McMaster University COED 2009 Update

From OUCEL Wiki

Contents 1 WHAT'S NEW AT MAC? 2 Successes: 3 Strategic Planning: 4 Staffing: 5 Pedagogy: 6 Scholarship: 7 Technology: 8 Collaborations: 9 Administration:

[edit] WHAT'S NEW AT MAC?

[edit] Successes:

Two 3M Award winners in 2009: Dr. Nick Bontis and Dr. Carolyn Eyles

Two OCUFA Award winners in 2009: Dr. Nick Bontis and Sheila Sammon

[edit] Strategic Planning:

In December 2008 our unit underwent an external review. The review highlighted some of the strengths and weaknesses in the unit. It also provided a framework for moving forward.

We spent considerable energies in a quite productive strategic planning exercise this past summer & fall that was based largely on the evidence in the external review. One of the key accomplishments in this moving forward exercise was the merger of two units: The Learning Technology Resource Centre merged with the Centre for Leadership in Learning to form one unit called the CLL. As a result we have 'refocussed' our unit on three areas: pedagogy; scholarship; and, technology. We view these areas of focus as a venn diagram (i.e., three overlapping circles). Our updated mission statement and mandate stresses this new structural organization:

The mission of the CLL is the promotion of teaching and learning in all its forms and contexts.

The mandate of the CLL is to encourage, support and collaborate with the teaching community in the scholarly exploration, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of teaching and learning practices. CLL activities include both general and discipline-specific approaches to the promotion of successful learning in all its forms and contexts.

[edit] Staffing:

We are very pleased to finally be at a full staff compliment for the first time in sixteen months. We have created a new Education Consultant position that will focus on SoTL. We have also been able to hire two, one-year contract staff to assist with the development of a formalized program for faculty development. Dr. Terry McCurdy and Kris Knorr are working on this project

[edit] Pedagogy:

We have hired two new Education Consultants: Dr. Beth Marquis and Dr. Catherine Swanson. We are working to enhance our connections at the Faculty and department levels. One new initiative in this area is the introduction of drop-in office hours hosted within the individual Faculties. We have also introduced four new Communities of Practice (Pedagogical Research; Teaching Profs; Teaching with Technology; and, Teaching First Year). We held our first Open Series session where instructors were invited to visit the actual classroom of a peer and observe a 'lecture in action'. Following the lecture the visitors had an opportunity to debrief with the peer about their approach to teaching and learning. Nine of our staff recently completed the ISW.

[edit] Scholarship:

We have just finished hiring an Education Consultant for this area: Dr. Nancy Fenton. Nancy will work with faculty to facilitate research on teaching and learning. As well she will engage in research on teaching and learning. McMaster is hosting its first ever SoTL conference in early December. This first year it will primarily be a McMaster event. We hope in the future it will become a regional event. This year we will have two morning workshops (one on quantitative research design and one on qualitative research design) and fourteen paper presentations in the afternoon.

[edit] Technology:

We are quite excited about our new web site: cll.mcmaster.ca

Our online video conferencing, digital media, graphics design and digital video are becoming increasingly popular amongst our user community. It is anticipated that demand will soon outstrip our ability to deliver services. Models for sustainability are under exploration. We experienced a very poor launch of our new Learning Management System at McMaster this fall (E-Learn @ Mac, ELM). The Blackboard system failed on the first day of classes and was down for most of the first two weeks of the term. It took nearly five weeks to restore full functionality.

[edit] Collaborations:

We are working on a number of new collaborations across the University campus. One of the most interesting ones has been the secondment of the Teaching & Learning Librarian, Karen Nicholson, to our unit for four months. This has strengthened our ties with the university library and also greatly increased our understanding of each other's role on the campus.

[edit] Administration:

McMaster has announced that our president-elect is Dr. Patrick Deane who will come to us on July 1, 2010 from Queen's University (sorry Joy!).