Programming and Communications

The Programming and Communication team serves to activate the strategic mission of CTSI through campus-wide collaborations, opportunities for community building and critical learning, and responsive leadership and resource development. Through a range of strategic communications, the Programming and Communications team feeds this work back to the teaching and learning community, seeking to enhance the culture of teaching at U of T. For Programming and Communication metrics, see Appendix C (coming soon).

Highlights

Response to the COVID-19 (quick pivot, quick response, quick communications)

The CTSI Programming and Communications team’s work is grounded in outreach, collaboration, engagement, community building, and this year, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, engaging in both thoughtful responsiveness and a proactive stance. CTSI emerged as a key pillar of support and expertise for instructors, administrators and staff as the University shifted to online/remote delivery options in response.

By reworking and consistently updating the CTSI website homepage during COVID-19 phases, support and just-in-time resources were prioritized and made accessible for instructors, TAs and support staff. This included the development, design and communication of a wide range of new resources to support instructors during the various phases of Continuity Planning, including a new Course Planning Guide for Online/Remote Teaching, a new repository for recorded webinars, a Checklist for Continuity Planning, Quick Guide for Continuity Planning, 5 Tips for Students, and Tip Sheet for TAs.

CTSI worked across divisions to develop new support materials; this included collaborating with the office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education to develop a Global Calendar for U of T online/remote teaching support and to populate this with CTSI offerings. As well, CTSI liaised with numerous U of T offices and personnel to develop new resources to support the teaching community during COVID-19 (e.g., resources related to Academic Integrity; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; Accommodations and Accessibility; Online Assessment; Technological Tools, etc.)

CTSI Online/Remote webinar sessions were developed and delivered to assist with the transition to online/remote teaching, with recordings of all offerings available to the U of T community:

Sample webinar topics included:

  • Planning and Preparing Your Course
  • Connecting and Interacting with Your Students Online
  • Assessing Student Work and Providing Feedback Through Quercus
  • Teaching from a Distance: Webinars and Lecture Recordings

Transforming the Instructional Landscape (TIL) Initiative (continued, assessment, report)

This past year the Programming and Communications team continued their work on the Transforming the Instructional Landscape (TIL) initiative in collaboration with Academic & Campus Events (ACE). Phase two of the assessment project included instructor and administrator interviews, in-class observations, document collection (e.g., course syllabi) and final interviews exploring current pedagogical practices and support for teaching in Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) on the St. George campus (within the mandate of the office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education and Academic Programs).

Throughout this assessment project the CTSI team analyzed data and synthesized themes to operationalize its findings, including unpacking faculty member’s experiences teaching in a range of ALCs and their desired classroom design support and resources. The team published two articles for Harvard Business Education “Goodbye Lecture Halls, Hello Active Learning Spaces” and “How to Shake Up Active Learning Assumptions” (October 2019 and January 2020), continued updating the Active Learning Pedagogies section of the CTSI Website, and submitted a peer-reviewed proposal which was accepted for the Supporting Active Learning & Technology Innovation in Studies of Education (SALTISE) Conference, Concordia University, June 8-9, 2020. The conference was cancelled; however, the session, “Transforming the Instructional Landscape: Dialogues Between Pedagogy and Space” was included in a special edition of the SALTISE 2020 Proceedings.

The final report and summary of recommendations, “Assessing Targeted Objectives of the Transforming the Instructional Landscape (TIL) Project: Active Learning Classrooms at the University of Toronto” was completed May 2020.

CTSI Website User Experiences (UX) Survey and Report

The Programming and Communications team designed and led a UX (User Experience) audit of the CTSI website which involved critically examining users’ experiences, attitudes, needs and challenges when engaging with the CTSI website.

By tapping into the expertise of the UX Lab at Robarts Library, a research plan was developed that included data collection in two phases and engaged a cross section of CTSI community members, including staff, librarians, instructors and an administrator. The team also conducted an analysis of the site’s Google Analytics, and performed an environmental scan of similar higher education faculty development websites. The team analyzed the findings to develop recommendations in a final report (June 2020) which will inform the redevelopment of the CTSI website.

UX Review Quick Stats

Phase 1:

  • Online survey was distributed via the CTSI newsletter to U of T instructors, librarians and staff
  • 24 responses
    • 17 staff
    • 3 librarians
    • 2 instructors
    • 1 administrator
    • 1 student

Phase 2:

  • Respondents who indicated they were interested in speaking in more detail were connected to participated in a one-hour face-to-face interview
  • 7 interviews
    • 4 staff
    • 3 librarians

Intersections

This year, in addition to the mainstay pedagogical workshops, the Programming and Communications team established new programming streams for CTSI that involved collaboration across the University. Partnering with the University of Toronto AODA Officer and the University of Toronto Library Accessibility Specialist, CTSI designed and offered new programming around Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that included the development of a repository for resources (from both U of T and beyond), lunch and learn webinars and an online course design institute co-developed with Online Learning Strategies.

CTSI also created a new programming stream focused on ensuring teaching and learning environments are safe and welcoming for racially, culturally, ethnically, physically, cognitively and gender diverse students. In collaboration with a Faculty of Arts & Science instructor and a staff member from Student Life, CTSI presented a once-a-month Equity in the Classroom Roundtable Series bringing instructors together for informal discussions. Working with the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office (ARCDO), CTSI offered a new workshop, Know Your Responsibilities & Deepen Your Practice: Racial Discrimination in the Learning Environment. In addition, Enabling Impact in the Classroom Through Cultural Fluency was another new workshop offered in collaboration with an instructor from the Rotman School of Management.