Programing & Communications

CTSI’s Programming & Communications team is responsible for overseeing CTSI events (including workshops, webinars, roundtables and the Teaching & Learning Symposium), supporting the preparation of teaching award nomination files, coordinating dossier and pedagogy consultations, updating and maintaining websites and online resources, and supporting CTSI Directors and individual teams as they engage with colleagues across the University.

Programming & Communications Team Highlights 2020-2021

Course Design Institute (CDI) reimagined as Course Design for Online (CDO): Replacing the 2-day in-person CDI, the CDO modeled institutionally supported tools and features available on Quercus and exposed instructors to live webinar tools through the complementary online workshops. The CDO ran in three distinct iterations: 1) a two-week course in July; 2) a two-week course in August; and 3) a seven-week course in the Fall. 214 instructors completed the CDO course in 2020 compared to 28 who completed the CDI in 2018 and 44 in 2017. In addition, CDO summer participants were invited back to a follow-up session, with 17 instructors returning to collectively debrief their experiences teaching online.

Reconceptualizing the Teaching & Learning Symposium (TLS) as fully online offering: Building on the theme of the postponed 2020 TLS, the 2021 theme of Teacher-as-Learner/Learner-as-Teacher was expanded to include responses to the remote/online teaching pivot and graduate student Course Instructors were invited to participate. A new, more interactive website was built for the three-day event that included asynchronous content (videos, posters), the ability to stream embedded live sessions, and forums to continue discussions online. For the first time, the TLS now has a repository of artifacts and resources available beyond the event date.

Second iteration of Certificate in Effective University Instruction: Responding to the global shift to  online/remote learning, the second iteration of the Association of College and University Educators’ (ACUE) Certificate in Effective University Instruction was updated as a condensed Course in Effective Online Teaching Practices (EOTP). CTSI, in partnership with ACUE, launched this updated six-month online course in December 2020 with 32 continuing appointment U of T faculty participating. Designed as a completely online learning experience, the EOTP combined four optional synchronous online learning opportunities, 25 asynchronous online modules and a community of practice