This interactive session will explore the different ways an instructor can set the foundation for student learning, right from day one. We will introduce some simple steps to begin preparing for your first class, for example, how to design a course syllabus/outline and how to design lessons and activities that encourage engagement. You will have a chance to examine intentional lesson planning and use of learning outcomes to enhance teaching and student learning.

Luncheon for new faculty members

There are more useful insights hiding in your course evaluations (SETs) than you might realize: they’re just not easy to see in a table of numbers. Working with other participants and the session leader, you will explore some relatively simple techniques that can help you more easily see what your students are telling you. We will explore example cases together by taking a ‘guided tour’ through a series of SET visualizations that add layers of interpretive context to the results. You will learn how to use your SETs from multiple courses over time to identify and reflect on patterns, plan actions that will improve the student experience, and see if the actions worked. We will also discuss some cautions about ways that SETs cannot or should not be used, and how your new techniques can help avoid such misuse.

Assessment drives student learning in many ways. How can you assess effectively? This introduction to assessment will explore best practices, including alignment with learning outcomes. A variety of assessment methods will be discussed, such as authentic assessment, self, peer, and group assessment.

Peer observation of teaching has been shown to help instructors develop new skills (Cairns, Bissell, & Bovill, 2013) and become more reflective of their own teaching practice (O’Keefe, Lecouteur, Miller, and McGowan, 2009). In addition, classroom observations have been shown to be significantly and positively correlated with student achievement (Gailbraith & Merrill, 2012). In this interactive workshop, participants will reflect on and share the types of feedback they have received regarding their classroom teaching. Participants will also learn about the different peer observation of teaching models that exist in higher education, including the Peer Collaboration Network (PCN), initiated at the University of Windsor. Participants will also practice giving and receiving formative feedback, and will learn tips and techniques on how to incorporate feedback in their teaching. Through this discussion participants will take away the value of peer observation of teaching as a means of engaging in on-going professional pedagogical growth and fine-tuning educational practice to enhance the student learning experience.

During this session, we will introduce you to the guiding principles to achieve alignment: a way of coordinating assessment, learning outcomes, and teaching methods with the aim of engaging our students. We will look at how to design a course syllabus/outline and how to design lessons and activities that encourage engagement. You will have a chance to examine intentional lesson planning and use of learning outcomes to enhance teaching, and student learning.

Peer evaluation helps students develop communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. Involving students in assessment processes gives them a sense of responsibility for their learning, further improving motivation and encouraging deep rather than surface learning. It also affords students more immediate and frequent feedback than one instructor can provide. This interactive workshop will explore how instructors can engage students in effective peer evaluation practices.

During this celebratory session, members from across campus will share their inspiring teaching success stories. Participants will receive support in identifying and shaping their own stories to share with others. Join us as we foster a campus culture that values, inspires, encourages, and motivates excellent teaching!