Event Date & Time
Event Description
Please click “Register Now” to register for this event. The conference will be held online via Zoom and the Zoom link(s) will be emailed to you 2-3 days prior to the event.
The Graduate Students in Teaching Conference is open for Graduate Students and Teaching Assistants (TA). Registration closes on May 14 at 12 PM PDT.
This conference is part of Celebrate Learning Week on May 17-23, 2021. To view a complete list of Celebrate Learning Week events, please click here.
Day 1: Conference
(Wednesday, May 19, 2021)
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9:00 – 9:10 am
Opening
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9:10 – 10:10 am
60 minute participatory session
Make It Awkward: Strategies to tackle on-campus discrimination
Facilitators: Vivek Ramachandran, PhD student, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL); Siara Isaac, Faculty Developer, Teaching Support Centre, EPFL
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10:10 – 10:20 am
Break
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10:20 – 11:20 am
60-minute participatory session
Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning: A Critical Discussion
Facilitator: Julia Hamil, Graduate Student, Human Geography, Brock University
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11:20 – 11:30 am
Break
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11:30 am – 12:00 pm
20-minute round tables
Equitable Strategies for Co-Building Community Agreements in Online Classrooms
Facilitator: Victoria Sheldon, PhD Candidate, Anthropology department, University of Toronto
Born Accessible: Prioritizing Accessible Education across Disciplines
Facilitators: Angela Du, PhD Candidate, Department of English, University of Toronto; Samantha Chang, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History, University of Toronto
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12:00 – 12:45 pm
Lunch
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12:45 – 1:45 pm
60-minute participatory session
Who Are We? Teaching Care and Shame Resiliency
Facilitators: Samantha Chang, Grad Student, Department of Art History, University of Toronto; Nicole Birch-Bayley, Grad Student, Department of English, University of Toronto
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1:45 – 1:55 pm
Break
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1:55 – 2:55 pm
60-minute participatory session
The Power of Active Learning
Facilitator: Ambreen S. Hussaini, PhD Candidate, Art History and Visual Studies, UVic
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2:55 – 3:05 pm
Break
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3:05 – 4:05 pm
60-minute participatory session
TA Digital Toolkit
Facilitator: Kieran Forde, Grad Student, Faculty of Education, UBC
Day 1: Teaching Support for TAs Program Presentations
(Wednesday, May 19, 2021)
External Teaching Support for TAs Presentations
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12:30 – 12:35 pm
Opening
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12:35 – 12:55 pm
Reflections on Peer-led Disciplinary Specific TA Programming
Presenters: Ibrahim Berrada, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Centre for Canadian Studies, Brock University; Natalie Currie-Patterson, Educational Developer, Centre for Pedagogical Innovation, Brock University; Lianne Fisher, Manager, Educational Development, Centre for Pedagogical Innovation, Brock University
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12:55 – 1:00 pm
Break
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1:00 – 1:20 pm
Graduate TAs and the Scholarly Community of Teaching
Presenters: Esther Wainaina, Masters of Education Student, Faculty of Education, Brock University; Natalie Currie-Patterson, Educational Developer, Centre for Pedagogical Innovation, Brock University; Lianne Fisher, Manager, Educational Development, Centre for Pedagogical Innovation, Brock University
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1:20 – 1:25 pm
Break
UBC Teaching Support for TAs Presentations
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1:25 – 1:30 pm
Opening
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1:30 – 1:50 pm
Meeting the Training Needs of TAs Teaching Online
Presenter: Rhea Storlund, Grad student, Zoology, UBC
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1:50 – 1:55 pm
Break
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1:50 – 1:55 pm
UBC Teaching Support for TAs Presentations continued.
Day 2: Conference
(Thursday, May 20, 2021)
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9:15 – 9:25 am
Opening
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9:25 – 10:25 am
60-minute participatory session
Flip or Flop: Transforming Classrooms using Flipped Models
Facilitators: Julie McNutt, Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, UBC; Amelia Cole, Graduate Student, School of Information, UBC
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10:25 – 10:35 am
Break
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10:35 – 10:55 am
20-minute SoTL/TAR presentation
Pedagogical complicity: In conversation with MMIWG
Presenter: Janina Krabbe, PhD Candidate, Interdisciplinary Studies, UBC
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10:55 – 11:00 am
Break
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11:00 – 11:20 am
20-minute SoTL/TAR presentation
Project-Based Learning in Physical Geography and Geomatics
Presenter: Justin Murfitt, Grad Student, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo
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11:20 – 11:25 am
Break
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11:25 – 11:45 am
20-minute Graduate Student Teaching Support Presentation
Expanding Teaching & Learning Development with CIRTL
Presenter: Natalie Westwood, CIRTL Program Developer, CTLT, UBC
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11:45 am – 12:30 pm
Lunch
-
12:30 – 1:30 pm
60-minute participatory session
Cultural Intelligence and Communication
Facilitator: Ambreen S. Hussaini, PhD Candidate, Art History and Visual Studies, UVic
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1:30 am – 1:40 pm
Break
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1:40 – 2:40 pm
60-minute participatory session
Learning from Students
Facilitator: Madison Wright, PhD Candidate, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph
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2:40 am – 2:50 pm
Break
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2:50 – 3:50 pm
60-minute participatory session
Kindness Matters
Facilitators: Laura Super, Graduate Student, Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC; Sarah Zhang, Undergraduate, Science, UBC; and Kshamta Hunter, Graduate Student and Staff, Education, UBC Sustainability Initiative
Detailed schedule below
Day 1: Conference
(Wednesday, May 19, 2021)
-
9:00 – 9:10 am
Opening
-
9:10 – 10:10 am
60 minute participatory session
Make It Awkward: Strategies to tackle on-campus discrimination
Facilitators: Vivek Ramachandran, PhD student, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL); Siara Isaac, Faculty Developer, Teaching Support Centre, EPFL
You know that moment when someone says something prejudiced that you struggle to know how to respond to? And then the moment is gone and you didn’t say anything? University students, especially from minoritized populations, encounter situations like these on a quotidian basis, whether they are working on team projects, handling courses, or collaborating with lab colleagues. This workshop offers its participants a repertoire of 8 responses to discriminatory comments and three levels of scaffolded opportunities to practice speaking up. In particular, the use of triadic role plays (shown to be highly effective in counselling and psychotherapy education by Smith 2016; Crowe 2014) provide participants with feedback on their choice of words and the non-verbal wrapping of their intervention. This interactive workshop will engage participants individually and in small groups on a variety of reflective and practical exercises designed to assist them in practicing the ideas and concepts presented. The workshop offers participants an opportunity to practice strategies and gain confidence when communicating their opposition to bigoted statements or behaviours. Finally, it also provides a response template for when we get called out ourselves. This workshop has been held over 30 times, primarily on Swiss university campuses, and at least 4 times online. 90% of participants reported learning strategies that they intended to put into practice.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- choose words that clearly communicate that biased comments are not acceptable,
- employ non-verbal communication modes to build trust and diffuse tension, and
- foster learning environments which are inclusive and respectful of all people.
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10:10 – 10:20 am
Break
-
10:20 – 11:20 am
60-minute participatory session
Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning: A Critical Discussion
Facilitator: Julia Hamil, Graduate Student, Human Geography, Brock University
How can you tell when your students have understood a concept or skill that you are trying to teach them? No, really: how can you tell – and what’s the connection between student learning and the assessments that we use to measure it? This participatory session is inspired by two prominent contemporary issues in teaching and learning:
- the increasing surveillance and policing of exams in the context of online learning, a practice which invades student privacy, raises issues of equity along the lines of race, class, and (dis)ability, and sends a message that students are inherently untrustworthy in an attempt to uphold academic integrity; and,
- a growing movement towards ‘ungrading’, which calls for a shift away from grades as a measure of student learning, drawing on SoTL that demonstrates how grades create a preoccupation with performance at the expense of learning.
I suggest that both of these current issues are underpinned by the question: how do we assess student learning meaningfully and practically? While the sudden shift to online learning over the past year has highlighted particular challenges of assessment in sharp focus, this is a question that’s central to both online and in-person learning, and across all disciplines. Using small group discussion and online brainstorming exercises, in this session we’ll critically reflect together on mainstream assessment methods and imagine new ways of evaluating student learning.
By the end of this session, participants will have:
- strengthened awareness of the distinction between ‘performance’ and ‘learning’;
- gained a deeper understanding of effectiveness and equity in assessments of learning; and
- developed new insights and ideas about how to assess learning from peer practitioners in other disciplines.
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11:20 – 11:30 am
Break
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11:30 am – 12:00 pm
20-minute round tables
Equitable Strategies for Co-Building Community Agreements in Online Classrooms
Facilitator: Victoria Sheldon, PhD Candidate, Anthropology department, University of Toronto
A community agreement, also known as a group contract, is a tool that allows students to voice their ideas and needs regarding how they plan to work together over the course of a term. In the shift to online teaching, building these contracts has become more important than ever. However, teaching assistants and instructors are now facing a methodological uncertainty; what is the most equitable process for guiding learners to collaboratively build this group contract on Zoom, BB Collaborate, and Teams? The objective of this round table is to explore and create conversation on best practices for developing online community agreements with students in higher education. This discussion is relevant for graduate students across disciplinary backgrounds; regardless of course topic or classroom size, community agreements help foster collective responsibility among students. In this 20-minute breakout room session, attendees will first collectively come up with key topics and concerns that an online community agreement should address (i.e., use of cameras, ‘netiquette’). Second, attendees will compare and contrast two different step-by-step methods for guiding students to collaboratively build an online community agreement. While both methods involve engaging student interaction through editable documents, the time-intensiveness, use of prompts, and note-taking suggestions differ. Third, attendees will discuss the pros and cons of integrating these community agreement activities into different online platforms (Zoom, BB Collaborate, Teams) and disciplinary streams. Overall, this round table discussion will provide insights into this topic and create conversation on best practices across disciplines.
Born Accessible: Prioritizing Accessible Education across Disciplines
Facilitators: Angela Du, PhD Candidate, Department of English, University of Toronto; Samantha Chang, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History, University of Toronto
Although accessible education is a human right (Canadian Human Rights Commission; Ontario Human Rights Commission), many teaching assistants, course instructors, faculty, and students regard accessibility as an additional teaching and learning component. Accessibility training is rarely required for faculty members or prioritized for teaching assistants. As a result, practices around accessible education are reactive and individualized: students are tasked with requesting specific accommodations, which requires navigating through institutional bureaucracy, disclosing personal information, and waiting for request fulfillment.
In this 20-minute round table discussion, we invite participants to adopt a “born accessible” mindset by positioning accessibility at the forefront of education. The discussion will consider how we can broaden the concept of “accessibility” to respond to students’ and teachers’ needs today. In doing so, we will explore strategies that embed accessible practices into foundational teacher-training and other educational contexts. We will ask participants to be especially attentive to disciplinary-specific needs, with the aim of fostering cross-disciplinary conversation about accessible education. By the end of the session, participants will be able to articulate a timely definition of “accessibility,” reflect upon accessibility needs in their own teaching and learning contexts, especially disciplinary-specific needs. In concluding the round table, we will link participants to a Padlet to express what they learned, what they wish to explore further, and resources that they would like to share.
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12:00 – 12:45 pm
Lunch
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12:45 – 1:45 pm
60-minute participatory session
Who Are We? Teaching Care and Shame Resiliency
Facilitators: Samantha Chang, Grad Student, Department of Art History, University of Toronto; Nicole Birch-Bayley, Grad Student, Department of English, University of Toronto
Graduate students wear many hats: we are students, researchers, teachers, caregivers, breadwinners, and the list goes on. Yet, seventy percent of graduate students suffer from imposter syndrome (U of Alberta, 2020). The intersections between graduate students’ own experiences as students and their efficacy as educators offer the opportunity to reconsider the role that identity and vulnerability play in teaching and learning.
In this 60-minute session, we will explore the pedagogy of care as a framework to help graduate students balance their own boundaries with compassion and transparency and foster shame resiliency with learners by building support networks and demystifying information. The opening role-playing activity invites participants to reflect on classroom experiences during a mock lesson. Participants as teachers and learners will be asked to collectively reflect on the experiential challenges and sources of discomfort that arise from learning a new skillset from the ground up. We will then brainstorm effective teaching qualities and reflect on how certain teaching ideals have shaped participants’ own identities and learning experiences; in turn, we will distinguish between aspirational and actionable teaching practices. In the final portion of the session, we will return to the initial role-play with a modified mock lesson that better anticipates learner discomfort and makes space for vulnerability as a necessary part of the learning process. Participants will reflect on pedagogical strategies that can be developed and modified before, during, and after the semester to support teachers and learners, making the classroom an authentic and supportive space.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Reflect on their identities as graduate students and educators;
- Investigate strategies for building resilience, which can work in conjunction with existing UDL and EDI frameworks; and
- Develop activities and/or resources demonstrating a pedagogy of care in their own teaching and learning context.
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1:45 – 1:55 pm
Break
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1:55 – 2:55 pm
60-minute participatory session
The Power of Active Learning
Facilitator: Ambreen S. Hussaini, PhD Candidate, Art History and Visual Studies, UVic
I will engage the audience through self-reflective activities and guided discussions. We will begin with a Think-Pair-Share activity where participants will reflect on the best learning experience they had. Precisely, they will think about the teacher in their life who have inspired them and have impacted on their learning journey… They will ask themselves: What was the context? Who was involved? What the teacher did? What they did? How has it impacted on their learning journey? We will brainstorm on What, Why and How of Effective Learning Strategies and do a jigsaw activity on “50 CATS by Angelo and Cross.” We will conclude with a reflection activity where I will ask: How would they practice active learning in their classroom? Which strategies are their favorite and why?
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Critically reflect on their learning experiences, and generously share with their peers the event/teacher who inspired them the most
- Effectively recognise the importance of active learning and discuss key strategies to promote active learning in class
- Present and teach one active learning strategy to their peers
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2:55 – 3:05 pm
Break
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3:05 – 4:05 pm
60-minute participatory session
TA Digital Toolkit
Facilitator: Kieran Forde, Grad Student, Faculty of Education, UBC
The switch to teaching and learning online created many challenges for instructors, TAs, and students. However, this new format also encouraged TAs to learn about and start using many helpful online tools to engage with their and learners and to navigate the online environment. Part of our role as TAs is learning about and sharing these tools with our learners to facilitate their work in the remote setting.
In this session, we will be going beyond the regularly used tools in Zoom, like breakout rooms and annotation, and highlighting some of the more recent helpful changes to Zoom and introducing some of the tools from my bookmarked TOOLKIT folder including:
- Canvas tools
- Browser extensions
- Little-used, but handy, tools in Windows
- Tips for searching
- Tools for formatting / highlighting / sharing information.
As the session will involve TAs from different backgrounds and with different experiences of TAing online, this will be a great opportunity to bring together the various tools and tips that people have picked up along the way. Within this session, we will work within the large group and (depending on turnout) in small groups to add the tools, tips, and tricks we have come across and found helpful to co-create a Digital Toolkit for TAs.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Explore some of the more helpful digital tools that are introduced
- Incorporate these into their TA work
- Share with their students some helpful online learning tools
Day 2: Conference
(Thursday, May 20, 2021)
-
9:15 – 9:25 am
Opening
-
9:25 – 10:25 am
60-minute participatory session
Flip or Flop: Transforming Classrooms using Flipped Models
Facilitators: Julie McNutt, Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, UBC; Amelia Cole, Graduate Student, School of Information, UBC
The flipped classroom is a student-centred approach that shifts the purpose of class sessions from transmission-based lectures to active learning experiences. Originally designed by high school teachers in the physical sciences, the flipped classroom is now viewed as a multi-disciplinary instructional strategy aimed to improve student satisfaction and participation. Learners in flipped classrooms engage independently with course resources (e.g., videos) that are designed to explain the core concepts needed for the next class. During class, learners apply the knowledge by participating in instructor-designed interactive activities.
The session objectives are to: (1) understand the principles of flipped classrooms, (2) learn the steps required to flip a classroom, and (3) understand its benefits and limitations. To accomplish these objectives, participants will watch a short video presentation describing the principles and steps in creating a flipped classroom. Following the presentation, participants will be separated into small groups and asked to discuss the risks and limitations of the flipped model using one of three themes drawn from the literature: learner, environment, and social connection. During the break-out discussions, each group will synthesize their findings using virtual flip charts. Following the break-out session, the large group will reconvene and share their findings as well as participate in active learning techniques, such as polling and value lines to promote engagement and participation.
Our aim is to create a meta-learning experience by using a flipped classroom approach to explain flipped learning as well as inspire reflection on applied teaching techniques across both in-person and virtual settings.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the concept of a flipped classroom and how it can be applied in any discipline.
- Demonstrate the process of flipping a classroom and the types of active learning activities required for an effective flip.
- Compare the benefits and limitations of the flipped classroom model.
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10:25 – 10:35 am
Break
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10:35 – 10:55 am
20-minute SoTL/TAR presentation
Pedagogical complicity: In conversation with MMIWG
Presenter: Janina Krabbe, PhD Candidate, Interdisciplinary Studies, UBC
How is our pedagogy complicit in colonial violence? As an explicit record of colonial violence, the MMIWG report will be in conversation with autoethnographic vignettes drawn from reflections of the author’s teaching experiences. The SoTL project presented here is intended as a meta-level methodology of decolonial reflection and teaching practice. How can engaging in such questions and leaning into these uncomfortable spaces change the way we teach? Drawing on decolonial and critical pedagogical theorists Freire, hooks, Tuck, and Ahenakew, the session will draw out key reflective questions to bring to our pedagogy here on stolen land. As well as encourage participants to generate their own reflective questions in relation to how and why they teach.
Participants will be invited to engage with the presentation in an arts-based manner by writing a word or sketching as the poems and vignettes are performed. Participants will be invited to reflect on what they’ve heard and specifically the words or images they recorded through the process and to share their initial reflections on a collective jamboard.
While all graduate students, regardless of disciplinary background, teach on Indigenous land, this session is particularly relevant for settler graduate students grappling with how to engage in these conversations and where to begin the process of decolonizing our teaching.
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10:55 – 11:00 am
Break
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11:00 – 11:20 am
20-minute SoTL/TAR presentation
Project-Based Learning in Physical Geography and Geomatics
Presenter: Justin Murfitt, Grad Student, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo
The rise in popularity of spatial analysis and our changing planet makes it important to tackle problems from geographic perspective. Geography degrees allow students to address these issues with a unique perspective. However, it is important to offer students in these programs an opportunity to develop skills that are considered ‘employable’. Research from Arrowsmith et al., 2011, found that key skills for geography graduates in the workplace were strong knowledge bases, technical skills, and communication/organizational skills. One teaching method that allows us to help students develop these skills is project-based learning. Project-based learning can help students take an independent approach to learning where they interact with real-world problems with instructors acting as facilitators as opposed to directors of learning. The objective of this research is to investigate different ways that project-based learning has been applied in both physical geography (natural science) and geomatics (spatial analysis) courses. Furthermore, student comments and evaluations from these courses were used to assess student attitudes towards this type of teaching. Common themes that arose from these examples were that project-based learning allowed students to synthesize information, develop more independence, and build confidence. These examples were seen in both upper-year (300 or 400 level courses) and first-year courses. Suggestions on the implementation and development of project-based learning activities will also be given based on the literature covered and personal teaching experience.
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11:20 – 11:25 am
Break
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11:25 – 11:45 am
20-minute Graduate Student Teaching Support Presentation
Expanding Teaching & Learning Development with CIRTL
Presenter: Natalie Westwood, CIRTL Program Developer, CTLT, UBC
Many graduate students and postdocs aim to secure employment that will require some sort of teaching or mentorship. The Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is a network of universities across the United States and Canada that aims to help support graduate students and postdocs in developing skills to make them successful in these positions. At UBC, we provide a number of programs to meet you at your level of development in these skills and aims to give you a chance to further work on these skills. Additionally we provide connections to programming across our network that will allow you to access expertise outside of UBC. We will be sharing information on our current programming as well as be open to hearing about your needs as graduate students and postdocs.
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11:45 am – 12:30 pm
Lunch
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12:30 – 1:30 pm
60-minute participatory session
Cultural Intelligence and Communication
Facilitator: Ambreen S. Hussaini, PhD Candidate, Art History and Visual Studies, UVic
The session will begin with a territorial acknowledgement in which I will share a poem from Indigenous culture. Building on it, I will ask participants to introduce themselves by sharing their names, cultures they belong, and a unique aspect of their culture. I will ask them to reflect on a poem and make connection with the topic by sharing a cultural encounter where they felt alone or hopeful (themes of poem). Then, through brainstorming and guided discussion, we will explore the relationship between Cultural Intelligence and Communication. I will then introduce three steps of effective intercultural communication (three steps are practicing Constructive Curiosity, Mindful Respect, and Receptive Conversation) and we will have guided discussions on each step. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss case-studies and develop strategies, collectively, towards the end of the session.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Critically reflect on their culture and share one unique aspect with their peers
- Effectively recognise four components of cultural intelligence framework
- Discuss how cultural intelligence and effective communication are connected
- Discuss case studies to develop strategies and to practice three steps of effective intercultural communication
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1:30 am – 1:40 pm
Break
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1:40 – 2:40 pm
60-minute participatory session
Learning from Students
Facilitator: Madison Wright, PhD Candidate, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph
As graduate students, we have many roles within the University related to teaching and learning whether it be in a role as a teaching assistant, mentoring/training an undergraduate student, or teaching a course as a sessional lecturer. At the same time, we are also learning many new skills, being challenged intellectually, and likely dealing with imposter syndrome within our own programs of study. This session will focus on letting go of needing to be the expert in the room, and it will focus on how we can approach our teaching roles as facilitators of learning and as students ourselves. We will be exploring what we can have students teach each other and what we can learn from our students.
This session will be jam-packed with online active learning strategies, which I will intentionally highlight throughout the session in case you would like to ‘steal’ any for use in your own teaching! Of course, we will also be learning from each other in this session to gain first-hand experience on the power of this teaching approach. So, please come to the session with your thinking cap on and ready to engage!
By the end of this session, successful participants will be able to:
- Identify strategies for facilitating peer-to-peer learning opportunities
- Describe what you can learn from your students
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2:40 am – 2:50 pm
Break
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2:50 – 3:50 pm
60-minute participatory session
Kindness Matters
Facilitators: Laura Super, Graduate Student, Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC; Sarah Zhang, Undergraduate, Science, UBC; and Kshamta Hunter, Graduate Student and Staff, Education, UBC Sustainability Initiative
This session tackles how to apply kindness in post-secondary teaching, specifically with five learning objectives. Kindness contributes in multiple ways to improving delivery of research and teaching. This session will model kindness (generating a kind tone, etc.) and use engaging methods on Zoom such as breakout groups, JamBoards (interactive whiteboards), discussion, and free writing. We will begin by defining kindness and then proceed into discussing its place in post-secondary teaching, particularly in how it can improve student performance and wellbeing. In addition to discussions, we will provide references and real-life examples. At the end of this workshop, we expect participants to be able to apply the principle of kindness to their own courses, whether large or small. This session is relevant to all graduate students across disciplines, given kindness is relevant for everyone, and the Kindness Project has a transdisciplinary, interuniversity team. The Kindness Project facilitators of this workshop have experience garnered from their own experience, teaching, mentorship as well as running a weekly working group — discussing kindness — that has faculty, staff, students (undergraduate and graduate), and off campus partners.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Participate in fostering a kind space
- Identify and discuss personal and professional reflections of kindness, exploring kindness in their own lives
- Brainstorm and select methods for implementation of kinder practices in classroom and other learning settings
- Brainstorm and select approaches to encourage buy in for kinder approaches in learning
- Reflect and select methods of assessing the impact of educational approaches that foster kindness
Venue: Online