University of Toronto COED 2009 Update

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University of Toronto COED Update

Central faculty development support at the University of Toronto underwent a major change in 2009 with the creation of the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation (CTSI). CTSI was established in July 2009 through the amalgamation of the Office of Teaching Advancement (OTA), including the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program (TATP), and the Resource Centre for Academic Technology (RCAT). CTSI provides leadership in teaching and learning at the University of Toronto and provides support for pedagogy and pedagogy-driven instructional technology for all teaching staff and graduate teaching assistants across all of the university’s campuses and divisions. CTSI is led by Carol Rolheiser, Director and Pam Gravestock, Associate Director.

Successes:

New Faculty Orientation This full day event brought together new faculty for discussions and workshops. Members of the President’s Teaching Academy (composed of past winners of the President’s Teaching Award, UofT’s highest honour for teaching excellence), facilitated small group discussion sections on teaching at the U of T.

2nd Annual Back to School Series These sessions are offered for new and junior faculty in late August and early September and were attended by over 200 faculty members. The following workshops were offered:

- What's Your Style?: Using Learning Styles Theory to Improve Teaching

- First Class, First Impressions

- Syllabus Design Clinic: Making the Syllabus Work for You and Your Students

- Educational Technologies to Support Your Teaching

- A Field Guide to the U of T: Navigating the Institution

- The Polished Presentation

In addition to this special series, we continue to run our yearly workshop series. More information about our workshops can be found at http://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/events/EventDescription.html.

4th Annual Teaching and Learning Symposium: Learning in Action-Leading the Way CTSI, in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President & Provost, co hosted the 4th annual Teaching and Learning Symposium on 23 October 2009. The theme of this event focused on community service learning, experiential learning and student leadership development. This tri-campus event brought together approximately 183 faculty and staff to share innovative and effective teaching practice and to build internal networks within the U of T community. The day featured a panel discussion involving the President’s Teaching Academy, interactive concurrent sessions, roundtable discussions, poster and resource sharing sessions. A closing plenary featured a student discussion of the impact service learning, experiential learning and leadership activities have had on their academic, personal and professional development. Upcoming Projects and Initiatives:

Website CTSI is currently undergoing a process to create a new interactive website that will support the mandate of our new office. We are aiming for a launch in early 2010.

Open Doors on Teaching CTSI will run a pilot program during the Winter 2010 academic term called Open Doors on Teaching: A Pilot Mentoring Opportunity between the Teaching Academy and New Faculty. The purpose of the University of Toronto’s Open Doors on Teaching pilot program is to enhance professional learning for both new and experienced UofT faculty by facilitating opportunities for class observations and discussion. Members of the University of Toronto Teaching Academy (instructors who have received the President’s Teaching Award) will provide opportunities for new continuing appointment faculty to observe their classroom teaching and student learning and then engage in a post-lesson discussion.

Navigating your PATH: Exploring and Supporting Teaching Assistant and Graduate Student Professional Development CTSI will co-host this international conference, planned for June 2010 immediately following STLHE. Navigating Your PATH will bring together faculty members, administrators, educational developers, librarians, student support staff, professionals, and most importantly, students from all over Canada, the United States and points beyond to examine the latest research and practices in graduate student development and Teaching Assistant (TA) training. In discussing how we prepare graduate students for teaching, curriculum planning, research, publishing, grant-seeking, report-writing, public speaking, community work, etc., we hope to clarify for graduate students (and those who work to support them) the paths that lie ahead. More information about the conference is available at http://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/conference2010/.