This year at the
Centre for
Teaching and Learning
Formerly the Instructional Development Centre
2005-2006
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
Albert Einstein
What’s Inside
Our Mission........................1 Strategic Focus Areas.........1 For Faculty..........................2 For Graduate Students........6 For Department Heads........9 Recognition for Teaching...10 Teaching Chair...............10 Awards...........................11 Our Location.......................11 CTL Staff............................12
collaborative
responsive
pragmatic
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Our Mission ............................. The mission of the CTL is to enhance the quality of student learning and support all instructors in their teaching role by: • • • •
Fostering and sustaining a culture of collaboration through community building Providing services and programs to support the educational development activities of individuals and academic units Encouraging policies and initiatives that value and recognize good practice Promoting the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Strategic Focus Areas .......................................... Good Practice
Community
A well-developed teaching community transcends diversity of disciplines, knowledge and expertise, reduces isolation, provides learning and development opportunities for individual teachers and has the potential to transform the university culture.
Scholarship
The scholarship of teaching and learning invites teachers to reflect on teaching practices, document methods, outcomes and changes made to improve learning, and share findings with colleagues. Scholarship makes instructional processes public and opens practices to critical debate. Initiatives for Faculty Focus on Foundations Teaching Matters Teachers’ Reading Circle Teachers’ Writing Circle Meet the Teacher Enabling Professional Practice Cross-Faculty Teaching Forum Consultations Teaching Chairs Teaching Awards New Faculty Orientation CTL-L Listserv
Community
x x x x x x
x x x
Effective teaching is a scholarly activity, integral to the duties of all faculty members. Centre resources, services and programs are intended to support the ongoing efforts of individuals and academic units to develop good teaching practices.
Leadership The Centre aims to challenge policies and practices that may serve as barriers to effective teaching and learning, and advocate for policies and practices that value, foster, recognize and reward effective teaching and learning. Good Practice
Leadership
x x
x x x x x
Scholarship
x x x x x
x x x
x x
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For Faculty ............................. Programs Focus on Foundations
• • • •
consists of interactive workshops and presentations intended to: Promote conversation among faculty members about teaching Encourage the exchange of ideas and practices related to teaching Encourage faculty members to explore alternative teaching practices Allow faculty members to serve as resources for one another
This program runs through all its 16 sessions every two years (8 sessions per year). We are now entering the first repeat of the second year sessions. Individuals may participate in the program by simply attending the session(s) of their choice. Fall 2005 Sessions • Working with TAs • Assessing Student Learning • Teaching for Active and Deep Learning • Team/Group Learning Winter 2006 Sessions • Supervising Graduate Students • Clinical Teaching • Evaluation of Teaching • Teaching Scholarship
Fall 2006 Sessions • Professional Development: Improving as a Teacher • Developing Learning Tasks • Lecturing • Using Educational Technology Winter 2007 Sessions • Course Planning • Discussion Method Teaching • Lab and Science Teaching • Strategies Tried, Lessons Learned For session descriptions, 05/06 dates and times, go to: http://www.queensu.ca/ctl/programs/
Focus on Foundations Certificate Program
To complete the certificate, you must submit a workshop participation checklist, learning project, and Teaching Development Audit to CTL staff for review. The CTL will provide feedback, but will not grade work. Upon completion of the requirements participants will receive their Focus on Foundations Certificate. There are currently 47 registrants in this program with the first graduate to receive her certificate this year! For More Information If you have any questions about the Focus on Foundations or Certificate Program contact Susan Wilcox at wilcoxs@post.queensu.ca.
Queen’s University Library Queen’s University Library is a network of six campus libraries providing specialist information and research services to the Queen’s community. The Library works in partnership with the Centre for Teaching and Learning and IT Services to support teaching and learning. Liaison librarians will help you with resources relevant for your teaching and research, and work with you to develop your students’ information literacy skills. To contact the liaison for your discipline, and for further information on library services for faculty, see http://library.queensu.ca/services/faculty.htm
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... for Faculty The Teachers’ Reading Circle is in its 6th year. It provides an opportunity for faculty members to reflect together on their teaching, through the lens of literature. Each term, colleagues read and discuss some engaging writing about teaching. For example, Teaching with your Mouth Shut by Donald Finkel outlines the joys and the difficulties of helping students connect with their most powerful and enduring teacher -- themselves. Please join us in this popular program, and let us know if you have a suggested reading! The Teachers’ Writing Circle offers instructors an opportunity to write about their teaching, to share their stories with interested colleagues, and possibly submit their writing as scholarly work for a wider audience. If you have stories to tell about your teaching, and want to explore how you might write those stories and make them part of your scholarly work, this series offers you an opportunity to do just that! The Meet the Teacher series features accomplished teachers from a variety of disciplines presenting their methods, reflecting on their reasons for teaching as they do, and responding to your questions and comments. Last year we heard from Karen Hitchcock, Principal and Vice-Chancellor; Peter Taylor, Mathematics and Statistics; Jackie Duffin, History of Medicine; Donato Santeramo, Spanish and Italian; and Marc Busch, School of Business. Keep a look out for who will be featured in 2005/06!
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. William Butler Yeats
The Cross-Faculty Teaching Forum is the longest ongoing program in university-wide faculty development at Queen’s. Since 1985, the Forum has organized an annual conference with interesting and gifted speakers, bringing together administration, students, faculty and staff to address topical issues in teaching and learning.
Teaching Matters is a
year-long program designed to support new faculty members especially to foster high quality teaching and learning. Last year Teaching Matters was offered for new faculty in Arts and Science. This year it will be offered to new faculty in Applied Science.
Enabling Professional Practice is an intensive work-
shop adapted from the Teaching Improvement Project System (TIPS) for the improvement of teaching in the health sciences. Our group, EPP, has expanded this program and has opened it up to the other members of the post-secondary community. EPP provides a forum where faculty members can enhance their skills and satisfaction in teaching. This objective is achieved through experience in defining objectives, planning lectures/seminars and demonstrations, preparing instructional materials, and practicing teaching skills. The program includes presentations, hands-on activities, discussions, and individual work. Each participant prepares one microteaching session which is videotaped to allow for selfreflection and evaluation, and is followed by feedback from other participants.
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... for Faculty
Resource Library
Teaching More Students Series
The Centre for Teaching and Learning maintains a resource library consisting of over 4000 books, articles, journals, and videos on university teaching and learning. These publications are available for loan to Queen’s instructors, and the collection is searchable through an online database at: http://db.library.queensu.ca/ctl/
Publications The Centre for Teaching and Learning provides several publications on teaching and learning topics. These are available for sale and some are available for free in PDF format from our website.
Preparing a Teaching Dossier
The teaching dossier is an increasingly popular way for faculty to document their teaching effectiveness, both for self-improvement and for tenure and promotion. This 87-page practical guide outlines the steps in preparing a dossier, explains what to include, and shows how to review and revise a draft dossier. Five authentic dossiers are included as examples, and useful appendices include a list of possible items for a dossier, instructions on developing a statement of your teaching philosophy, and guidelines for the interpretation of student evaluations of teaching.
Help on effectively teaching students in large classes is available, including teaching strategies that promote deep learning, encourage cognitive development, and motivate students to take more responsibility for their own learning. The Teaching More Students series is a set of short handbooks that focus on teaching effectively in a time of resource constraints. They were originally developed in Britain at the Oxford Centre for Staff Development. The series has been adapted for use in Canada by the Queen’s University Instructional Development Centre (now the Centre for Teaching and Learning), which purchased exclusive Canadian rights to the materials. Six adaptations have been published so far: • Teaching More Students: Problems and Strategies • Lecturing with More Students • Discussion with More Students • Assessing More Students • Independent Learning with More Students • Course Design for More Students Handbooks are about 50 pages in length and each provides an introduction to the topic, case studies, practical exercises, and a bibliography.
Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself. John Dewey
Writers Wanted!
Queen’s Gazette: Teaching and Learning Issues Once a month our Educational Developers, and other interested faculty at Queen’s, publish in the Queen’s Gazette short articles that respond to current issues, share experiences of the classroom, and much more. If you are interested in writing about teaching and, please contact the CTL.
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... for Faculty
Consultations The CTL offers a teaching consultation service for individual instructors. It is sometimes assumed that our consultation services are for professors with serious teaching problems. While we are happy to offer help in such situations, the CTL also provides advice to many highly motivated and effective professors and teaching assistants who wish to do even better, or to explore new teaching methods in their classes. In a few cases this process involves just a single consultation to discuss a specific teaching issue, but more often there is a series of meetings. Professors and teaching assistants using this service may invite CTL staff to visit one or more classes, or classes may be videotaped and reviewed with the CTL consultant. CTL staff are also willing to meet with students to obtain feedback about professors’ teaching strategies--again, only at the request of the instructor. We may help the instructor design a classroom research project to inquire into their teaching and student learning. We frequently make recommendations about suitable print and A-V materials from our Resource Library. It is CTL policy to work only with persons who approach the Centre voluntarily. Although we are happy for department heads, deans, or others to inform colleagues about our services, it is for the instructors themselves to decide whether, and on what terms, they wish to approach the Centre. To book an initial appointment or to get some advice over the phone, professors and teaching assistants should call the CTL at 533-6428 and simply explain they wish to speak to an educational developer. CONFIDENTIALITY: All consultations are strictly confidential. Information about professors, teaching assistants, and departments who choose to use our services will not be released to any other person or department unless the user requests and authorizes the release of such 6information.
What people need and what they want may be very different... Teachers are those who educate the people to appreciate the things they need. Elbert Hubbard
Explore technology resources and services for faculty at Queen’s University
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For Graduate Students ........................................... Teaching Assistants (TAs) play an important role at Queen’s. TAs support undergraduate learning in many ways, including lecturing, leading discussions or labs, offering individualized help and instruction during office hours, coordinating websites and listservs, teaching courses, and assessing student work. TA work also provides an excellent opportunity for graduate students to develop skills that are transferable to most professions, including engineering, teaching, health sciences, public service, and business.
Programs Professional Development Day for Teaching Assistants
We will once again be offering a Professional Development Day for Teaching Assistants (TA Day) on September 9, 2005. This day long conference will be an opportunity for all TAs to meet and learn about new and interesting developments in teaching and learning. A featured guest keynote speaker, in addition to members of the Queen’s community, will focus on key aspects of the roles and responsibilities of TAs in undergraduate teaching. Further professional development sessions will provide an opportunity to develop skills as a teacher generally and in individual disciplines. This opportunity to get together in a one-day, focused environment can be an important step in encouraging effective teaching practices, encouraging further professional development, and enhancing the profile of the role TAs play in undergraduate education. Departments are encouraged to inform their new TAs and plan for them to attend this day. For further information and to register, go to: http://www.queensu.ca/ctl/programs/conferences/TADay2005/
English Communication Assessment
The English Communication Assessment (ECA) for all new international graduate students who were required to submit satisfactory results in an English Language test such as the TOEFEL for admission will be performed by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (formerly the IDC) this year and is scheduled for September 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14, 2005. Please advise your incoming international graduate students (and students that arrived in January 2005 that have not been assessed) that they can schedule their ECA by contacting the Centre for Teaching and Learning by email at ctl@post.queensu.ca Students who do not obtain satisfactory results on the assessment, will be allowed to register for the course SGS 802: English Language Communication Skills for Teaching Purposes.
SGS 802: English Language Communication Skills for Teaching Purposes
This is a twelve week non-credit course designed for International Teaching Assistants who are non-native speakers of English. SGS 802 focuses on two themes: providing students with opportunities to improve their language and communication skills within the context of their duties as Teaching Assistants and opening the door to understanding the culture, attitudes and assumptions that prevail in the Canadian university classroom. Insight into these assumptions and values will help International Teaching Assistants be more effective in their interactions with students at Queen’s. Students can register for either a fall or winter session of this course by contacting the CTL.
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... for Graduate Students Certificate Program in University Teaching and Learning for Teaching Assistants (PUTL)
Teaching assistants who want to receive formal recognition for their participation in training and development activities are invited to register in the Certificate Program in University Teaching and Learning. There are three separate program certificates: Scholarship, Practical Experience, and Professional Development. TAs may complete as many of the three certificates as they wish, at their own pace, and in any order that they choose. More information on the program can be found on the CTL’s website. To register, students can contact Andy Leger, Educational Developer (TF/ TA) at x75303. Upon registration, TAs will receive a resource package and a portfolio to track their progress through the program.
Workshop Series for Teaching Assistants
During the fall and winter terms the CTL offers a series of workshops on teaching and learning specifically for TAs. These include sessions such as Encouraging Discussion, Academic Integrity, Teaching Portfolios, Equity in the Queen’s Classroom, Effective Presentations, Time Management, Leading Labs, Skilful Questioning and The Use of Technology in Teaching. The workshops are held every Wednesday evening from 5:30 pm 7:00 pm in the CTL. For a complete list of workshops, dates and information on how to register, please visit the CTL website.
SGS 901: Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
This graduate level course which is offered in the winter term is intended for graduate students across the disciplines who want to become skilled, thoughtful, and confident teachers in higher education. The goal of this course is to foster understanding and reflection about learning approaches and effective teaching in a university setting. The course is intended primarily for Ph.D. students, particularly those who have completed their comprehensive examinations. Others, including master’s level students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members, may attend, depending on enrolment. It is highly desirable that participants have some prior teaching experience (for example as a TA) and/or be acting as a TA at the time the course is offered. For more information see the CTL website.
Publications A Handbook for Teaching Assistants This CTL handbook offers suggestions on effective TAing, including leading tutorials and labs, lecturing and presenting, setting and marking assignments, counseling students, and collecting feedback on teaching. Many departments provide their TAs with a copy of the handbook. It can be purchased from the CTL or downloaded from the CTL website.
How to tell students what to look for without telling them what to see is the dilemma of teaching. Lascelles Abercrombie
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... for Graduate Students
Departmental Mentors/Liaisons In an effort to increase the communication among Teaching Assistants, Departments, and the Centre for Teaching and Learning we are once again asking each Department to identify or nominate one experienced TA who can act as a liaison. This individual should have some experience being a TA at Queen’s, have an interest in teaching and, ideally, have participated in development activities for TAs such as SGS 901 or the Certificate Program in University Teaching and Learning for TAs. In this position the individual will act as a contact person for other TAs regarding the resources and programs available to TAs.
Rewards for Teaching TA Awards
Many Departments across campus offer teaching awards for their TAs. For more information on the teaching awards which exist at Queen’s go to http://www.queensu.ca/idc/teachingawards/internal.html If you are interested in establishing a TA teaching award in your department please contact the CTL.
Assessment TA Evaluations
Consultations
For reasons of improvement and accountability we believe that it is important that TAs be evaluated. Undergraduate students deserve an opportunity to give feedback on the ways that TAs support or could better support their learning and TAs need to receive feedback on their work for professional development. Evaluation forms for use in your Department are available on the CTL website. If you would like help designing and implementing a TA evaluation process in your Department please contact the CTL.
Teaching Assistants are invited to contact the CTL for one-to-one support, advice, and/or feedback on their teaching. Consultations can be carried out in person or via email. We can help your TAs collect feedback on their teaching by doing in-class observations, arranging a videotaping of your tutorial or lab session, and/or offering advice and resources with respect to mid-term and end-of-term student questionnaires. Microteaching sessions for TAs will also be available during the fall and winter terms.
Further Information Andy Leger is Educational Developer for Teaching Fellows and Teaching Assistants. He can answer any questions you may have about TA training and development at Queen’s. You can email him at taas@post.queensu.ca or phone him at 533-6000 x75303.
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For Department Heads ........................................... Consultations Departmental Consultations
Departments may request help and advice on a wide range of instructional and professional development issues. The CTL is pleased to collaborate on planning and presenting seminars, workshops, and retreats or other forms of professional development activities for faculty and TAs in a department. We will also assist by offering advice on a wide range of departmental teaching development projects. We have helped departments with curriculum review and course planning, developing procedures for evaluating teaching, implementing alternative course delivery and teaching methods, responding to student learning and development issues, and teaching assistant training. To arrange a meeting with CTL staff, someone from the department should contact the CTL at 533-6428. You will be asked for some information about the nature of the departmental request so that you are put in contact with the appropriate educational developer.
Consultations regarding Individual Instructors
Department Heads typically come into contact with faculty members who could benefit from specialized support for their teaching. For advice and/or further information on how to best access the services of the Centre for Teaching and Learning to address the needs of a particular instructor, Heads should contact staff in the CTL (533-6428). CONFIDENTIALITY: All consultations are strictly confidential. Information about professors, teaching assistants, and departments who choose to use our services will not be released to any other person or department unless the user requests and authorizes the release of such information.
Publications Preparing a Teaching Dossier
The Collective Agreement states that any member whose teaching performance is being reviewed (i.e., annual performance review, and at times of renewal, tenure, continuing appointment, reappointment, or promotion) has the right to submit a Teaching Dossier. For further information on how to prepare a teaching dossier, see the 87-page practical guide that outlines the steps in preparing a dossier, explains what to include, and shows how to review and revise a draft dossier. Department Heads will be particularly interested in Appendix E: Guidelines for the Interpretation of Student Evaluations.
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Teaching More Students Series (booklets and workshops)
Help on effectively teaching students is available, including teaching strategies that promote deep learning, encourage cognitive development, and motivate students to take more responsibility for their own learning. The Teaching More Students series is a set of short handbooks that focus on teaching effectively in a time of resource constraints. They were originally developed in Britain at the Oxford Centre for Staff Development. The series has been adapted for use in Canada by the Queen’s University Instructional Development Centre (now the Centre for Teaching and Learning), which purchased exclusive Canadian rights to the materials. Six adaptations have been published so far: • Teaching More Students: Problems and Strategies • Lecturing with More Students • Discussion with More Students • Assessing More Students • Independent Learning with More Students • Course Design for More Students Handbooks are about 50 pages in length and each provides an introduction to the topic, case studies, practical exercises, and a bibliography. While the handbooks are useful in themselves, an even more valuable experience is to take part in one of the TMS workshops, using material from the manual as a resource. The workshops allow participants to identify common teaching problems and develop strategies for overcoming them, based on ideas that have been used successfully elsewhere. Educational Developers from the CTL are available to lead departmental workshops on any of the six topics listed above, upon request. To access this service, contact the CTL.
Preparing TAs for Teaching: Training Manual
This manual is intended to help departmental representatives develop and implement a strategy for TA training in their department. The manual includes activities that can be incorporated into a TA Orientation Day, tips for assessing TA work, strategies for supporting the professional development of TAs, suggestions for planning TA workshops, and handouts on teaching and learning issues relevant to TAs.
Recognition for Teaching ........................................... Queen’s University Chairs in Teaching and Learning Established by the Queen’s University Senate in 2004, the Queen’s University Chairs in Teaching and Learning recognize teachers who have a record as excellent teachers and as scholars of teaching and learning, who have demonstrated educational leadership at Queen’s and elsewhere, and who have a program of activities that would allow them to make their expertise widely available to the university community.
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Chairs receive a 3 year appointment and $20,000 annual discretionary funds to be spent in support of their program. One chair is selected annually. The Chair works collaboratively with the Centre for Teaching and Learning and during their term gives a Public Lecture. In July 2005, Dr. Leo Jonker (Mathematics and Statistics) was appointed as the first Queen’s University Chair in Teaching and Learning. Call for Submissions A call for submissions for the 2006 Chair will be sent out on our CTL listserv in September 2005. Submissions are due on December 1. For additional information, contact the Centre for Teaching and Learning at 533-6428, or ctl@post.queensu.ca, or visit our website at http://www.queensu.ca/ctl/.
Awards Queen’s tradition of teaching excellence is recognized through a variety of teaching awards at the departmental, institutional, provincial, and national level.
Teaching Awards Directory
In an effort to highlight teaching accomplishment, the Centre for Teaching and Learning maintains an online directory of Queen’s University Teaching Awards (approximately 50) which include information about award criteria, nomination procedures, selection processes, and comprehensive lists of winners. See: http://www.queensu.ca/ctl/scholarship/awards/index.html This directory is updated annually. If you have an Internal Queen’s ‘teaching award’ that is not currently in our directory, please contact Sandra Murray at x75159.
Teaching Awards Reception
Each year, the Principal hosts a reception to honor award winners at Queen’s (internal awards, and external non-discipline specific awards). This is an informal and enjoyable occasion for teachers to chat with the Principal and other colleagues while sipping a glass of wine.
Location of CTL ........................................... The CTL offices and resource library are in the Faculty and Staff Learning Facilities, Room B176, Mackintosh-Corry Hall. We are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Telephone: (613) 533 6428, Fax (613) 533 6735 Email: CTL@post.queensu.ca
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CTL Staff ........................................... Staff
Director Joy Mighty, Ph.D. Director and Professor, School of Business Director.ctl@queensu.ca 533-6428
Elizabeth Amirault Senior Secretary amirault@post.queensu.ca 533-6000 x 75073 Meredith MacLeod Secretary/Receptionist ctl@post.queensu.ca 533-6428
Educational Developers Andy Leger, Ph.D Educational Developer (Teaching Fellows and Teaching Assistants) taas@post.queensu.ca 533-6000 x 75303 Denise Stockley, Ph.D Educational Developer (Faculty/Adjuncts) and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education stockley@post.queensu.ca 533-6000 x74303 Susan Wilcox, Ph.D Educational Developer (Faculty/Adjuncts) and Associate Professor, Faculty of Education and Department of Women’s Studies wilcoxs@post.queensu.ca 533-6000 x33252
Sandra Murray Program Coordinator murrays@post.queensu.ca 533-6000 x75159
Educational Development Faculty Associate
Director Emeritus Christopher Knapper, Ph.D. knapper@post.queensu.ca
www.queensu.ca/ctl/
Mark Weisberg, J.D. Faculty Associate and Professor in the Faculty of Law weisberg@post.queensu.ca 533-6428