It troubles me that the opportunities for teachers to learn the essentials of vocal and non-verbal communication are minimal and that the development of a positive communication relationship between teacher and learner(s) can too often be a happy accident.
In fall 2009, I piloted a course in classroom communication for faculty in our nursing school and am offering for the second year a faculty learning community in mind, body and voice.
Is the topic of teacher communication relevant to your institution/of interest to you?
Do you currently offer anything for faculty in classroom communication, voice or speech? If so, what is the format?
What do you think about the idea that participation in a communication course should be a hiring requirement?
Are you interested in creating an informal group that could share ideas and resources?
Session II: 90-minute sessions
Friday, February 19; 10:55 am - 12:25 pm
II a OM2422
TAG Living Lab: Using interactive theatre to walk the talk of educational equity
Yael Harlap and Judy Chan, Faculty Associates, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG), and Ingrid Nilson, Christine Clark and Jonathan Tang, undergraduate students, University of British Columbia (UBC)
Striving towards educational equity, the Living Lab involves the observation of staged classroom scenarios and invites participation to promote clear communication and inclusion. The Living Lab uses an interactive theatrical technique, in the tradition of Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, to generate excitement about civility, inclusivity and diversity issues in teaching and learning. Join us in this workshop to experience interactive theatre techniques that we use to create conversations about heated moments in diverse teaching and learning environments. Both student performers and project facilitators will share the lessons we have learned so far about the Living Lab project as an approach to educational development. By the end of the session you will:
1. Be able to evaluate how you might implement performative techniques in your work
2. Have a vocabulary of basic interactive theatre techniques that you can begin to use and know where to find resources for more.
II b OM2211
Metaphors of Nation in the Construction of Canadian Developer Identities
Trevor Holmes, Senior Instructional Developer, Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo; Tereigh Ewert-Bauer, Instructional Development Specialist, The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Saskatchewan; Beverley Hamilton, Assistant to the Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning, University of Windsor; Michael K. Potter, Program Coordinator, Centre for Teaching and Learning, University of Windsor and Brad Wuetherick, Program Director, Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Saskatchewan
Are EDC participants immune from that elusive search for a Canadian identity? Often, we construct teaching centre “selves” by naming “others.” For example, many of us have heard that we should be the “Switzerland” of our institutional territories. That is to say, in spite of any personal biases, we need to affect a kind of neutrality, a neutrality (falsely) named “Switzerland.” Conversely, it has become common in discussions about quality assurance and curriculum assessment that we NOT “become” certain countries (namely, Great Britain and Australia). In this way, other cultures and nations become shorthand for attributes that we either emulate or disavow. After hearing a brief (10-minute) position paper, we will use a map of the world to explore metaphors of national identity, what these open up and close down, and how Canadian educational developers might define or redefine ourselves in a global – or local, institutional – economy of teaching development meanings.
II c OM2221
Nominating 3M National Teaching Fellows: The role of Educational Developers
Arshad Ahmad, Associate Professor, 3M Teaching Fellow and Program Co-ordinator, Concordia University; Alex Fancy, Professor Emeritus, Mount Allison University; Claude Lamontagne, Professor, University of Ottawa; Ron Marken, Professor Emeritus, University of Saskatchewan; Denise Stockley, Associate Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning, Queen’s University and Lynn Taylor, Director, Centre for Learning and Teaching, Dalhousie University
As Educational Developers you play an important role in the identification and nomination of potential 3M National Teaching Fellows. Join us in this session, designed to provide practical examples of how to identify potential Fellows and how you can foster this potential through your educational development role. Through discussions and hands-on activities, we will highlight (a) how to interpret the stated criteria in the Call for Nominations and to enhance the quality of dossiers; (b) increase understanding of how 3M National Teaching Fellows are selected; and (c) share existing practices for interpreting dossiers.
Session III: 45-minute sessions
Friday, February 19; 1:30 - 2:15 pm
III a OM2422
Faculty Engagement in Educational Development – The influence of departmental culture(s)
Isabeau Iqbal, Educational Developer, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG), University of British Columbia (UBC)
Increasingly, the work of educational development is situated in, and done in collaboration with, academic departments. As educational developers who seek to support faculty members in their various teaching responsibilities, it is imperative that we better understand the departmental cultures in which academics carry out their professional lives.
The objective of this session is to uncover aspects of departmental culture that may influence faculty members’ engagement in educational development. Using the peer review of teaching as a 'case', we will explore connections between academic culture and educational development.
Through small group activities and discussion, we will investigate the following:
1. How do departmental cultures influence academics’ beliefs and practices as these pertain to teaching?
2. How does the collegial ideal hinder/support faculty member engagement in peer review and, more broadly, in educational development?
3. How can educational developers use the concept of academic culture to strengthen our work?
III b OM2221
Supporting Unprepared and At Risk Students in the Classroom – Teaching and learning strategies for student success
Liesel Knaack, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT)
In the past decade you have likely seen a steady rise in a new culture of student learning at the post-secondary level. Many students arrive at risk for failure by being academically unprepared and lacking basic study and organizational skills. There is much discussion about retention rates, student engagement and improving academic success while teaching in this culture. You will participate in small groups, each investigating a different scenario taken from students’ perspectives on their learning challenges. Given a resource booklet outlining key teaching/learning strategies (on helping students take better notes, prepare for active reading, design effective study materials, study for tests), you and your group will identify which strategies might work for the students, along with how you would assist instructors to implement the strategies. The goal is for groups to share responses and personal experiences and for you to take back current ideas for supporting instructors and students.
III c OM2402
ED Website A, B, C, D: A bridge for cross-cultural dialogue?
Session 3c: Simmons 
Nicola Simmons, University of Waterloo; Alice Cassidy, University of British Columbia; Erika Kustra, University of Windsor; Alice Macpherson, Kwantlen Polytechnic University; Michael Potter, University of Windsor; Ruth Rodgers, Durham College/UOIT; Anne Scrimger, Mount Royal University; Margaret Wilson, Norquest College and Janet Z-K Wolstenholme, University of Guelph
While researchers abroad (Gosling, 2001, 2006; Lewis, 1996) have written about educational development, and Canadian researchers (Elrick, 1990; Donald, 1986; Wilcox, 1997; Scarfe, 2004) have chronicled the history of Canadian Educational Development (ED) centres, little exists on Canadian ED centre practices (Kreber and Brook, 2001). In response, we compiled web data by searching Canadian ED centres and found a number of trends and gaps, particularly related to our intended audiences and how we communicate with them.
ED centre websites build bridges into various ‘cultures’ broadly defined: disciplinary cultures, learning cultures, departmental cultures, and institutional cultures. In this session, we will examine ED centre web data and discuss the intended cultural audience of those sites. In small and large group discussion, we ask you to consider key questions with us: Whom are we reaching? More importantly, whom are we not? Come to gain a new lens on ED website communication and leave with ideas for enhancing your website.
III d OM2211
What’s Working in Faculty Engagement in Internationalization
Svitlana Taraban-Gordon, Senior Instructional Developer, Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
This session will explore the role of faculty in the internationalization of teaching and learning, and the professional development opportunities and resources related to internationalization that could be provided by educational developers to faculty. Through group activities and discussions, we will identify new types of transnational teaching that involve our faculty, explore associated challenges and consider emerging good practices used to support faculty in this work.
By the end of the session, you will have:
1. Discussed and reflected upon the main challenges of engaging faculty in internationalization
2. Identified the skills and knowledge needed by faculty to develop internationalized courses
3. Shared strategies that worked for faculty engagement in internationalization on your campuses
4. Received handouts with a list of conceptual and practical resources on this topic.
III e OM1325
Muddling or Modeling with Moodle
Bruce Thomson, Lecturer, ESL Department, Thompson Rivers University
This workshop will present one model for using the online environment of Moodle to supplement a face-to-face course in Intercultural Communication. First, you will be briefly introduced to key components of the course in Moodle and will interact with fellow participants in evaluating the applicability of Moodle for this purpose. Next, you will be able to examine some of the resources in the Intercultural Communication Moodle course, and will engage in a sample unit designed to promote online discussion of the effectiveness of this medium for use in face-to-face instruction.
You will be encouraged to either share how you have used this or similar online environments in your own teaching and/or educational development work, or consider how you might do so in the future. To ensure active involvement, we will work in a computer lab for a hands-on experience.
III f OM2201
Communities of Practice: Sharing strategies for collaboration
Session 3f: Verwood
Roselynn Verwoord, Community of Practice Developer, Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG), University of British Columbia (UBC)
Through immersion in a Community of Practice (CoP), we will examine what CoPs can be, formats they can take, and their roles in supporting diverse learning needs. The development of CoPs will be highlighted, and their growth and development will be contextualized through the Portfolio CoP at the University of British Columbia, which supports development of course and teaching portfolios. We will also discuss the cultivation of CoPs, and you will be exposed to and be able to identify key principles in the development of a CoP that can be applied to diverse settings. We will also discuss the applicability of CoPs to our own educational settings. This session is of interest to educational developers, faculty and graduate students, who will gain an enhanced awareness of the need for incorporating CoPs into programs and experiences in educational curricula to support leadership and foster community and collaboration.
Session IV: 45-minute sessions
Friday, February 19; 2:25 - 3:10 pm
IV a OM2422
Interpreting the Impact on Centres for Teaching and Learning Through the Lens of Graduate Students’ Views on Supervision
Rylan Egan, Doctoral Student, Educational Psychology, Simon Fraser University and Denise Stockley, Associate Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning, Queen’s University
Graduate supervision is a critical component of the graduate student experience. However, not all supervision is the same and students leave their graduate programs with different experiences – both positive and negative. Our session explores our research into quantitative and qualitative findings from 1335 graduate exit surveys (both domestic and international). Through audience discourse, we explore (dis)continuity between your experience and our research. More specifically we encourage critiques of cultural differences implicit to disciplines categorized as “hard,” “soft,” “applied,” and “pure.” Finally, through group activities we will examine and critique supervision structures and discuss strategies to foster positive graduate supervision experiences on your campus.
IV b OM2402
Integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into a Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (LTHE) Programme
Vivian Neal and Priska Schoenborn, Academic Developers, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom (UK)
We have been working to integrate ESD into Plymouth’s LTHE programs for new faculty and graduate students. Changes for the faculty programme include a new negotiated study course in ESD; reducing the environmental footprint by limiting paper use and video conferencing to reduce travel; encouraging participating faculty to use learning technologies strategically and the uptake of ESD as the focus for their action research projects. We have redesigned the graduate student programme using the “learning community” framework which encourages participants to take more responsibility for their own learning, narrows the differences in the teacher/learner roles, and fosters student-driven design. A concomitant challenge is the varying levels of comfort with ESD approaches among the diverse international body of graduate students. Through reflection and sharing with others in this session, you will gain an enhanced understanding of ESD and some practical ideas for integrating ESD into your own educational development practice.
IV c OM2221
By Hand or Keystroke? An examination of student note-taking effectiveness
Ruth Rodgers, Teaching and Learning Specialist, Innovation Centre, Durham College/University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Maureen Wideman, Senior Instructional Designer, UOIT
In educational development we often hear faculty members demand that laptops be banned from the classroom. This session will present the preliminary findings of a mixed method research project conducted with university students in the spring of 2009. While the research showed no statistical difference between the digital and hand written notes, there were differences between how students took notes, demonstrating the diversity among students as far as preferences, learning styles and needs. You will have the opportunity to participate in a similar exercise as we compare and contrast note-taking styles in the session. Through interactive and lively discussion, you will have an opportunity to identify possible factors affecting the effectiveness of student note-taking, and recognize qualitative differences between notes taken by hand and by computer. We will also share recommendations. This session will give you the research and practical experience to discuss these issues with faculty members.
IV d OM1325
Excellent Aboriginal Websites Selected by Aboriginal Elders, Students, and Faculty: A tour
Patrick Walton, Associate Professor, School of Education; Mike Arnouse, Elder; Britanny John, Student; Patrick Michel, Student, and Jacinta Sampson, Student, Thompson Rivers University
Aboriginal faculty, Elders, and students are often asked by faculty and educational developers at post-secondary institutions to suggest Aboriginal resources which can be added to their courses. These requests prompted a decision at Thompson Rivers University to develop a website that includes internet-based Aboriginal resources. We found and reviewed over 300 websites with Aboriginal content, selecting 140 websites that we identified as excellent. We have organized the material under the headings of Aboriginal Community, Faculty Resources, and Student Resources (grade 4 to post-secondary). Join us in this session to be engaged with these websites and talk about how they can help bring more Aboriginal content into courses across a range of areas in Arts and Sciences. You will also leave having explored a culturally appropriate and ethical process for you to identify excellent Aboriginal resources. Bring your laptop if you have one.
Session V: 90-minute sessions
Friday, February 19; 3:40 - 5:10 pm
V a OM2221
Incorporating Field Studies into your Curriculum: Extending learning beyond the walls of the classroom
Marla Arbach, Educational Developer, University of Ottawa
Whatever the subject of a course, a field study will enhance the educational experience by allowing students to explore the content in real-world situations. This workshop will take you through the field study planning process from beginning to end, offering you tools that you can use to help your colleagues incorporate field studies into their teaching. We will discuss the concepts behind field studies and describe models that have proven effective. Then you will design your own field study activity, taking into account your course needs and objectives and the logistical considerations of your situation, or that of your colleagues. You will also learn to plan a pre-field study lesson which will set up the field experience to its best advantage, and devise an assignment/assessment which will build on the field experience. This workshop will be facilitated by an instructor with several years’ experience designing and leading field studies.
V b OM2211
Programming for our Future Faculty: Teaching what we know
Donna Ellis, Interim Director, Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo and Dieter Schönwetter, Director of Educational Resources and Faculty Development, University of Manitoba
As a group, we will contemplate the results from an EDC-funded, North American study on graduate student professional development programs. We will predict and discuss the survey results (n=34) regarding the importance of various competencies in preparing graduate students for the teaching aspect of their future faculty member roles and which competencies are explicitly taught in our programs. Then we will focus on the preparation of those of us who provide these programs: how confident are we in teaching these competencies and what training did we receive?
The session will include a mixture of analysis, contemplation, discussion, and exchange of ideas as we aim to learn from the survey results and our own experiences. Outcomes for the session include learning competencies for teaching development programs that you can compare to your program(s) and providing input about your professional development needs that EDC members could help to fulfil at future conferences.
V c OM2422
Friends and Allies
Eileen M. Herteis, Director, Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre, Mount Allison University and Margaret-Anne Bennett, Director, Centre for Academic and Instructional Development, Saint Mary's University
As educational developers, we are often bound in strong, sustaining, mutually energizing partnerships with faculty colleagues. We are privileged to share in their success and to support them in distress. In subtle and overt ways, we encourage their applications for awards and recognition of various kinds, and generally validate their pedagogical accomplishments.
Yet what happens when a professor previously successful in acquiring grants from our centre is denied? When the selection committee chooses another nominee for the award? Just as the positives were beneficially identified with the educational developer, so now are the disappointments - the relationship sours and important allies may be lost.
From firsthand encounters with such sudden changes in allegiance, we will share case studies to encourage you to discuss your own experiences. Join us to create a sympathetic, therapeutic, confidential forum, in which we will compile strategies for preventing and managing these occurrences.
V d OM2402
Cultural Perspectives on Teaching and Learning
Karen Rolston, Associate Director, Continuing Studies Centre for Intercultural Communication, University of British Columbia (UBC)
This highly interactive workshop was initially designed to support teaching assistants and other educators at the University of British Columbia to better understand and navigate the cultural differences in their classrooms.
Through individual reflection and group discussion, we will explore cultural perspectives on teaching and learning and diverse views on the roles of educators and students, through an exercise that uncovers different values and worldview orientations. Building on that exercise, you will then practice in small groups, using a tool created at UBC that supports educators to develop a deeper understanding of their students and colleagues from cultures different from their own.
By the end of this workshop, you will be able to describe several different but equally valid perspectives on 'good practices' in teaching and learning, and will be able to frame both your own and another person’s worldview in neutral, non-judgmental language.
Session VI: 90-minute sessions
Saturday, February 20; 9:00 - 10:30 am
VI a OM2201
Teaching in Trinidad and Tobago: The face-to-face component of a hybrid course
John Grant McLoughlin, Professor, Faculty of Education, University of New Brunswick
A one-week intensive followed by a semester online has become a familiar teaching pattern as I prepare to embark on my eighth such course with teachers in Trinidad and Tobago. In this session, I will focus on the “face-to-face” component, highlighting priorities concerning cross-cultural intricacies and situating the challenges and importance of the time physically together within the entire course design.
You will be invited to engage in informal assessment activities (readily adaptable to other contexts) employed intent upon gaining insight into the students/class. I will facilitate and provoke discussion as we consider implications of “Who is the international student?” According to the University of New Brunswick, it is the Trinibagonians; meanwhile, the course is placed in Trinidad and Blackboard neither a home to me. You will leave with new questions, ideas, and insights pertinent to blended learning and informal assessment. Please join us to navigate the juxtaposition of culture, context, and teaching.
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The Relationship between Scholarly Teaching and Scholarship of Teaching
Michael K. Potter, Educational Consultant, and Erika Kustra, Director, Teaching and Learning Development, Centre for Teaching and Learning, University of Windsor
How closely are scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning related? Are they the same thing? Does excellence in one imply excellence in the other?
Boyer’s pioneering work conflated scholarly teaching and scholarship of teaching, a conflation that resulted in a conceptual muddle and a lot of unfounded assumptions. After we provide conceptual and empirical arguments that indicate a need to distinguish these two key concepts in educational development, you will be invited to share your own conceptions. The conceptions that arise in discussion will inform a facilitated discussion about how all of us could relate the concepts of scholarly teaching and SoTL productively, so that educational developers can develop both scholarly teaching and SoTL capacity in a time of limited resources.
VI c OM2221
Basics in Undergraduate Program Evaluation
Bob Parson, Curriculum Design and Quality of Learning Consultant, Centre de pédagogie universitaire / Centre for University Teaching, University of Ottawa
Evaluation of a program can be a very important step in improving curriculum content, teaching strategies and the coherence of a program as a whole. In this interactive workshop you will work through three basic steps in undergraduate program evaluation, using the parameters defined by the Ontario Council of Academic Vice Presidents (OCAV). This model can be adapted for use by any post-secondary institution program:
Writing and editing program learning outcomes
Performing a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis with faculty or other stakeholders
Basic analysis of a program’s curriculum coherence.
You will be given resources that can be used to work with programs at your own post-secondary institution; a guide to writing program learning outcomes, a workbook for performing a SWOT analysis and a template for basic curriculum coherence analysis.
VI d OM2422
Generating Perspectives on The Art of Teaching
Nancy Randall, Honorary Research Associate, Vancouver Island University and Neil Smith, TLC Associate, Vancouver Island University and Pacific Leadership Design
What are essential aspects of artful teaching? The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) model of planning for learning is based on pedagogical research, practice, and reflection. The ISW is a particularly effective form of educational development as it builds on strong foundations of collegial feedback and capacity-building. During this interactive workshop, we’ll apply the ISW model including bridging, sharing learning outcomes, pre-assessing, implementing participatory learning, post-assessing and summarizing. We invite your perspectives on selected segments from the Art of Teaching DVD, which provides dynamic depictions of the ISW model in practice. We’ll share our experiences integrating these aspects in face-to-face and online learning, in international contexts, as well as with many Canadian post-secondary educators. You will consider implications for your teaching and learning practices and applications for your educational development roles. You will leave with a workshop format for integrating the Art of Teaching approach into your educational development practices.
Session VII: 45-minute sessions
Saturday, February 20; 11:00 - 11:45 am
VII a OM2422
Teaching Practices Series: A program for teaching assistants and graduate students
Heather Hurren, Manager, Academic Development, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UBC Okanagan
You will be immersed in an imaginary teaching assistantship scenario with an international flavour. As we make our way through that scenario, you will learn of a program for teaching assistants and graduate students that was developed at UBC Okanagan. You will then be invited to share insights on similar programs and discuss enhancements of the evolving strategy.
VII b OM2211
Can We Do the Impossible? Evaluating for impact
Margaret Wilson, Coordinator, Faculty Development, Centre for Innovation and Development, and Erwin Ens, Educational Developer, NorQuest College
Teaching scholars have acknowledged that the relationship between educational development and improvements in student learning is far too complex, and there are too many intervening variables, to allow for simple causal inferences (Guskey and Sparks, 1996, Kirkpatrick, 1975; Patton, 2009). But does the complexity and diversity that characterizes teaching and learning at the post secondary level make it impossible for educational developers to measure the effectiveness of their programs and services? In this session you will be hearing the results of an investigation into the types of evaluation practices at several Canadian post secondary educational institutions and considering evaluation tools that were developed using Thomas Guskey’s five-level model for evaluating professional development. Following an analysis of these evaluation tools, you will leave this workshop with evaluation forms that you can modify for use at your institution.
This project was supported by a 2008 Educational Developers Caucus (EDC) Grant of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE).
VII c OM2201
Ensemble for Engagement
Session 7c: Wright
W. Alan Wright, Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning and Marie-Jeanne Monette, Research Assistant, University of Windsor
What is your role, as an educational developer, in stimulating student engagement and perseverance in your campus community? In this session, we will familiarize you with the findings from our recent study of factors contributing to success in higher education among students from under-represented groups. The groups taken into consideration are aboriginals, low economic status, and first generation students in higher education. The goals of the session are at once to emphasize the importance of an integrated, ensemble approach in your efforts as an educational developer to address this issue, as well as to invite you to reflect on strategies and partnerships to make the ensemble approach a reality in your campus community.
Session VIII: Roundtable sessions
Saturday, February 20; 11:45 am - 12:55 pm
VIII a OM2216
One Hat or Two? Instructor and/or Educational Developer role conflict
Russell Day, Senior Lecturer, Psychology Department, Simon Fraser University (SFU)
Many of us wear two hats and are members of two sub-cultures within academe – one as an Instructor teaching students directly, the other as an Educational Developer supporting others as they become more effective instructors. In some cases, our own teaching is not optimal, constrained by ever-shrinking resources (loss of TA support, larger and larger classes) and increased workloads, yet as educational developers we wish to promote and model ‘better practices’ (e.g., learning-centred approaches, active learning, diversity in curriculum, authentic assessment). Join me in discussion while we share ways that we have tried to maintain a role balance while wearing two hats. Together we might extract some common principles from our experience that will guide our practice, and maybe such principles could help others new to our dual professions as they straddle the gap between the sub-cultures.
VIII b OM2232
Bringing it Back Home: Learning about teaching in other cultures
Vivian Neal, Academic Developer, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom (UK); Sylvia Currie, Manager, Client Services - Online Communities, BCcampus and Celia Popovic, Head of Educational Staff Development, Birmingham City University, UK
Come share stories and learn about the experiences of working in cultures that are new to us. Vivian will share successes and struggles of her two years away from Canada teaching at the University of Plymouth, UK, and she will ponder how to bring some of the best bits from her UK experience back to Canada. Sylvia has worked for many years with SCoPE, an international community of educators and educational developers where community members from all over the world share and compare their experiences. Celia will discuss her recent research into educational developers’ experiences of exchanges and visits within and outside of their own country. Join us to share your stories, and learn about the value of doing educational development in 'new-to-you' cultures.
VIII c OM2202
Teaching with Technology: Means and ends
Cindy Xin, Program Director, Learning and Instructional Development Centre, Simon Fraser University
It is often said that one must determine teaching goals before considering the use of technology. "Technology is a tool, a means to an end, not an end in itself"; “Designing educational experiences around technology is a foolish chase. You cannot possibly keep up with the technology.” This roundtable discussion invites you to reconsider these claims and to critically evaluate the role of technology in teaching and learning contexts.
Discussion questions include: “Is technology just a tool or a means to an end (i.e., teaching goals)?” “Are teaching goals ends or they are merely means to other ends? If so, what are these ends?” “How do technologies shape the experiences of teaching and learning?” “What is the role of technology in teaching and learning in the age of web 2.0?” The session also discusses how your view of technology impacts your practice as an educational developer.
Closing Plenary
Building a Globally Minded Campus For All: Intercultural Initiatives Across the Disciplines
Kyra Garson and Emma Bourassa, Thompson Rivers University
As interculturalists interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning, we agree with numerous scholars and studies (AUCC, 2006; Bond & Thayer-Scott, 1999; Bond, 2003; Peterson, 2008; Schweitz, 2006; Stohl, 2007; Teekens, 2003) which note the critical role of faculty in efforts to achieve authentic learning in intercultural contexts. Although 95 % of Canadian universities reference intercultural or international elements in their strategic planning documents, it is clear that this number does not necessarily reflect what is happening in our classrooms where learning and teaching occur. In this session we will share the story of intercultural initiatives on our campus that led us to create four filmed classroom scenarios for faculty intercultural development that illustrate how small shifts, informed by intercultural awareness, can make a difference for both teachers and learners. This is a shared resource that can be accessed online and provides concrete ideas for faculty successes.