University of Waterloo COED 2009 Update

University of Waterloo Centre for Teaching Excellence

update by Donna Ellis, Interim Director

Successes

New SoTL conference launched -- Opportunities and New Directions -- publication forthcoming and numerous workshops for SoTL researchers on our campus

Continued uptake of curriculum assistance as part of program reviews (pre and post)

Overhauled our website

Revised our mission statement and created guiding principles for our work

Continued success of our cross-campus programming (e.g., Teaching Excellence Academy, Learning about Teaching Symposium, Certificate in University Teaching, International TA Training)

Instructional Skills Workshop launched -- one faculty facilitator being mentored next month

Strong staff research contributions at national and international conferences

Challenges

Fiscal restraint -- severely limits our abilities to hire needed staff, including an Associate Director to backfill for me while serving as Interim Director

Multiple locations -- makes it increasingly difficult to keep staff connected and to create synergies

Goals for 2009-2010

Complete our strategic planning activities -- focus on analyzing our individual goals and offloading/eliminating roles and tasks that no longer support the work of our centre

Continue focus on department-based instructional support with individual support being provided as is available

Create a network of senior faculty members to serve as teaching mentors

Increase our staffing to meet demand for services

Create more networks on campus (new senior administrators, office of development, etc)