Connect, collaborate, get inspired at Taylor Institute Teaching Days

With the fall semester fast approaching, course preparation has already begun. Facing new groups of students, new challenges and sometimes new material, many faculty, staff and instructors may find themselves thinking strategically about their teaching. On Aug. 28 and 29, the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning is offering a unique event to address these instructors’ needs with Teaching Days 2018. Comprised of 16 free workshops, Teaching Days provides participants with a condensed opportunity to brush up on D2L, online learning, experiential learning and student assessment, among many other topics.

Dr. Natasha Kenny, PhD, director of the Educational Development Unit at the Taylor Institute, emphasizes the value of this condensed academic event. She sees within Teaching Days the possibility for long-lasting connections and collaborations.

“Teaching Days will create an opportunity for instructors to connect and engage in meaningful and significant conversations about teaching and learning that continue beyond the event itself,” she says. “Educators across all stages will leave with at least one strategy or idea that influences their own teaching approaches and practices in their courses. The Taylor Institute offers an extraordinary space for educators across our campus to continue to highlight the University of Calgary’s exemplary teaching community.”

The experience of learning

Dr. Vivian Mozol, PhD, and Dr. Julie Lefebvre, PhD, senior instructors in the Department of Chemistry, will be co-presenting Creating Experiential Learning Activities for Your Own Classroom on Aug. 28. Their workshop will focus on students’ struggles to determine when or how their university courses provide the necessary foundational knowledge and skills required for their future careers. Mozol and Lefebvre argue that experiential learning activities help with this struggle, and their workshop encourages others to use and develop such activities in their own practices. 

“Experiential learning is a way of bringing more authentic disciplinary experience to the classroom,” Mozol notes. “I hope that participants will leave seeing the value in collaborating with peers or within the greater faculty community on these types of developments. I hope that they will recognize how experiential learning activities develop the critical thinking and visualization skills that we often find missing in our students.”

Full list of Teaching Days workshops

Aug. 28

CliftonStrengths for Students: Using a Strengths-Based Approach for Group Work
Facilitators: Gareth McVicar, Carlie Necker
Studio B, 9 - 10:30 a.m.

Responsibilities in Creating Safe Classroom Spaces
Facilitators: Dr. Sally St. George, PhD, Dr. Dan Wulff, PhD
Studio C, 9 - 10:30 a.m. 

Effective use of Teamwork in the Classroom Through Course Design and ITP Metrics Assessments
Facilitators: Dr. Tom O'Neill, PhD, Dr. Melissa Boyce, PhD
Studio B, 10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. 

Principles and Practices of Student Assessment
Facilitators: Patrick Kelly, Ashley Weleschuk
Studio C, 10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. 

Curriculum Review Community of Practice
Facilitators: Dr. Patti Dyjur, PhD, and Dr. Kim Grant, PhD
Studio B, 1 - 2:30 p.m.

D2L Work Session
Facilitators: Isadora Mok-Kulakova, Dr. Laura Perissinotti, PhD, Lin Yu
Studio C, 1 - 2 p.m.

Trauma-Informed Teaching
Facilitators: Dr. Rachael Crowder, PhD
Studio C, 2:15 - 3:45 p.m. 

Creating Experiential Learning Activities for Your Own Classroom
Facilitators: Dr. Julie Lefebvre, PhD, Dr. Vivian Mozol, PhD
Studio F, 1 - 3 p.m. 

Storyboard Marketing
Facilitator: Dr. Derrick Rancourt, PhD
TI Forum, 1 - 4 p.m. 

Aug. 29

Active Learning in Online Environments
Facilitators: Dr. Jessica Ayala, PhD, Dr. Barb Brown, PhD
Studio B, 9 - 10:30 a.m. 

Learner-Centred Course Outlines and Alignment
Facilitators: Haboun Bair, Lin Yu
Studio C, 9 - 10:30 a.m. 

Using the PERMA Flourishing Model to Support Well-Being in the Classroom for Educators and Students
Facilitators: Dr. Natasha Kenny, PhD, Patti Dyjur
Studio C, 10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. 

Themed Conversation: Learning From Students About Experiential and Inquiry-Based Learning
Facilitators: Dr. AnneMarie Dorland, PhD, and Lisa King
Studio B, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

Generating Clinical Problem-Solving Cases
Facilitator: Mike Paget
Studio B, 1 - 2:30 p.m. 

Teaching Controversial Issues: What, Why and How
Facilitators: Dr. Carol Berenson, PhD, Dr. Valerie Pruegger, PhD
Studio C, 1 - 3 p.m. 

Graphic Recording in Teaching and Learning
Facilitators: Dr. Kiara Mikita, PhD, Sam Hester
TI Forum, 1 - 4 p.m.