Schedule 2021
14th Annual University of Toronto Teaching and Learning Symposium
Teacher-as-Learner/Learner-as-Teacher
May 12-14, 2021
Co-hosted by the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation and the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking
TLS2021 also features posters from Instructional Technology Innovation Fund (ITIF) participants and the Date Driven Design: Quercus Analytics (D3:QA) cohort. These posters and videos will be available for viewing soon.
Day 1: May 12
9am-9:10am
OPENING REMARKS
President Meric Gertler
9:10am-11am
KEYNOTE
Re-imagining Impact Across Disciplines by Embracing a Beginner Mindset
Nouman Ashraf (He/Him/His), Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources Management, Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Teaching Fellow, Gender + The Economy, Rotman School of Management
Description to follow.
11:30am-12:30pm
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 1
1.1: Symposium You
Voices of Lived Experience: Working with students-as-partners to develop inclusive and authentic learning content
Kosha Bramesfeld, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology (UTSC)
Laiba Rizwan, Thesis Student, UTSC Department of Psychology
Samira Abeid, Thesis Student, UTSC Department of Psychology
Anuj Mehta, Supervised Research Study Student, UTSC Department of Psychology
Damian Bhatia, Work Study Student, UTSC Computer & Mathematical Sciences
Desana Thayaparan, Work Study Student/FSG Leader, UTSC Department of Psychology
A students-as-partners (SaP) approach to teaching and learning engages students in the co-creation of learning content via “a collaborative, reciprocal process through which all the participants have the opportunity to contribute equally, although not necessarily in the same ways, to curricular or pedagogical conceptualization, decision-making, implementation, investigation, or analysis” (Cook-Sather et al., 2014, p. 6-7). In this session, the panelists will discuss how a students-as-partners model can be used to (A) build educator’s capacity for creating authentic and inclusive experiential learning activities that serve to decolonize teaching and learning spaces, and (B) empower students to develop as leaders, researchers, innovators, educators, and advocates (Mercer & Mapstone’s, 2017). Expanding on the faculty PI’s (Kosha Bramesfeld) previous work on multidisciplinary student partnerships (Bramesfeld, 2017; Burling et al., 2020), the session will start with an introduction to a student partnership model for inclusive education. We will then briefly discuss how we have used this model for advancing inclusive education practices to improve course design, decolonize course content, develop innovative teaching and learning tools, and inspire community-engaged teaching and learning initiatives. In the process, each of the student panelists will describe how they took the lead on the development and assessment of a project designed to address a specific inclusive teaching and learning challenge. We will then open the session up for questions and discussion so that we can discuss at a deeper level the logistics, challenges, and rewards of using a students-as-partners model to advance teaching and learning initiatives.
1.2: Interactive Online Workshop
Wearable Point-of-View (POV) Technology: A Live Demonstration of an MD Student-Led Response to the Virtual Curriculum
Dr. Fok-Han Leung, Department of Family & Community Medicine, Associate Professor, Associate Program Director for the University of Toronto Family Medicine Residency
Dr. Karina Prucnal, Department of Family & Community Medicine, PGY-3 Education Scholar, MScCH (FCM) Masters Student 2. Lauren Wintraub, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Medical Student
Mariam Issa, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Medical Student
Co-authors:
Mary Xie, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Medical Student, Matthew Nelms, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Medical Student; Daniel Teitelbaum, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Medical Student; Yaanu Jeyakumar, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Medical Student, Dr. Joyce Nyhof-Young, Education Research Scientist at the University of Toronto, Dr. Giovanna Sirianni, Department of Family & Community Medicine, Assistant Professor/Enhanced Skills Program Director; Dr. Mirek Otremba, Department of Medicine, Assistant Professor
Medical education has significantly changed as a result of the pandemic. Foundations medical students were removed from all clinical environments, and their curriculum transitioned to online platforms. This caused significant concern with respect to clinical skills development. In response, we repurposed wearable point-of-view (POV) technology to provide interactive learning experiences while physically distancing. The wearable technology was used for the Transition to Clerkship (TTC) course. Most recently, its use is being investigated for career exploration through the Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE) and the Family Medicine Longitudinal Experience (FMLE) projects. Through these projects, we aim to assess the practicality, utility and efficacy of the technology. We will provide study background and a live demonstration of wearable POV technology. Participants will be encouraged to try out the wearable POV technology synchronously from the learners’ perspective using their own phones. We anticipate that this technology may be adopted by willing workshop participants, the MD Program and ultimately other educational institutions to support clinical learning and career exploration when physical distancing is required or when geographical constraints (rural/remote locations) prevent such experiences.
1.3: Course Instructor Roundtable
From Reflection to Innovation: Graduate Student Course Instructor Teaching Excellence Award Shortlisted Nominees in Conversation
Presenters: CI Teaching Excellence Award (presented by the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program) short list
Have you ever wondered how award-winning course instructors approach teaching challenges, what strategies they use to enhance student learning, or how they honed their teaching skills? In this roundtable session, we will engage in conversation with some of the University of Toronto’s top graduate student course instructors. These instructors were shortlisted for the 2020-2021 Teaching Excellence Award, which is given annually by the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program to the top graduate student course instructors across the University of Toronto campuses. The panelists will join us to reflect on their teaching experience and share with us their top strategies for engaging, supporting, and motivating their students. Panelists will also reflect on their journeys of becoming effective educators and designing transformative teaching strategies. The roundtable will conclude with a live Q&A, giving participants an opportunity to ask questions.
1pm-2pm
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 2
2.1: Interactive Online Workshop
A New Learning-Domains Framework for Learning Agility and Resilience
Ellyn Kerr, UTSG, Learning Strategist, Student Life, Academic Success
University faculty, staff, and students face similar challenges in the learning environments imposed by COVID-19: information overload, compulsory sedentariness and extensive screen-time, social isolation, reduced motivation, and loss of familiar structures. These conditions impact our capacity for learning, focus, and productivity, as well as impede health and wellness. Drawing on lessons from somatic and trauma psychology and from “high-performance” coaching, this session will share a simple but novel learning-domains framework that has potential to encourage lasting adaptive change, cultivate learning-agility (“resilience”), and address inequities in university evaluations. The framework builds on behaviour design and social cognitive neuroscience to fill some gaps in current understandings and applications of “growth mindset” and “mindfulness”. Alignment of the framework with medicine wheel concepts, as well as practical applications for habit development and stress management, will be explored.
2.2: Lightning Talks
Assignments Across Disciplines: Creating a Community of Practice around Assessment
Andrea Williams, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, FAS
Erin Vearncombe, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Dean’s Office, FAS
Assignments play a vital role in both helping students acquire new knowledge and skills and documenting teaching excellence. This session explains how you can become involved in Assignments Across Disciplines (AAD), a university-wide LEAF-funded project that gives instructors a platform to share assignments and adapt colleagues’ assignments to fit their own teaching and learning goals and context. Combining an open-access database of exemplary and innovative assignments with an instructor community of practice around assessment, AAD enables contributors to engage in cross-disciplinary conversations about assessment through a peer review process. Assignment author/contributors meet in small peer groups (composed of instructors, librarians, academic developers, and graduate TAs) to discuss how to improve the assignment before it is published in the database. By encouraging contributors to include with their submission commentary on how and why they developed their assignment and how they revised it based on student and other feedback, AAD also promotes reflective teaching and helps contributors document teaching excellence.
Physical Sciences Research Experience – a model for co-designing lab experiences with students, for students
Kris Kim, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Physical & Environmental Sciences, UTSC
Effie Sauer, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Physical & Environmental Sciences, UTSC
Lana Mikhaylichenko, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Physical & Environmental Sciences, UTSC
Laboratory courses have traditionally served as opportunities to support students’ development across a wide range of skills, while also offering spaces to be creative, for both students and faculty alike. While creating new laboratory exercises can be exciting and rewarding, offering new experiments regularly can be quite challenging as the process can be time and resource intensive. One of the latest initiatives offered at the University of Toronto’s (Scarborough campus) Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences is a second-year research course (PSCB90) that provides students with an opportunity to experience self-directed research early on in their programs of study. This course is an elective to our students and projects are made available every term based on faculty needs and availability. Since its first offering (Summer 2019), projects focused on designing new laboratory experiments have been popular, especially in recent months with the sudden shift to online teaching and learning. Not only have these projects allowed for more regular renewal of laboratory curriculum, but it has offered a unique opportunity to naturally bring in student voices and ideas into the curriculum, while also training them to become independent researchers. In this presentation, we will describe the impact of this initiative on students, faculty, and program curricula, and share examples of projects focused on co-creating new lab experiments with students for both in-person and online delivery.
Promoting Knowledge Translation and Engagement with Social Justice Issues Through a Digital Policy Brief
Julius Haag, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Sociology, UTM
Bringing academic knowledge into dialogue with policy issues and diverse publics remains central in sociology and criminology (Buroway, 2004). Further, the current climate of ‘post-truth’ has presented unique challenges to scholars and a pressing need to broadly share our findings and be active participants in public debates (Peterson, 2016). In my 3rd year ‘Sociology of Crime’ course, I asked students to develop digital policy briefs that addressed a current social justice issue using the Greater Toronto Area as a lens. These policy briefs explored a diverse range of topics, and students were given considerable discretion in identifying a subject relevant to them. The digital policy brief encouraged students to think critically and broadly about their topic and apply their academic knowledge to develop evidence-based policy recommendations. This assignment employs a multimodal design that supports writing by having students engage with issues they find personally relevant or interesting and by drawing on various communication strategies not typically featured in a more conventional brief. The assignment then asks students to consider how different digital technologies can facilitate knowledge translation and aid in conveying complex concepts to non-academic audiences. Additionally, given the complex demands of online learning, students self-selected their due date, allowing flexibility while encouraging planning and time management. In this session, I will briefly review the assignment structure, strategies for integrating and modelling assignment objectives, examples of student work and feedback, and scalability discussions in other settings.
Peterson, R.D. (2016). Interrogating Race, Crime, and Justice in a Time of Unease and Racial Tension. Criminology, 55(2), 245-272.
Burawoy, M. (2005). For Public Sociology. American Sociological Review, 70(1), 4-28.
2.3: Inquiry on Teaching and Learning Poster + Talk
Attitudes and Approaches toward Indigenization in Psychology: A National Survey of Faculty
Ashley Waggoner Denton, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, FAS
Anuki Amarakoon, Undergraduate Student, Psychology, FAS
For generations, post-secondary institutions have been a part of a dominant settler culture whose actions contributed to the continued marginalization of Indigenous people. As a step towards recognition and reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published 94 “Calls to Action”, which included direction to post-secondary institutions “to integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms” (TRC, 2015, p. 7). As a result, many post-secondary institutions have committed to improving the educational experiences of Indigenous students, which begins with welcoming and integrating their knowledge and perspectives. However, little is known about the capability, confidence, or willingness of academic staff to teach Indigenous content. In psychology, institutional and cultural barriers remain prevalent as evidenced by the low rates of achievement and completion of post-secondary education by Indigenous students (Louie et al., 2017). As of 2018, there was estimated to be less than twelve Indigenous practicing and/or teaching psychologists in Canada. The complex university environment poses a multitude of challenges to the ambiguous process of “indigenization”. However, if we are to improve the incorporation of Indigenous perspectives and issues in psychology courses, we must first gain insight into the current attitudes, perceptions, and practices of psychology instructors when it comes to such matters. This national survey of psychology faculty provides insight into the attitudes of undergraduate psychology instructors towards teaching Indigenous content, whether and how they include Indigenous content in their courses, and the challenges and needs they identify in regard to Indigenous content inclusion.
Online teaching practices which are beneficial for students’ mental health and well-being
Shivon Sue-Chee, Sessional (CUPE 3902, Unit 3)/CLTA, Statistical Sciences, FAS
Ruth Crasto, Computer Science, BSc. Candidate, FAS
Daniel An, Psychology/OISE MA. Graduate
Course instructors can have a significant impact on students’ well-being during the pandemic. This poster will present findings from a reflective inquiry study which will examine students’ perception of certain teaching practices from their online classroom that had a positive impact on their well-being. Students will be recruited from several large third-year statistics course sections during the 2021 winter semester. It includes students’ ratings of the frequency and impact of teaching practices that have been reported in the past to be beneficial for students’ well-being. It also includes participants’ responses to questions about the specific types of teaching practices which made them feel connected to their instructor or their peers, motivated them to learn or made them feel they were learning effectively, and made them feel their course instructor recognized they had lives outside of school. This can help us better understand, from the students’ perspective, how we can better support their well-being in our classrooms.
2:30pm-3:30pm
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 3
3.1: Interactive Online Workshop
Innovations in Experiential Learning pedagogy to inform post-COVID in class, remote learning, or hybrid learning
Libby West, MEd, Experiential Learning Educational Developer, Experiential Learning & Outreach Support, UTSG
Al Hearn, Ph.D., Educational Developer for Experiential Learning, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC
Necessity is often the impetus for invention, as we have all seen firsthand through this pandemic. With the many challenges there have also been many innovations in remote learning which will benefit our pedagogical and logistical planning in the post-pandemic world. Join this session to learn about innovative and successful remote experiential learning practices of faculty from U of T and other institutions, including the tools supporting these practices, with a focus on applicability to future programming. The session will start with a brief overview of remote experiential learning followed by a showcase of innovative remote learning practices. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their own practices and pose questions to the group. Participants will leave with a summary of resources and supports available to them to incorporate experiential learning into their programming.
3.2: Lightning Talks
Departmental approaches to increasing awareness and decreasing stigma towards mental health in faculty and students
Charlotte Pashley, Administrative Staff, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Michelle Arnot, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Vince Lam, Instructor, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Aleksandra Marakhovskaia, Graduate Student, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Alison Jee, Graduate Student, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Ruth Ross, Professor and Chair, Pharmacology & Toxicology
The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology has developed a toolkit of diverse approaches to help increase awareness of and decrease stigmatization towards mental health issues for both students and faculty. This initiative was developed in response to the loss of a community member, and with the goal to improve community while creating potential safety nets. The toolkit addresses a variety of factors and broadly focuses on improving community by fostering psychological safety, normalizing vulnerability, and improving awareness and education towards mental health. The toolkit includes faculty-facing documents which provides information on courses of action and student resources , a student-facing Quercus portal to engage and connect with students and allow for growth of community learning, a graduate student-led “Pharma-coffee” event series that evolved into “PharmTalk”, and Zoom-based discussion groups and mental health workshop series created for peer-to-peer support and conversation about the experiences specific to graduate and post-graduate trainees. Additionally, a short series of peer videos to help put a voice to student mental health challenges and journeys were produced to share with students to reduce stigma associated with asking for help. Capitalizing on the use of technology and remote learning strategies, the Department has attempted to improve participation while at the same time increasing awareness of mental health issues within its communities. In parallel, by providing resources and supports to faculty as front-line identifiers, we attempt to build a more compassionate, connected, and resilient, community of learners and a framework for potential replication of strategies for the future.
Promoting Wellness and Resiliency for Forensic Science Students
Karen Woodall, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Anthropology/Forensic Science, UTM
Andrea Carter, Assistant Dean, Student Wellness, Support & Success, UTM
Students face many diverse stresses and mental health challenges during university and introducing a way to reflect and increase awareness of this topic can help students develop healthy coping skills and habits, increasing their wellness. This presentation showcases a “nifty assignment” that aims to educate undergraduate students about stress, wellness and resiliency. The assignment was introduced into a third-year course and involved students reflecting on their experiences and various tools they learnt about during course lectures regarding mental wellbeing. They were asked to use their own experiences and create online resources designed to help new students in the program. Students had the choice of creating podcasts, videos or written materials that describe stressful events encountered during their time at university and/or different coping mechanisms. By creating these tools, the aim of this assignment was to destigmatize mental health challenges and to provide useful resiliency resources for other undergraduates. Students had the option of posting their materials on the Forensic Science Community Hub (an online resource accessible for students enrolled in the forensic science program). How students evaluate and cope with stress may be a useful topic in many different courses and competitive disciplines. Instructors can also benefit from this type of assignment as we gain insight into the stresses our students face, and we can reflect on the various coping mechanisms discussed and help to build resiliency in our students.
Utilizing Critical Reflection and Experiential Learning to unite Global Virtual Teams
Elham Marzi, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, ISTEP, FASE
Anuli Ndubuisi, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
This session will explore a strategy initially developed to support International Virtual Engineering Student Teams (InVEST) program. The InVEST program offers applied research opportunities for senior undergraduate (4th year) and Masters students. Students in the program engage in virtual research teams with counterparts at other universities around the globe. The learning-strategy used in InVEST’s modules have a multipronged approach to engage students in metacognition before, during, and after five modules which are delivered in conjunction with the research project. The first component of the strategy guides students to reflect on their experiences and observations related to the lesson’s topic. The second component creates space during the lesson for students to engage with teammates and to share and discuss their relevant experiences and knowledge. Within the lessons students are also provided with a relevant scenario to deliberate and resolve. Finally, the third component of the strategy utilizes post-lesson activities and debriefing tools to support students in reflecting on what they have learned from their own and other’s thoughts and disclosures. This strategy is based on the knowledge, community, and inquiry model (Peters & Slotta, 2010). The five lessons (modules) include topics such as: Intercultural communication, effective virtual team practices, and decision making and conflict resolution. The strategy and KCI model are widely applicable to a variety of topics and can be integrated and implemented in lessons with minor adjustments. The use of critical reflection, sharing, and scenarios, allows students to get a more balanced experiential learning opportunity in an entirely virtual setting.
3.3: Inquiry on Teaching and Learning Poster + Talk
Investigating the Impact of Optional Group-Work on the Student Experience
Jonathan Calver, Teaching Stream, Post Doc/Course Instructor (CUPE 3902, Unit 1), Computer Science, FAS
Michelle Craig, Professor, Teaching Stream, Computer Science, FAS
Jennifer Campbell, Professor, Teaching Stream, Computer Science, FAS
We discuss the motivation for a current research study ongoing in the Department of Computer Science, describe the data collected, and present preliminary results. The study investigates the impact of allowing students to optionally work in small groups (1-3 students) on assignments in first year and second year Computer Science theory courses. Anecdotal evidence from a past term suggested that groups tended to achieve higher assignment grades, but roughly the same test grades. Broadly, our primary research question is “Are we hurting or helping students by giving them the option to work in groups on assignments?” To further explore this, we are collecting survey responses from close to 1500 students – with one survey being completed after each assignment they hand in. In our analysis, we cross their survey responses with their grades on all assessments in the relevant course and information about who worked in groups and with whom. Discussion of the preliminary results will focus on factors of group formation, how students perceive optional group work, and whether or not we have evidence to support our previous anecdotal findings.
Assessing the Development of Sentence-Level Writing Competence in a Second Year Science Course
Jonathan Vroom, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, UTM
Michael Kaler, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, ISUP, UTM
Christoph Richter, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Biology, UTM
While many post-secondary teachers have mixed feelings on the merits of giving students sentence-level (grammatical and syntactical) feedback, recent research suggests that students do in fact want and expect this feedback (Lee, 2004; Blaauw-Hara, 2006; and Elwood & Bode, 2014). Moreover, when students do not receive this feedback, it creates a discrepancy between teacher and learner expectations, which adversely affects student learning (Shultz, 2001; Saeli, 2019). Thus, the question of whether or not we should provide sentence-level feedback has shifted in much research to the question of how we can do it effectively (e.g. Roth, 2015; Al-wossabi, 2019). Along with efficacy, practicality is also a concern, particularly in large courses where graders have limited time to focus on grammar errors. In order to investigate these issues, in the fall term of 2019 and again in 2020 we collected and assessed the sentence-level changes in writing produced over the course of a multi-stage (scaffolded) writing project in a large biology class. We examined both the degree to which students were able to respond to and assimilate specific TA feedback (with feedback drawn from a detailed discipline-specific comment bank), and the degree to which their sentence-level writing improved over the course of working through a multi-stage writing project, with detailed feedback provided only at one stage. Because multi-stage assignments enhance the likelihood of students applying feedback (Hounsell, 2007; Freestone, 2009), we believe that this approach can provide an effective and practical way for students to improve their mastery of sentence-level mechanics.
3:45pm-4:40PM
SPECIAL PRESENTATION with U of T TEACHING FELLOWS
Our Interdisciplinary Community: The Teaching Fellows Program
Maria Assif, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, English, UTSC
Bill Ju, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology, FAS
Kathy Liddle, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Sociology, UTSC
Sarah Mayes-Tang, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Mathematics, FAS
Kerry Taylor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Criminology, FAS
In this roundtable the Teaching Fellows will discuss the theme of community in their projects, in their teaching, and in the Teaching Fellows program itself. We will explore what has made our group such a successful interdisciplinary community, and the impact of such a community on our growth as teachers. Themes discussed may include: a sense of community beyond department, discipline or even campus boundaries; financial and logistical support for pedagogical projects; visibility to pedagogical research, and others; and sharing best teaching practices and resources. We will also discuss how to form your own interdisciplinary community, even if you are not involved in the Teaching Fellows program.
Day 2: May 13
10am-11am
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 4
4.1: Interactive Online Workshop
I’m So Tired: Moving Beyond Exhaustion to Build Systems of Care and Hope in Remote Teaching and Learning
Ann Gagné Educational Developer, RGASC/ISUP
Dianne Ashbourne, Educational Developer, RGASC/ISUP
As Paulo Freire states, “it is imperative that we maintain hope even when the harshness of reality may suggest the opposite” (as stated in hooks, 2003). Guided by the work of hooks, Gannon, and Freire, this workshop will explore how we find that hope when everything seems like a lot and we are exhausted. We will provide space to reflect on why we are so tired, the importance of acknowledging our tiredness for humanizing learning and frame it in a way that helps us move forward to pedagogical and wellness strategies. By naming what is often left unnamed, we can support embedding hope, care, and trust in our learning environments and ultimately address the need for an understanding of wellness that takes a whole-body approach for both instructors and students. “When we state complaint without a constructive focus on resolution, we take away hope” (hooks, 2003, xiv); this session will suggest constructive ways to address our exhaustion in a way that can renew hope. Questions that this workshop will address are: What are the explicit and hidden impacts of exhaustion on pedagogy, instructor, and student needs? How do we use this acknowledgement of exhaustion to humanize our courses? What can we learn from students’ wellness to support instructor wellness? What systemic concepts are used to move away from the need to understand wellness (rigour, deadlines)? Participants will leave with a way to think about what will bring them hope and how they can bring that to their courses and encourage hope for their students.
4.2: Lightning Talks
Co-creating Courses with Students – Using Their Knowledge and Perspectives to Enhance Online Community, Student Wellness and Academic Rigour
Bill Ju, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program, FAS
Farzana Meem, Undergraduate student, Human Biology Program
Angela Sidswoth, Undergraduate student, Department of Cell and Systems Biology
Paul Papeliou, Undergraduate student, Human Biology Program
Janet Li, Undergraduate student, Human Biology Program
Andrea Graham, Learning Strategist, Academic Success Centre
Student engagement and peer collaboration in courses is challenging even under ideal circumstances but these challenges increase exponentially in an online environment where peer interactions often seem restricted. We have used pre-course discussions with students in several online cohorts, to co-design community experiences and assessments for their success, engagement and to create academically rigorous student-centered online courses. In this session we will outline the 4 core steps taken in multiple online courses to create social interactions and peer engagement as well as transitioning elements of the course based on student suggestions to ones that are community focused but also incorporate assessment design. Overall, the re-framing helped students in 2 summer courses and 4 fall courses to have a better sense of community when compared to other online courses (88% of respondents) and felt an improved sense of motivation (81%) and well-being (78%). Although preliminary, we believe that student-lead design changes can be adapted for various modes of delivery whether face to face, dual delivery or completely online and generate a positive experience that leads to better community and student wellness while maintaining academic rigour.
“A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”: Preparing Future Nurses to Effectively Communicate Health-Information with Infographics
Zoraida Beekhoo, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Charlene Chu, RN, GNC(c), PhD, Assistant Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Lindsay Jibb, RN, PhD, CPHON, Assistant Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Neal MacInnes, Academic Information and Communication Technology Supervisor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Infographics serve as an effective way to present complex data in a visual format that is compelling, provides rapidly available information, and is directly useful for decision-making purposes. Within a health sphere, infographics provide a platform for visually and effectively communicating data and information to stakeholders—including patients, clinicians, and policymakers—in a way that may be more compelling than traditional research papers or data sets.
In response to the COVID – 19 pandemic in which all undergraduate courses were required to adapt to remote delivery, we developed an entirely online infographic assignment for final year nursing students. The focus of this assignment was to engage students to: identify important health issues, consider multi-level solutions, and communicate information to relevant stakeholders using visual storytelling for maximum impact.
In this session we will discuss the methods used to: (1) develop this assignment, (2) support students in understanding assignment objectives and requirements; and (3) navigate the technical aspects of engaging students and assessing the product in an online environment. Perceived strengths and challenges of an online infographic assignment will also be reviewed—including those expressed by students. Finally, we will provide insights into how this assignment may be tailored to the needs of other disciplinary contexts or modes of delivery.
The Last Class Workshop – A Versatile Tool for Course Evaluation and Evolution
Erin Styles, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Molecular Genetics
Recognizing that the last session of class at the end of the term is often not very materially productive, I have searched for a way to make this last class meaningful and functional for both me and my students. In this session, I will describe a modified workshop first developed by Dr. Elizabeth Bleicher at Ithaca College as a means of obtaining real-time, in-person or virtual course evaluations, and driving course evolution (Bleicher, 2011). This approach generates more honest and useful feedback than standard post-mortem course evaluations, and requires only minimal preparative work on the part of the instructor – the instructor’s role during the workshop is primarily as a facilitator. The “Last Class Workshop” depends on the active metacognitive engagement of students in owning and reflecting upon their learning experiences, and is presented as an empowering opportunity for student activism during which students are asked to contribute to improving future iterations of the course.
4.3: Lightning Talks
Development of Graduate Student Pedagogy Through Practical Application and Partnership with High School Educators in the Discovery Educational Platform
Dawn Kilkenny, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) & ISTEP
Nicolas Ivanov, Doctoral candidate, IBME
Nhien Tran-Nguyen, Master of Applied Science candidate, IBME
Neal Callaghan, IBME, Doctoral candidate, IBME
Theresa Frost, TDSB ACL Science & STEAM, Discovery/ISTEP
Locke Davenport Huyer, Post-doctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
The evolving academic landscape requires skills beyond traditional research, therefore graduate students in STEM require broad opportunities to develop and improve translatable skillsets. An increasing number of graduate students now focus on developing their teaching skills in parallel with thesis research given pursuit of teaching-centred careers post-graduation. Opportunities to practice innovative pedagogy are therefore highly advantageous in allowing graduate students to fully immerse as teachers and gain experience beyond teaching assistantships. FASE graduate students have opportunity to develop teaching self-efficacy through volunteer participation with the Discovery Educational Program, where they create and deliver curriculum based in critical thinking and problem solving, meanwhile working in collaboration with STEM educators from partner TDSB secondary schools. Discovery provides iterative in-classroom and on-campus learning project-based learning for ~ 180 TDSB high school students each semester. Once a new global theme has been selected at the onset of each session, graduate trainee leaders create and develop discipline-specific instructional materials based on their unique experience with cutting-edge science and engineering. Trainees engage with TDSB educators to reframe basic and ubiquitous high school STEM course concepts into relevant problems and challenges that align with ministry-required discipline outcomes and educator curriculum strategies. Subsequently, these graduate leaders are responsible to teach the theory and practical application they have developed to relevant high school educators and fellow volunteer graduate instructors, who ultimately mentor participating university preparatory TDSB high school students. This strategy has been fully translated online and in compressed format, currently engages ~100 students per quadmester.
TAs as Learners: Promoting Reflective Teaching in an Informal Learning Community
Jacqueline Smith, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Computer Science, FAS
Mario Badr, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Computer Science, FAS
In this session, we will present the TA training program we have implemented in a large first-year course (CSC108). We have run this training program both in-person and online. The goals of this program are to encourage TAs to reflect on their teaching, and to build a stronger TA community. We expect that our TAs are well-versed in the subject matter (i.e., the Python programming language), but that they are still learning how to support students who are struggling. In CSC108, TAs primarily work one-on-one with students in office hours, where supervision and observation is challenging. Rather than focusing on giving instructions, we aim to teach TAs the principles behind teaching and learning in this context. In regular meetings throughout the term, we teach TAs about barriers to learning students may be facing. We discuss theories and principles on how learning works to provide background and terminology for discussion and reflection on teaching scenarios. To help TAs integrate these concepts in their own teaching, we connect the concepts to experiences the TAs have had as learners themselves. Group discussions explore the TAs’ positive and negative learning experiences, both in and outside of the classroom, and connect this reflection on learning to their new role as a teacher. We explicitly talk about teaching as a skill to learn, and aim to create an environment where TAs are comfortable doing this reflection. By promoting these discussions in regular teaching team meetings, we create an informal learning community that welcomes first-time and experienced TAs to share, grow, and reflect as teachers.
11am-12pm
MOVEMENT BREAK: How to Integrate Movement Breaks into the Classroom to Enhance Student Engagement and Wellbeing
Dr. Ananya Banerjee PhD, Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and School of Population & Global Health, McGill University
Dr. Jackie Bender PhD, Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and
Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
Student engagement is considered a key strategy to transform and add value to the undergraduate classroom experience and is one of the strongest predictors of learning and personal development. A project funded by Learning & Education Advancement Fund (LEAF) sought to improve student engagement through teaching practices that incorporated movement in the classroom setting. Given the novelty of this teaching approach in the post-secondary environment, the aim of this project as featured on The Varsity was to examine the feasibility of integrating movement breaks in undergraduate classrooms at the University of Toronto. We produced eight, 3-minute videos to support the delivery of in-class movement breaks. Videos consist of stretches, light aerobic exercises and mindfulness activities developed and led by certified fitness and mindfulness instructors. Movement breaks were designed to be inclusive of all fitness levels and abilities and considered environmental resource and space constraints. We developed an implementation toolkit, hosted a training session, and provided on-going on-line support to 22 instructors across all three campuses of the University of Toronto in implementing the movement breaks in their classrooms. Our results show that participating students (n=1400) and instructors enjoyed the movement breaks and students who consistently participated in the movement breaks experienced significant improvements in emotional, physical, and social well-being in class. Student engagement was also enhanced. The goals of this interactive workshop are the following: 1) understand the effectiveness of movement breaks, 2) promote broader awareness of integrating movement breaks in the classroom, and 3) increase faculty comfort level in accessing using the on-line database of 30+ videos on open.utoronto.ca to conduct movement breaks.
1pm-2pm
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 5
5.1: Interactive Online Workshop
Anti-Oppressive and Inclusive Teaching
Catherine Amara, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Kinesiology & Physical Education
Recent widespread global protests against Anti-Indigenous and Anti-Black racism in Canada and beyond, and the ensuing discussions in the academy appealing for change, have been grounded in the understanding that the systems and structures in our society grossly disadvantage, harm and even kill Black and Indigenous peoples. These systems require dismantling and re-envisioning. Therefore, this time of social outrage presents an important moment to affect change within all our pedagogies. The purpose of this session is twofold: 1) to share one strategy that has been implemented to support instructors from different parent disciplines to incorporate anti-racist content and pedagogies within their courses, and 2) to learn from session participants about barriers for instructors related to teaching anti-oppressive content and/or taking up related practices and to discuss potential solutions. The strategy to be presented was designed for and with instructors with a range of experience and expertise (from zero knowledge and experience to vast experience and scholarly expertise) and from varied teaching sub-disciplines in Kinesiology & Physical Education (physical cultural studies, biomechanics, motor learning, behavioural sciences, physiology). Thus, this strategy has the potential to be translated to various disciplines across the University of Toronto, and beyond. With the enormous number and variety of programmes offered across our three campuses, and the even greater range of careers for which we prepare our students, the impact of provoking such a curricular shift in contributing to meaningful systemic change, with respect to Anti-Black and Anti-Indigenous racism both within and outside of academia, is amplified.
5.2: Lightning Talks
Increasing EAL International Students’ Confidence to Participate in Online Classrooms: Using an Anti-Oppressive Framework
Yaseen Ali, Learning Strategist, Academic Success
Jasjit Sangha Learning Strategist, Academic Success
Societal inequity is reproduced on university campuses, in a myriad of ways, from how course curricula are designed to how students are expected to interact in the classroom. For international students who speak English as an additional language (EAL) – many of them racialized – deficiency attitudes around language proficiency such as native-speakerism negatively impact their confidence to participate verbally. EAL international students thus often feel pressure to continuously adapt their speech to meet a “standard” in order to be successfully understood. As learning strategists working directly with these students, we have observed that the shift to online learning has exacerbated these issues. Using videoconferencing platforms, students convey a sense of unease when attempting to demonstrate involvement in conversations that move too quickly yet tend to blame themselves. Since March 2020, we have offered workshops for graduate students to further articulate this unease, by openly discussing these barriers as a systemic issue instead of a personal one. We address the impact of the hidden curriculum on their learning experiences, such as dealing with others’ microaggressions or biases. We also affirm the World Englishes that these students already speak as legitimate by highlighting the number of global EAL users (versus L1 speakers). In this session, we will share our anti-oppressive framework by sharing facilitation strategies used in our conversations with students. Namely, we attempt to align with Tsuda’s Ecology of Language Paradigm (2019) to “raise consciousness about issues such as the right to language and equality in communication”.
Performative Vulnerability as a Classroom Strategy
Kate Maddalena, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, ICCIT, UTM
This session describes an exercise in performative vulnerability as a strategy for enlisting students as collaborators (rather than subordinates) in a classroom as a learning space for instructor and student (rather than only the latter). Specifically, I will describe my own desire, as a new settler in Canada, to actively learn about Canadian indigeneity by teaching the work of indigenous writers. I use a framing activity when I present my syllabus and then I re-introduce that frame as we approach 3 indigenous-authored readings. The performative vulnerable frame, which essentially asks students to help me learn, is easily adaptable to other courses and course content.
Positionality Through Reflection on Connections With Land
Kerry Taylor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Criminology & Socio-Legal Studies, FAS
Sabeen Kazmi, PhD Candidate (CRI364 Teaching Assistant), Centre for Criminology & Socio-Legal Studies, FAS
The session will focus on description, discussion and reflection upon an assignment called, “Connecting and Learning With Land” for CRI364, “Indigenous Peoples & Criminal Justice” (undergraduate 300-level course) at the Centre for Criminology & Socio-Legal Studies. Course facilitator, Professor Kerry Taylor, and teaching assistant, Sabeen Kazmi will share and discuss this assignment in terms of pedagogy, learning objectives, evaluation, and student feedback. We will also discuss how the assignment has heightened and strengthened our own work (Kerry: wholistic and socio-legal pedagogy) (Sabeen: PhD research), our course facilitation, and our ability to connect to land and undergraduate students through embodied and reflective teaching and learning. We will situate ourselves as both teacher/learner, in the particular contexts of our own “decolonizing” journeys, and will pay tribute to the ways the land and our students’ engagement with this assignment has fostered emergent practices of reciprocity, learning with our whole selves, and expanded relational accountability.
5.3: Inquiry on Teaching and Learning Poster + Talk
Fostering Academic Integrity in First-Year Courses
Chester Scoville, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, English and Drama, UTM)
Michael Kaler, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, UTM
Christoph Richter, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Biology, UTM
Steve Szigeti, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, UTM
If we are to foster a culture of academic integrity in our teaching, we need to understand how our students view this issue, especially as they begin their university careers. Further, we need to understand what justifications or neutralizations students may employ with regard to academic integrity and to the possibility of contravening it. The literature is clear that students often understand academic integrity in different ways than do faculty and staff at universities: not only do they differ with regard to what constitutes a violation of academic integrity, but also with regard to what sorts of offenses are serious, and what extenuating circumstances would justify committing them (e.g. Lofstrom 2011; Rozzet, Hage, and Chow 2012; Beasly 2014). Learning how students think about these issues is vital if we wish to craft effective interventions in our classes. Towards that end, in January 2020 we administered a 29 question survey (derived from Mavrinac et al 2010, as modified by Howard, Ehrich and Walton 2014) to students from three large first-year courses (one Humanities, one Social Science, and one Science course) to help us understand how the students in those courses viewed academic integrity, and specifically how they viewed the act of plagiarism. We repeated this survey in September 2020 and again in January 2021. In this session we will report what the results from over 2200 completed surveys revealed, and offer suggestions about how this data can be used in our strategies for addressing this issue. We hope that our findings will help instructors in designing assessments for all students, in such a way as to minimize the stress surrounding questions of academic integrity.
Reflecting on Two Years of Collaborative Testing: Students’ Learning, Feedback, and Lived Experiences
Danielle Bentley, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Surgery, Division of Anatomy
James Faul, BSc., MSc. Candidate
Victoria Melo, BSc. candidate
Tamara Rosner, PhD,
Matthew Magliozzi, BSc., BSc. and Advanced Diploma candidate
Yashi Ballal, H.BSc, B.MRSC candidate
2:30pm-3:30pm
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 6
6.1: Interactive Online Workshop
The Efficacy of Care and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for at-Risk Students in Online Teaching and Learning
Xiangying Huo, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC
Elaine Khoo, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Coordinator, English Language Development, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC
Care is at the heart of education and has become increasingly important during the pandemic when students feel less connected with others in online learning. Students with extremely low academic language proficiency are particularly at risk from being unable to cope with academic writing. Through the Reading and Writing Excellence program, the volume of writing these low-proficiency students produced was monitored. Among 8 groups, students in the group with Care and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy wrote the most. Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) embraces students’ “cultural references” in all dimensions of learning1. CRT is “inclusive,” “empowering,” “transformative,” “emancipatory,” and “humanistic”2 (p. 38-44). Using Care and CRT pedagogy, Band 1 students were positioned as “co-learners” and “people first and foremost”3. Thus, students’ strengths, lives, and existing knowledge4 were the foci when the instructor provided personalized and dialogic support. Consequently, each active Band 1 student in this group wrote on average 4,200 words within the one-month cycle in 2020. In 2021, the volume of Band 1 students’ writing supported by the Care and CRT Pedagogy significantly surpassed Band 1 output in other groups as this pedagogy not only achieves social presence, but also constructs students’ identities, promotes learner agency, and ensures inclusivity. After learning the tenets of the Caring and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, attendees will explore applications in respective teaching contexts for other at-risk students. Discussions will involve possibility of applying this pedagogy to classes of different sizes, peer-led groups, traditional classroom versus online settings as well as challenges and limitation of this pedagogy.
1. Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dream keepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco: Jossy-Bass Publishers.
2. Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
3. Glina, B. M. (n.d.) What Is Caring Pedagogy? An Introduction: Relationships of Reciprocity Series. Retrieved from https://www.wiley.com/network/instructors-students/education-trends/what-is-caring-pedagogy-an-introduction.
4. Villegas, A. M., & Lucas, T. (2002). Preparing culturally responsive teachers: Rethinking the curriculum. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 20–32.
6.2: Symposium You
When Everything is New: Faculty Reflections on Developing and Teaching a New Writing Course During a Pandemic
Jordana Garbati, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, UTM
Chris Eaton, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, ISUP
Janine Rose, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, ISUP
Four faculty were hired in July to develop and teach ISP100: Writing for University and Beyond. Housed within the newly formed Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, ISP100 is a required writing course for students in three departments (with plans for growth in the next five years). Soon after we first met online in July, we began a collaborative autoethnography to document our experiences with collaborating and teaching in an online learning environment. In so doing, we (a) wrote reflections about course development, course readings, modes of assessment, and faculty meetings; (b) met to discuss our reflections, (c) coded and analyzed our reflections at the end of fall 2020; and (d) repeated our data collection and analysis methods in winter 2021. Themes from our analysis include syllabus development successes and challenges; students’ responses to our teaching methods; teaching challenges within the pandemic; impressions of UTM and collegial support; career progression; and intersections between personal and work lives. In this roundtable, we will (a) share our research findings and experience with this research method, and (b) moderate a discussion about the place and value of self-reflection within our teaching practices. What value does a study such as a collaborative autoethnography have within the scholarship of teaching and learning? How can others learn from the narratives of new faculty? What should be considered in the development of a new course/unit/program/department, especially one focused on excellence and innovation in teaching? How does a pandemic affect teaching and learning in a writing classroom?
6.3: Interactive Online Workshop
Let’s Talk about Failure at U of T
Johanna Pokorny, Research Lead, Innovation Hub, Academic Success
Kate Bowers Learning Strategist, Resilience Focus Academic Success
Do you want to talk about failure? Failure and difficulty are inevitable parts of learning at UofT, and yet this aspect of a student’s experience often remains unexamined. UofT narratives of excellence can further alienate students, aggravating the open discussion of failure in learning at the university. In winter 2021, the Innovation Hub and Academic Resilience Initiative within Academic Success brought these conversations to light with the Let’s Talk About Failure project. Using student-led dialogue to uncover stories from across the university, this project aimed to develop insight into how students define failure at UofT, and how it affects their sense of belonging, efficacy, and resilience as learners. This session will provide initial insights found in the dialogue sessions with students sharing their failure stories. Using these examples, insights, and learnings, participants will have the opportunity to discuss how the narrative of success and the pursuit of excellence at UofT can be broadened to make room for failure, challenge and difficulty as these are inevitable parts of the process, though often left out of the story. We will facilitate a discussion of what we can do as instructors, administrators and an institution to more deeply support student learning through failure. Virtual whiteboards, zoom polling and guiding questions will be used to generate discussions.
Day 3: May 14
9am-10am
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 7
7.1: Symposium You
Microaggressions in the Virtual Classroom
Karen McCrindle, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Language Studies; Associate Dean/Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC
Krystle Phirangee, PhD, Educational Developer, Assessment and Online Learning, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC
With the pandemic requiring a move to online course delivery, instructors have attempted to gracefully navigate the online learning environment and harness various educational technologies to support their students and online teaching. However, many instructors and teaching assistants have reported experiencing and witnessing microaggressions directed towards other students and/or themselves. Microaggressions are inappropriate, deeply offensive acts of discrimination, usually aimed at socially marginalized groups. They may be covert behaviours, which are often rooted in personal bias and systems of power. Online microaggressions may take on many forms: Both verbal and nonverbal microaggressions may be displayed in emails, video conferencing meetings and breakout rooms, chats, online discussion boards, assignments, and group work. Furthermore, it is sometimes unclear whether a specific microaggression was intentional or unintentional. Despite the motivation, microaggressions create an unwelcome online learning environment, can be detrimental to the teaching and learning process, and may have a significant impact on individuals. Addressing microaggressions is critical to creating inclusive and positive learning environments. In this session, participants will examine the challenges presented by microaggressions and recognize the negative impact of microaggressions on the mental health of instructors and learners. They will also explore strategies to create an inclusive and anti-racist environment in the online classroom and to navigate microaggressions when they occur.
7.2: Symposium You
Enabling Inclusive and Equitable Initiatives Through an Iterative Co-Design Process
Nouman Ashraf (He/Him/His), Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources Management, Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Teaching Fellow, Gender + The Economy, Rotman School of Management
Matti Siemiatycki, Interim Director, School of Cities, University of Toronto
Nation Cheong, Vice President, Community Opportunities and Mobilization, United Way Greater Toronto
To create learning environments that are truly equitable and inclusive of learners and their diverse experiences, we must embrace those principles and design together with people other than instructors. In this conversation we will explore how the processes and systems we default to contribute or take away from creating inclusive and equitable learning environments. How might we adapt the foundation of academic programs to be inclusive in their design and delivery?
We will embark on this conversation, through the lens of our own attempt in achieving this in designing the Leading Social Justice Fellowship. This leadership development initiative for individuals from the public, private, and community sectors who want to rebuild an equitable and inclusive city was born out of a unique partnership between United Way Greater Toronto and UofT School of Cities.
The partnership integrates United Way Greater Toronto’s strong networks and deep history of work in communities with U of T’s School of Cities’ interdisciplinary approach to urban research, education, and engagement. Together, the partners incorporated a co-design process from the start, inviting people from across sectors to share their experiences and perspectives in co-designing the initiative.
Through co-design sessions we addressed programmatic blind spots, identified opportunities for enriching the experience and contributed to designing a generative experience that empowers participants to advance the change they wish to see.
7.3: Symposium You
Sustainability for Community-engaged Learning with Indigenous Community Partnerships
Sherry Fukuzawa, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Anthropology, UTM
Veronica King-Jamieson, Councillor, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation
Nicole Laliberte, Associate Professor, Geography, UTM
Andrew Judge, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies, Algoma University
Jonathan Ferrier, Assistant Professor, Biology, Dalhousie University
Neda Maki, PhD Candidate, UTM
Shantel Watson, Undergraduate Student, U of T
The purpose of this panel is to generate a discussion on the issues of sustainability for community-engaged learning (CEL) that prioritizes local Indigenous pedagogies. We will emphasize the importance of allowing the authentic voices of local Indigenous communities to direct and control the sharing of their own cultural traditions, history, and teachings from a place-based perspective (Chartrand, 2012). This is different from general “Indigenous education” programs because it acknowledges the many distinct and diverse Indigenous pedagogies across this country, and grounds Indigenous ways of knowing in a regional, cultural, and language-based context (Ragoonaden, 2017). Our panel will begin with a short introduction of the UTM Community-engaged Learning course “Anthropology and Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (in Canada)” (ANT241H) that is developed and implemented by a collective of UTM faculty with members of the Anishinaabeg Nation primarily from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (Fukuzawa et al., 2020). This course is funded by a three year Connaught Community Partnerships Grant. The IAG is conducting a longitudinal study to examine the effect of community-engaged learning with a local Indigenous community on students’ understanding and behavior toward Indigenous issues. This panel will engage all attendees in an open forum to discuss:
- How do we achieve sustainability in community-engaged learning in the Academy?
- How do we change the measures of success in the Academy to include Indigenous pedagogies?
- How do we change Academic funding models for teaching and research to support community-engaged learning with Indigenous community partnerships?
- How do we protect the ownership and control of online materials produced by Indigenous communities?
Chartrand, R. (2012). Anishinaabe Pedagogy. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35, 1, 144-161.
Fukuzawa, S., King-Jamieson, V., Laliberte, N., and Belmore, D. (2020). Community-engaged Learning (CEL): Integrating anthropological discourse with Indigenous knowledge, Teaching Anthropology Journal, 9, 2, 43-50.
Ragoonaden, K. (2017). Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Indigenizing Curriculum. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 47, 2, 22-46.
10:30am-11:30am
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 8
8.1: Symposium You
“I Feel Like a First-Year Teacher Again”: Faculty Professional Learning During the Shift to Remote Teaching in a Large-Scale Graduate Level Professional Program
Kim MacKinnon, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE
Kathy Broad, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE
Said Sidani, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, PhD Candidate, OISE
Angela Vemic, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE
In this session, we will briefly describe our experience with professional learning opportunities for instructors in the Master of Teaching (MT) program at OISE. This includes sharing examples of practices that have helped to foster a culture of trust and de-privatized practice within a large graduate program. To support and facilitate the ongoing professional learning of over 80 instructors for remote teaching, the roles of ‘Online Coaches’ were established in response to the sudden shift to remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will be discussed further. Participants will explore professional learning (PL) in a large program serving over 800 graduate students in the midst of the pivot to remote teaching. They will be encouraged to make explicit links to their own contexts as they discuss: (i) helpful experiences they have had pursuing PL to support remote teaching, (ii) the types of challenges they have encountered with accessing and engaging in PL to support remote teaching, (iii) strategies used to gauge successes and challenges of PL in order to support ongoing improvements, and (iv) next steps for PL as we enter a new academic year that is likely to continue with online forms of teaching.
8.2: Interactive Online Workshop
Personalizing Your Land Acknowledgements: Building from the Medicine Wheel
Bonnie Jane Maracle, Indigenous Learning Strategist, Academic Success & First Nations House
Yaseen Ali, Learning Strategist, Academic Success
Ellyn Kerr, Learning Strategist, Academic Success
Have you been meaning to personalize your land acknowledgment to open events and gatherings, but been concerned about getting something “wrong”? Do you often use a pre-written template but would prefer to tailor your acknowledgment to better reflect your own cultural and social location(s)?
This session will offer a non-judgmental and supportive environment to reflect on your identities using the Medicine Wheel as an Indigenous pedagogical and experiential learning framework. Through a variety of prompts and dedicated contemplative writing time, participants will have opportunity to draft a meaningful and dynamic statement on what it means to “acknowledge” Indigenous land and consider their further action related to the Truth and Reconciliation process.
This workshop will be guided by Bonnie Jane Maracle (Indigenous Learning Strategist, Academic Success/First Nations House).
8.3: Symposium You
The Role and Value of Departmental and Divisional Communities of Practice in Supporting Teaching Development
Thuy Huynh, (formerly) Teaching & Learning Senior Project Coordinator, Office of the Dean, FAS
Molly Metz, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, FAS
Ashley Waggoner Denton, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, FAS
Suzanne Wood, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, FAS
Andrew Dicks, Professor, Teaching Stream, Chemistry, FAS
Jessica Whitehead, Faculty Liaison, Pedagogical Support, Teaching & Learning Office
Communities of practice (CoPs) provide a fluid environment for experts and novices to share and learn knowledge and practices in a multi-directional manner (Wenger, 2011). Such initiatives have been shown to support teaching development, providing a safe environment to discuss and tackle common issues (Blair, 2008). In this session, we will share experiences from two teaching CoPs in the Faculty of Arts & Science that have been active for more than five years. One CoP is offered at the divisional level, thus tending to be more interdisciplinary in discussion topics and faculty engagement. While the other CoP is offered at the departmental level and focuses more on the challenges of teaching within the discipline (Wood, Dukewich, & Denton, 2016). We will share the organization and structure of our CoPs, the level of engagement, the characteristics and demographics of members, and the benefits and challenges of running the CoPs. We will also provide a handout with advice and guiding questions for starting a CoP. Participants will engage in a discussion comparing the roles and values of departmental and divisional CoPs, and reflect on how a CoP may be best integrated into their own teaching development and practice. Finally, we will reflect on the utility and challenges of facilitating an online CoP based on our experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Blair, D. V. (2008). Mentoring novice teachers: developing a community of practice. Research Studies in Music Education, 30(2), 97–115. https://doi.org/10.1080/10598650.1998.11510377
Wenger, E. (2011). Communities of Practice: a Brief Introduction (Vol. October). Retrieved from https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/11736
Wood, S., Dukewich, K.& Denton, A. W. (2016). Promoting pedagogy : The development of a teaching & learning CoP in a research-focused department. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal, 9(1), 1–10.
12pm-1:30pm
CLOSING PLENARY
Provost Remarks (12pm-12:15pm)
with Prof. Cheryl Regehr
Pandemic Snapshots – Learning & Looking Forward (12:15pm-1:30pm)
The Teaching & Learning Symposium closing plenary will be foregrounded by learning as we highlight several distinct instructor and student snapshots from the past year. Panelists will draw on their unique experiences and in conversation with each other, create an opportunity for us all, as a community, to think about what we have learned this past year and how it has changed us and our work moving forward.
Co-Moderators:
Greg Evans, Professor, Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto
Prof. Greg Evans P.Eng., PhD. FCAE, FAAAS, FCEEA is a Professor in the University of Toronto Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. He is the Director of the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice (ISTEP) a new department centered on engineering education and the instruction of transdisciplinary competencies. Prof. Evans has conducted research on lab-based education, student data analytics, metacognition and lifelong learning, and student experience. He is a 3M National Teaching Fellow and a member of the President’s Teaching Academy, who has been widely recognised for both his research and teaching.
Samantha Chang, PhD Candidate from the Department of Art History, TATP Micro Teaching Coordinator
Samantha Chang is an art historian by day and a classical musician by night. Her Ph.D. project combines the best of both worlds and examines sixteenth- and seventeenth-century musical selfies. When not buried behind books or performing on stage, Samantha is the Microteaching Coordinator at the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program.
Panelists:
Emanuel Istrate, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Victoria College
Emanuel Istrate is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, and the Teaching with Technology Coordinator at Victoria College, University of Toronto. His teaching covers areas in physical sciences, science in society, ethics for scientists, and entrepreneurship. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto in 2005, working on optical wave propagation. He set up several courses and training programs for optics, including a holography course teaching both art and science concepts through the medium of holography.
Fiona Rawle, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and Associate Dean, Undergraduate Biology, UTM
Fiona Rawle has a Ph.D in Pathology and Molecular Medicine and is the Associate Dean, Undergraduate, at the University of Toronto Mississauga, and an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Dept. of Biology. Her research focuses on public communication of science, the science of learning, and equity, diversity, and inclusion in science. She has received numerous awards focused on teaching, including the University of Toronto’s President’s Teaching Award. Dr. Rawle is also a member of the University of Toronto’s TIDE group (Toronto Initiative for Diversity & Excellence), through which she gives lectures and workshops on bias, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Stephane Martin Demers, Undergraduate Student, Faculty of Music and Student Governor (elected), U of T Governing Council
Stephane Martin Demers is an undergraduate student in his final year at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music studying classical piano and pursuing a Minor in History. During the past few years, Stephane has actively engaged with issues of anti-racism and equity in his coursework and leadership roles. He is currently serving as a student representative on the U of T Student Equity Census Advisory Roundtable and President of the Faculty of Music Anti-Racism Alliance. Since the start of the pandemic, Stephane has sought out new learning and teaching experiences.