2013 Fall Meeting

Discussion Notes

Below are some thoughts that emerged from our group discussions at our November 22, 2013 meeting.

What is Educational Development?

• Knowing what you know, what you don’t know, and what to do about it
• Helps people get started
• Introduces new methods and tools
• Network brokers
• Showcase and support others
• Educating chairs/deans to recognize educational development
• Identifying gaps in practice
• Use of evidence of learning outcomes

Why do it?

• You care about student learning
• Long career
• Motivation
• Efficacy/confidence
• Rewards (tenure, promotion, etc.)
• Self-preservation
• Efficiency
• Reduce anxiety
• Pride in one’s work/recognition
• Expectation/accountability/mandate)
• Sense of belonging (community, etc.)
• Feeling of contribution
• Autonomy/mastery/contentedness
• Paying it forward

Where does it happen?

• Formal training/programs (grad, TA, continuing…)
• Alone (reflection)
• Dept. meeting/reviews/retreats/curriculum planning
• Networks (both informal and formal)
• Reading, writing, and talking
• Professional/disciplinary updating
• Sabbatical
• Mentoring/coaching/informal one-on-one relationships
• Classroom-practical research and inquiry
• Lunch chats
• Book clubs/reading groups
• Senate committees
• Multi-section meetings
• Sitting on grant or T&L committees
• Discipline-specific workshops
• Community of practice within centre

How does it occur?

• There are many stakeholders – faculty developers are not the sole source
• Consider standards of practice in professions – what can we learn from these (pros/cons)?
• Challenge assumptions
• What (critical/creative) questions do I ask about my practice?
• Culture of “risk-taking”/timing of “risk-taking”
• Individual/collective or collaborative opportunities
• Moving beyond comfort zone/discipline areas
• Learning outcomes consultations
• Showcasing good teachers
• Individual consultations
• Grants within centre
• Workshop attendance
• Course attendance
• Peer observations
• Mentoring a GA or TA
• Mentoring colleagues
• LMS or IT training
• Undergraduate research
• Changing design of course
• Policy development
• Partnering with industry (service/community learning)
• Reading literature
• Co-teaching
• Viewing TED talks/videos
• Reading student comments at end of semester, and finding ways to utilize the feedback
• Listserv participation
• Publication or presentation related to T&L
• Researching content for a course
• Rewarding/recognizing/valuing good teaching
• Engaging in SOTL

Updates from the Community and Ideas for Collaboration

Intended Session Outcomes

By the end of this session, we will be able to:

• Share key highlights and challenges from across our institutional practices
• Develop ideas for collaboration
• Prioritize key areas for collaboration to inform COED

Guiding Questions

• What have been the major activities in your centre this year?
• What worked well and not so well?
• Do you have ideas of ways we can collaborate in the coming year?

Ideas for Collaboration

1. Centre Exchanges (people) – 28 votes
2. Online modules (e.g. graduate student development, AODA, academic integrity) – 23 votes
3. PIF Summit (for sharing/to benefit from outcomes) – 20 votes
4. Peer review for support with development – 20 votes
   1. Critical friend/college
   2. A model that allows for reflection, creativity but that still valuable for program review
   3. Sharing expertise “How to” prioritizing materials/programs, sustainable models
5. Streamlining of events/workshops and sharing of past recordings – 15 votes
6. Group sponsorship of visiting scholars in educational development – 14 votes
7. Sharing qualitative/quantitative methods of assessing impact and quality of work/scope – 13 votes
8. Faculty engagement (e.g. Teaching Fellows, what counts as faculty development etc.) – 12 votes
9. Road map of expertise within each centre – 10 votes
10. A better way to share resources (CC) – 7 votes
11. Teaching Assessment (course evaluations for faculty and TAs) – 5 votes
12. Targeted interest group meetings (pre/post COED) – 4 votes
13. Research on the scholarship of teaching and learning – 4 votes
14. Learning outcomes & assessment guidebooks: share! Do not reinvent the wheel. Colleges have much material on this. Then fine-tune to own institution. – 3 votes
15. Project management (sharing of projects in progress and strategies for tracking projects) – 3 votes
16. What is the identity of COED? How ill defining “it” help to create definition internally and externally – 3 votes
17. Share teaching observation activities (e.g. open up a visiting scholar talk to other universities) – 2 votes
18. E-learning: share module development – 2 votes
19. Improved communication – 1 vote (website is a boon in this area)
20. Shared professional development events

Highlights and Challenges (General)

• Change Management: Perceptions, processes, responsibilities (identity)
• Growth Management: Responding to requests (victim of success), growth of mandate/staff, policy
• Strategic Planning and Prioritization: Our own activities & institutionally, project management
• New facility
• Change in CPR template
• Science and Engineering reaching out for consultations (assessment and QA)
• Blended courses (gaining interest)
• Wiki community of practice
• Transition
• Collaboration regarding quality assurance and graduate skills
• Change and growth (doing more with less) – imbalanced growth, increased demand, not enough staffing
• Scope creep (included in a lot) – how to find balance with core activities
• Program prioritization
• Integrated Planning (greater institutional presence)
• Accountability agenda
• E-learning, blended learning
• New programs, processes and collaborations (Project management skills are important)
• Teaching Fellows Programs
• Changes in Centre roles and arrangements
• Using data to support our work and mining data too (programmatic, curricular, strategic)
• Curriculum and assessability
• Mission creep, expanding scope, while maintaining services
• Visiting scholars in ED (international)
• Increasing interest in online and hybrid learning
• Conflicting demands and priorities
• Raised profile and expectations
• More ‘soft’ money

Successes

• Inaugural Teaching and Learning Day
• Increasing participation
• New Initiatives (certificate program, SoTL Insitute)
• New directions
• New names
• Prioritizing SoTL
  • Recognizing ED publishing
  • SoTL awards
  • SoTL workshops and discussion groups
• Hosting STLHE
• Hosting major events
• Online learning institute
• Strengthening collaboration (online)
• Strengthening visibility
• New people, opportunities
• New positions
• Successful events with TAs Gas
• Annual conference with Oakland
• Curriculum mapping (admin support and funds, resources)
• New positions, leadership
• Bond with Vice-Deans (lunch, QA)
• Interest in curriculum design courses
• Blended learning and funding

Challenges

• OURE subscription
• Resources
• Faculty engagement
• Organizational change (roles)
• Prioritizing programs (saying “no”)
• Time/resources (not enough)
• Moving culture of e-learning and online “stuff” (evaluations) forward
• Sustainable models for services and systems (e.g. evaluations of teaching and evaluating our own work
• Lack of engagement and buy-in for ED
• Meeting AODA standards for 2014 (e.g. website, technologies, captioning, etc)
• Quality assurance for every program
• Need for website improvements
• eLearning – blended or fully online?
• Not familiar with other programs/activities within the unit
• People and Time (get enough resources)
• Keep doing work that succeeds and new stuff too
• Blended learning and execution
• Web situation (updating content, registration)
• Collaboration and differences (ED dev, ID, IT)
• Attracting and keeping people

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