2022 Summer Series on Teaching and Learning

Join us and keep your cool at the 2022 Summer Series as we explore some foundational topics in teaching and learning. This year’s Summer Series takes place on August 8th, 10th, and 12th. In these sessions, we will explore various strategies for incorporating active learning into your online or in-person classroom, some helpful tips for planning your lessons, and an assortment of considerations for and examples of assessment methods.

Authentic Assessment

Authentic Assessment is a six-week course that will introduce you to the principles and practice of this approach to assessment of student learning. Authentic assessment takes into account the contexts in which learning might actually be used once students leave the university. It is an attempt to assess what students actually know, value, and can do in a way that is well-integrated into the entire learning environment of a course. In this course you will learn how to align assessment with intended learning outcomes, how to design meaningful assessment measures that motivate students and even design assessments that help students learn as they are being assessed.

By experiencing a variety of authentic assessment methods in the student role, reading about them, and practicing adaptations of them, you will be in a better position to judge which of these methods you can use in your own courses, as suits your personal teaching style and disciplinary needs. Most importantly, you will have the opportunity to create an authentic, well-reasoned assessment measure that you could use in your own disciplinary context – with feedback and help from your instructors and colleagues.

Blackboard Learn Training Face-to-face Sessions - Instructors and their Assistants

Blackboard Support is virtual!

Given the current situation with dealing with the COVID-19 Coronavirus, CTL's LMS Team members and CoOp students are available with virtual help, in the BB Cafe Organization site Virtual Classroom (link works only when logged in) or if that link doesn't work, use the guest link
Hours and updates are posted on our COVID-19 Preparedness Workshops page.
If you require something customized that can't be addressed in the virtual classroom, please submit a ticket at uwindsor.ca/bbhelp and specify what you would like to discuss. We will try to arrange a mutual time to virtually discuss your topic. Please note - the volume for requests is high at this time so we will do our very best to support you based on availability. We appreciate your patience!

We have many options to support you!

Hands-on workshops
Instructors and their assistants can join virtual classes which include some pedagogical best practices along with hands-on exercises detailing parts of Blackboard to prepare for online course delivery in 2-3 hour segments.


Sprint sessions
On a tight schedule but still want to see how to use the important assessment and grading tools in Blackboard, or other featured topics? Join in a Sprint Session, geared to demonstrating the essentials in under an hour.

Are you Decaf or Espresso?

Some of the hands-on sessions have been designed with activities and pace geared to your technological comfort level. Please choose the session that is right for you!

Decaf Level
This option will offer a relaxed, and slower-paced workshop by placing an emphasis on step-by-step learning. This category is suitable for the emerging technical explorer or the learner who is new to using learning management systems.


Espresso Level
This option will offer a fast-paced more technically driven workshop. This category is suitable for the learner who is confident using learning management system tools, or other online systems, who possess a high comfort-level in learning and adopting new technology.

Previously Recorded Webinars from Workshops

Want a workshop but don't see one listed? Visit the Webinars Revisited page to see previously recorded sessions you can enjoy in your own home at your own pace. Just like being in a class, but you can control the start and stopping of the session to your preference!

Online Self-Paced Courses

• Online Blackboard Training Courses Registration page

Office of Open Learning

• Office of Open Learning Workshops (including Blackboard Collaborate Introduction)

Blackboard Learn Training - Online Self-Paced Courses

Blackboard Learn is the Learning Management System (LMS) that the University of Windsor supports. These online courses featured below, are designed to provide valuable information and corresponding self-learning activities for instructors and their assistants, to help learn, use and configure Blackboard Learn. Please note, these courses are NOT facilitated, and there won't be any instructor interaction. If you would like face-to-face support we would be happy to help, so check out the Name Your Topic! offerings at http://www.uwindsor.ca/bbworkshops

Course Design

This course introduces participants to the principles and practice of effective course design, including developing effective outcomes, devising methods and strategies to help students master difficult concepts and theories, and aligning assessments. Participants will have the opportunity to design (or redesign!) a course of their choosing, receiving feedback at each step. This course is offered in a 6-week format and a one-week intensive format.

CTL Teaching and Learning Workshop Series

The Centre for Teaching and Learning sponsors and facilitates an ongoing series of workshops focussing on the teaching and learning issues that impact on student engagement and the student experience at the University of Windsor. These free events are open to the whole University community and facilitate discussion about strategically important teaching and learning issues for the University.

Developing Your Teaching Dossier Series

The "Developing Your Teaching Dossier Series" is a sequence of four 45-minute self-paced modules for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows exploring strategies to reflect on their teaching and develop their teaching dossier.

Users can choose to take any one of the modules or can choose to complete all four of the modules in the series. Upon successful completion of each module, users will receive a certificate of completion. Completing the entire sequence of modules can allow you to explore a range of different considerations in your teaching dossier development process, including:

• exploring and reflecting on your teaching experience;
• identifying teaching-related transferable skills;
• effectively defining and narrating your teaching values and practices and their impact on student learning;
• describing components of a teaching dossier and begin writing various sections of your teaching dossier; and
• articulating teaching skills and experiences for academic and non-academic careers.

Facilitator's Development Workshop (FDW)

The Facilitator's Development Workshop (FDW) helps develop skills in facilitating workshops, and in particular prepares people to lead their own Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW). This 5 day opportunity is by invitation to those who have completed an ISW. Very few university-level FDWs are offered each year, and this spring we are pleased to host here at the University of Windsor.

Leading Effective Discussions

Leading Effective Discussions introduces the basic skills involved in promoting, leading, and sustaining educationally effective discussions. Students will experience a variety of discussion-based active learning lessons, and will have an opportunity to facilitate a discussion, and receive feedback on their teaching from the instructors and other participants. By the end of this course, students will be in a better position to judge which methods they would like to use in their own classes, and how they can be adapted to suit personal teaching styles and disciplinary needs.

By successfully completing this course, participants will have made progress toward completion of the University Teaching Certificate (UTC) program.

If you are interested in the full program, or would like more information, visit: http://www.uwindsor.ca/ctl/463/university-teaching-certificate. Note: Students interested in participating in the UTC, must apply to the Program and receive a formal acceptance.

Learning-Centred Teaching in Higher Education

This six-week half-credit course will explore and evaluate the principles and theories of learning-centred teaching in higher education. Participants will use research findings and pedagogical publications to inform their own teaching and learning practice, engaging with a wide range of empirically proven approaches to improve instruction systematically. The course provides a rich opportunity for the examination and application of these approaches in varying post-secondary learning cultures and academic settings.

Teaching Dossier Academy

The University of Windsor is pleased to invite college and university professors of all ranks and years of experience to its Teaching Dossier Academy. The Academy is designed to provide background information, workshops, peer consultation, and extensive expert individual consultation to support the development of participants’ professional teaching portfolios over a period of five days.

University Teaching Practicum

This course takes a practical approach to teaching development and as such, much of the content will be driven by you, the learners. As part of the requirements of this course, you will be an observer and a facilitator in the teaching context. Class meetings will address teaching and learning issues, topics, and concerns that have been identified by the class. You will be expected to come prepared to contribute to the learning of our community by participating in and facilitating discussions of challenges faced in higher education. As this course is the final requirement for participants in the University Teaching Certificate, it will be expected that you have an understanding of the basic principles of higher education. The course also provides you with the opportunity to build on and apply information learned in other courses in the UTC to your own teaching. *This course is only open to students enrolled in the University Teaching Certificate Program.