Programming & Communications

Over this past year, CTSI’s Programming and Communications team continued to enable, support and promote innovations in teaching and learning that enhance the culture of teaching at the University of Toronto. Workshops, roundtables, and special events covering a range of topics on teaching, learning, and pedagogical issues were offered throughout the year for faculty, librarians, graduate students and staff. Our commitment to capacity-building was further emphasized through the valuable collaborations formed with a number of departments, offices and communities to develop and support University-wide initiatives in teaching, learning and technology.

See Appendix C for Programming and Appendix D for Communications metrics and data.

INTEGRATED LEARNING: EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

In partnership with the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, CTSI held three full-day workshops for the Integrated Learning: Experiential Learning at the University of Toronto series (Work-Integrated Learning; Undergraduate Research Opportunities; Community-Engaged Learning). Leading faculty members from U of T and peer institutions came together to share best practices and provide direct support in the development of course and program offerings connected to our new Integrated Learning Experience (ILE) framework. This programming culminated in U of T’s Teaching and Learning Symposium – Experience: Integrative Learning, a tri-campus event held on April 30, 2018.

Ahmed Allawala
Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Human Geography, University of Toronto Scarborough
“The full-day event on community-engaged learning was extremely helpful … I greatly appreciated that the event brought together stakeholders and practitioners from the curricular and the co-curricular side of the university, intentionally taking a broad and holistic approach to experiential learning that creatively blurs institutional boundaries. [The event] offered important context for the recent increased interest in experiential and work-integrated learning in Ontario.”

PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) FACULTY MENTORING FOR TEACHING AT U OF T

Following the success of the pilot cohort, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Faculty Mentoring for Teaching at U of T program entered its second year with eight peer pairs of faculty participating in a reciprocal mentor-coach relationship to enhance teaching and learning experiences. Over a six-month period, instructors attended three CTSI-facilitated workshops designed to build skills in mentor-coaching, observation of teaching, and giving and receiving feedback. They also reviewed course evaluation data to identify strengths and areas of improvement, engaged in peer observation, collected mid-course feedback from students, and had regular conversations with their mentor/coach. Mentoring practices developed by participants will feed back into departments, encouraging effective teaching practices and enhancing the strong teaching culture of the U of T.

INTERSECTIONS

The Programming and Communications team connects and works closely with other CTSI teams and U of T colleagues to promote and share news and information about U of T’s new Academic Toolbox – Quercus. Team members sat on the Quercus Communications Working Group and helped prepare statements and timelines for announcing the selection, guidelines and promotion for the Name the New Portal Contest. To support this on-going and multi-layered migration initiative, team members produced videos to announce the new name and platform, interviewed early adopters (for video and an online Q & A), created posters and information toolkits for departments and faculty, helped coordinate and promote training and information sessions, and directed users to information on migration and support.

For the third year, CTSI partnered with the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking (DCIT), Rotman School of Management, to plan, promote and host the 12th Annual Teaching & Learning Symposium Experience: Integrative Learning. Not only does CTSI appreciate the opportunity to work closely with another office to coordinate and host this event, it is also grateful for the chance to connect with and learn from the 45 presenters and 287 attendees from across the University. Similarly, the Integrated Learning Experience (ILE) series, presented in partnership with the Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, provided the opportunity to work with different faculty across the institution, as well as colleagues from the University of Victoria, University of Alberta, and the University of British Columbia on this important and timely topic. The Programming and Communications team also worked with the Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education and presenters to produce follow-up videos and resources for this series.