The 2013 Opportunities and New Directions Conference

Barriers and Breakthroughs: accounts of change in teaching and learning.

Conference Date: Thursday, April 25, 2013. 

Registration: Early bird discount before April 4, 2013. Register for the conference using our online form.
 

Proposal submissions are now closed. We look forward to seeing you at this year's conference.

Theme

A compass.

One of the most important things we can do to facilitate teaching and learning is to exchange accounts of which strategies have worked and which have failed.  When we listen to these accounts, we often hear of the barriers, the obstacles, and the frustrations faced – lack of time, lack of funds, demanding workloads, the fear of trying something new.  We may also hear of the breakthroughs – pivotal moments when new possibilities for teaching or learning became evident, moments of insight or transformation.  We wrestle to make meaning of these experiences, to understand how they can help make teaching more enjoyable, or how they can lead to deeper student learning.  We often struggle alone to make sense of our teaching experience. During this Conference, we invite you to share with your colleagues the insights gained on these issues through practice or through research.

Questions to consider

  • What breakthroughs and barriers have you experienced in facilitating effective learning and teaching?
  • How has focusing on student learning changed your teaching?
  • How do you help students break through bottlenecks in their learning to deepen their understanding?
  • How has focusing on your teaching enhanced student learning?

Proposal guidelines and formats

We invite you to submit a proposal to the University of Waterloo’s 2013 Opportunities and New Directions conference. Please consider the following when developing your proposal:

  • Proposals must be related to the conference theme and/or its sub-questions.
  • Proposals may be research-based, practice-based, or both. 
  • Consider how your work can be relevant to people from a variety of disciplines.
  • Individuals may be involved in a maximum of two proposals, and only one as the first author.
  • Proposals are limited to 300 words.

Session formats include the following options:

  • Presentation: 15 minutes, plus 5-minute discussion period. Share an instructional strategy or an assessment approach (practice-based), present empirical findings, or examine theoretical or methodological issues (research-based).
  • Panel Discussion: 60 minutes. With a panel of colleagues, address different topics related to the Conference theme and/or its sub-questions.  Topics may include insights from practice, research, or both. Panels may relate to one discipline, several disciplines, or integrate insights gained from working in an interdisciplinary/multi-disciplinary way.  Panels should involve three to five panelists, and should include a discussion period of 15 to 20 minutes.  
  • Workshop: 60 minutes. Take participants through the process of an instructional strategy that you have used and/or the results of assessing that strategy, with some hands-on time built in.
  • Poster: Present a tool, technique, or research project related to the conference theme.

A blind peer review process will be used to assess the proposal submissions.

Proposal submission form - now closed

Submit your proposal online.

Proposal submission deadline: Friday, January 25, 2013

Please direct questions to Julie Timmermans at julie.timmermans@uwaterloo.ca.