Looking for ways to revitalize your teaching but don't have time for a big redesign? In Small Teaching, author James Lang argues that small changes in classroom techniques and activities can have big impacts on student learning. Hear practical teaching strategies from faculty guest speakers.  Bring your questions and your lunch.  Leave with ideas you can implement right away in your courses!  

Lightning Presentations:

Xinli Wang, Department of Mathematics

• Using Effort-based grading and Student Reflection as Inclusive Assessment Practices
• In this presentation, I will share some ideas of redesigning course assessments so make your course more inclusive. These include effort-based grading, student reflection as part of course assessment and mastery-based grading.  Following the presentations, participants are welcome to share challenges they face while designing course assessments.

Jennifer Watt, Faculty of Education

• Moving Assessment: Voice Memos for Relational Feedback
• What happens within our teaching when we think more about assessment in relational ways? In this lightening talk, I will share how I unbound myself from the desk, dropped the red pen, and moved away from the screen to adapt a new process of walking and talking to give feedback to student through voice memos. I will share the impacts of establishing learning conversations where student can hear (and feel moved by) my authentic interactions with their thinking, and I commit to practices that contribute to my well-being as an educator. This form of assessment can be particularly helpful for pre-professional programs where students are learning how to communicate effectively and establish meaningful relationships with colleagues and with the students, patients, or clients they will be working with in their professional roles.

Location: UM Zoom

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Looking for ways to revitalize your teaching but don't have time for a big redesign? In Small Teaching, author James Lang argues that small changes in classroom techniques and activities can have big impacts on student learning. Hear practical teaching strategies from faculty guest speakers. Bring your questions and your lunch. Leave with ideas you can implement right away in your courses!  

Lightning Presentations:

Chyngyz Erkinbaev, Biosystems Engineering

• Engage them all: Transforming the engineering lab session into a fun assignment
• A simple drag and drop coding tool can reduce students’ anxiety around programming and open the door to full participation. When paired with a mini project approach and a student created video component, this method led to remarkable 100% engagement and enthusiastic involvement.

Cheryl Pryce, Nursing, and Meaghan Ewharekuko, The Centre

• Motion Minutes: Moving Feels Awesome and You Deserve to Feel Great
• Do you struggle with keeping students engaged during lectures? Motion Minutes may be the answer to boost engagement and well-being for your students. Come see why movement may be the secret to keep students invested in learning! Afterall, movement feels awesome and you deserve to feel great. 

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

You probably have heard that "teaching is an art." But have you thought of yourself as a teacher-artist? This workshop uses experiential and art-based pedagogies to increase your capacity for innovative and engaging teaching--such as storytelling, role-play, and creative works. 

Join us to learn how to lean into the strengths of your unique teaching style and explore strategies to infuse creative elements into your teaching! You will leave this workshop with a set of art-based tools designed to make the process of developing and facilitating courses more and enjoyable for you and your students. This workshop is also a great opportunity to develop skills and confidence speaking in public.

Location: Room 325, Education, 71 Curry Place

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Are you new to teaching at UM? This webinar brings together "everything I wish I knew" when I started teaching here--from relevant policies and procedures to how to create a course syllabus and navigate UM's online platforms. 

This webinar offers you a curated, short-and-sweet overview of our comprehensive Teaching Handbook, focused on helping you prepare and manage your course(s).

You will also meet other instructors and hear about the many supports you can access at The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning!

Location: UM Zoom

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Do you teach large classes and have a hard time coming up with ways to engage students? Are you looking for ideas to build-in activities and opportunities for discussion in your courses? Would you like to try new ways of presenting content but lecturing seems like the only alternative for large classes? 

In this workshop we’ll share tried-and-tested strategies to make your large classes more interactive and engaging. We will explore experiential learning pedagogy as a framework for organizing, delivering, and assessing course content in ways that maximize student participation and engagement--and give you a break from lecturing!

Our focus will be on small changes you can easily incorporate to any in-person course; however, these strategies can also be adapted to online courses.

Location: UM Zoom

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Join our monthly meetings to connect with colleagues involved in Experiential Learning across UM and explore best practices and challenges in experiential learning. 

This session: Trying out new assessments can be tough, especially when you're aiming to make them meaningful and aligned with experiential learning and course outcomes. Join us for an engaging conversation with Christina Penner, Senior Instructor in Computer Science, as she shares how she transformed a traditional lecture-based course into an interactive, flipped classroom. Christina will walk us through how she chose her assessments, how she grades them, and why she made those choices. She’ll also share practical tips for where to start, how to choose assessments, how many to choose, and more! You don’t want to miss this exciting conversation! 

Location: UM Zoom

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Join our monthly meetings to connect with colleagues involved in Experiential Learning across UM and explore best practices and challenges in experiential learning. 

This session: The Experiential Learning Gathering is an annual spring tradition that brings together members of the Experiential Learning Community of Practice and others, to celebrate, connect, and reflect. Hosted by the Office of Experiential Learning each May, this event offers faculty, instructors, and staff meaningful opportunities to build relationships, share ideas, and support one another in their ongoing journeys with experiential teaching and learning.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

You probably have heard that "teaching is an art." But have you thought of yourself as a teacher-artist? This workshop uses experiential and art-based pedagogies to increase your capacity for innovative and engaging teaching--such as storytelling, role-play, and creative works. 

Join us to learn how to lean into the strengths of your unique teaching style and explore strategies to infuse creative elements into your teaching! You will leave this workshop with a set of art-based tools designed to make the process of developing and facilitating courses more and enjoyable for you and your students. This workshop is also a great opportunity to develop skills and confidence speaking in public.

Location: Room 325, Education, 71 Curry Place

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Do you teach large classes and have a hard time coming up with ways to engage students? Are you looking for ideas to build-in activities and opportunities for discussion in your courses? Would you like to try new ways of presenting content but lecturing seems like the only alternative for large classes? 

In this workshop we’ll share tried-and-tested strategies to make your large classes more interactive and engaging. We will explore experiential learning pedagogy as a framework for organizing, delivering, and assessing course content in ways that maximize student participation and engagement--and give you a break from lecturing!

Our focus will be on small changes you can easily incorporate to any in-person course; however, these strategies can also be adapted to online courses.

Location: UM Zoom

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Join us as we navigate the contentious world of generative AI. This session will outline the University of Manitoba's policy regarding Generative AI. We will also explore how our reactions as classroom instructors impact accessibility for students from diverse backgrounds. We will also explore ways we can leverage generative AI as a tool for learning.

Location: UM Zoom

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

In this workshop, participants will explore how to assess learning in ways that honor; the knowledges, relationships, and contexts our that students bring. This workshop invites educators to reflect on the purposes and practices of assessment beyond the traditional rubric. Together, we will explore how rubrics can become living, relational tools—co-created with learners, grounded in respect and reciprocity, and responsive to multiple ways of knowing and expressing understanding. Participants will leave with tangible ideas and examples for re-designing evaluation processes that are more just, inclusive, and community-connected.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Curious about how colleagues are redesigning assessment to reduce stress, deepen learning, and build student ownership? 

Join us to learn fresh, practical approaches to assessing student learning. You'll explore real examples, from mastery grading and gamification to embodied learning and flexible policies, that strengthen student learning and agency. 

Come for ideas, dialogue, and practical inspiration you can adapt in your own courses!

Location: Room 200, Education, 71 Curry Place

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

This workshop (containing two sessions) will provide instructors with opportunities to design assessment strategies to support student learning. You will design formative and summative assessments and learn strategies for providing constructive feedback on students’ work. You will also have opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of different assessment tools, such as holistic and analytic rubrics.

Please have at hand a current course syllabus with learning objectives.

Note: TLC Participants must take both Day 1 and Day 2 sessions to receive acknowledgment in completing the workshop

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

As instructors, you may have experienced behaviour by your students that you felt was disrespectful, rude, or disruptive. These can be challenging situations to deal with. This interactive workshop will focus on teaching strategies that foster and maintain respectful classroom behaviour.

Note: TLC Participants must take both Day 1 and Day 2 sessions to receive acknowledgment in completing the workshop

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Feedback and evaluation of teaching are part of every teacher’s life. How do you make sense of the evaluative feedback you receive from SRI scores, daily classroom experiences and student grades? This workshop examines the theory and practice of evaluation and suggests practical strategies for integrating effective evaluative practices into your teaching. Please note that this workshop does not cover the design and creation of student assessments. 

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

John Dewey observed that, “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” In order to become a better teacher, it is necessary to reflect on what we do and why we do it – to ask ourselves, is what we do effective? In this workshop we will explore several models of self-reflection, including the Gibbs’ Model, as methods for engaging in a reflective practice. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their own successes and struggles as they strive to become a better teacher.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

In this workshop, we will explore a framework for using technology in teaching and learning. Rather than a technology ‘how-to’ session, the focus will be on providing a method for evaluating technology that supports the goals of teaching and learning. We will also discuss the benefits and challenges of using technology in the classroom.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Young adults are highly susceptible to mental health problems. We know that most instructors encounter many students who are struggling with mental health issues that affect their academic performance, behaviour in the classroom, and interactions with teaching staff.  Research also indicates that the incident rate and intensity of mental health problems experienced by students is increasing. These situations can be stressful, time-consuming, and potentially can involve risks to personal safety for the students and others. David Ness, the Director of the Student Counselling Centre at the University of Manitoba, will provide you with information about how to identify and respond effectively to student mental health issues, how to understand the factors that contribute to student distress, and how to access resources.  This interactive workshop will involve case study material to apply your knowledge of risk assessment, response alternatives, and on- and off-campus resources.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

This workshop introduces participants to Indigenous pedagogies by contextualizing Indigenous knowledges, discussing the importance of making space for Indigenous content and knowledge transmission in the academy, and providing participants with resources about the pedagogical significance of Indigenous knowledges.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an orientation to teaching and learning that promotes greater student choice and agency in learning experiences, with the aim of reducing barriers to learning by providing multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression. In this workshop, participants will explore how UDL values intersect with their own teaching philosophies, identify barriers to learning for students with a range of needs, and (re)design course elements to adopt UDL guidelines in a way that is practical for instructors yet beneficial to learners.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

As instructors, you may have experienced behaviour by your students that you felt was disrespectful, rude, or disruptive. These can be challenging situations to deal with. Staff from Student Advocacy and Case Management and the Office of Human Rights and Conflict Management will provide an overview of pertinent University policies and procedures to help you understand your rights and responsibilities as an instructor. This interactive workshop will provide you with strategies and tips for preventing and responding to these behaviours.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Every student and instructor brings their own culture into the teaching and learning contexts in which they inhabit. Similarly, every teaching and learning context is informed by and situated in institutional, regional, and national cultures. In this workshop, you’ll explore your own cultural attitudes, knowledge, and skills, and those of your learners and the environments you all find yourselves in. Then, you’ll apply this to your own teaching practices through elements of course design.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Do you want to promote academic integrity in your course but don’t know how?  In this workshop, we will discuss the meaning of academic integrity at the University of Manitoba, and how it relates to your teaching and learning environment (whether that be face-to-face, remote/online). We will discuss ways to implement teaching and assessment strategies that promote integrity that will allow you to focus on students’ learning and community building. Resources for academic integrity education (e.g., syllabus statements, learning activities) that you can modify and incorporate into your courses will be shared.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

Increasingly, university promotion and tenure committees are requiring a teaching dossier to document your development and achievements as an educator. This workshop looks at the requirements at the University of Manitoba for teaching dossiers and covers the basics of writing a Teaching Philosophy statement and creating a teaching dossier.

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

This workshop (containing two sessions) will provide instructors with opportunities to design assessment strategies to support student learning. You will design formative and summative assessments and learn strategies for providing constructive feedback on students’ work. You will also have opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of different assessment tools, such as holistic and analytic rubrics.

Please have at hand a current course syllabus with learning objectives.

Note: TLC Participants must take both Day 1 and Day 2 sessions to receive acknowledgment in completing the workshop

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff

As instructors, you may have experienced behaviour by your students that you felt was disrespectful, rude, or disruptive. These can be challenging situations to deal with. This interactive workshop will focus on teaching strategies that foster and maintain respectful classroom behaviour.

Note: TLC Participants must take both Day 1 and Day 2 sessions to receive acknowledgment in completing the workshop

Location: Room 223, The Centre (65 Dafoe Road)

Open to: UM Faculty, Sessional Instructors, and Staff