Visiting Fellows in Educational Development
Past offerings
Friday, April 25, 2008
Getting the teaching, learning and assessment lined up: Constructive alignment in curriculum design
John Biggs coined the term “constructive alignment” many years ago and has written about it in depth in his book Teaching for Quality Learning at University (2003). When I explained this concept to someone outside post-secondary education the response was ”Well, that is common sense.” But often in our course and programme design and planning this “common sense” approach is lost in all the other aspects we have to consider.
In this workshop attendees had the opportunity to come to grips with the concept of constructive alignment and then work on their own course or programme, to ensure that its assessment is aligned with its learning outcomes and their teaching approaches.
This workshop allowed attendees to explore a new course they are planning or an existing course which might need to be refreshed. Attendees went away with some new views on their own course and new ideas learned from their colleagues.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Capturing Excellence: Effective Practices in PhD Research Supervision
How do you help your students to become members of your disciplinary research community?
An effective PhD supervisor could alternatively be called a research mentor. In this workshop we invited departmental representatives to share the effective PhD supervision practices they and their colleagues use so that departments could learn from each other’s successes. A joint presentation of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Centre for Teaching and Learning, this workshop marked the first step toward the goal of eventually creating a University of Windsor guide to effective practices in PhD research supervision.
By the end of this workshop attendees were able to:
- Develop and articulate, for their students, expectations and processes involved in PhD research supervision.
- Use a wider range of effective and productive supervisory strategies.
- Contribute to a University of Windsor guide to effective practices in PhD research supervision, which can be used to inform specific departmental and individual practices.
Presented by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Centre for Teaching and Learning
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Centred on Learning: the Impact of Space on Learning
Where do students learn? What affects their learning? What impact do the design and quality of space have on student and staff learning and teaching experience? Space planning in universities draws on experts in teaching and learning, architecture, demographics, imagination, technology, information literacy, and many other fields. It therefore requires a multi-disciplinary team.
In this session, we explored the rapidly expanding literature in teaching and learning which identifies multiple ways in which spaces affect how people learn. Through lecture, pictures, video and activities, this session demonstrated potential for learning spaces on the University of Windsor campus.