News

Over 400 people attended the University of Waterloo’s 11^th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, for a full day of presentations, workshops, posters and panel discussions focused on the theme of “teaching and designing for diverse learners.” Conference co-chairs, Kyle Scholz and Kristin Brown, explain: “We use the term ‘diverse learners’ to represent the very real context of any teaching environment at the University of Waterloo: Learners come to our courses with varying backgrounds, experiences, and abilities, so we need to acknowledge that in the design and implementation of our teaching practices, activities, and assessments.”

The Certificate in University Teaching (CUT) program provides a comprehensive teacher development experience that is open to PhD students at the University of Waterloo. Completion of the program is recognized by a certificate issued by Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs and listed on the participant’s transcript.

Each year, the Centre for Teaching Excellence and Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs award one CUT program participant in recognition and celebration of effort and reflection that go above and beyond the course requirements.

We are excited to announce that the 2019 CUT Award has been awarded to Sarah McCrackin, a PhD student in the Department of Psychology. Sarah’s research in cognitive neuroscience focuses on understanding the significance of eye gaze in social interactions with respect to understanding what people are thinking and feeling.

The award recognizes Sarah’s self-reflection throughout the program—with respect to personal teaching goals, pedagogical choices, and strengths as well as areas that need improvement.

We spoke to Sarah about her experience with the CUT program and her thoughts about teaching in a post-secondary environment.

New teaching tip sheet available: Why is inclusive instruction important? "Inclusive instructional practices … aim to remove unnecessary barriers and improve access for as many learners as possible." 

"A typical example of UD is the use of sliding doors that open automatically: not only does this feature benefit people who use wheelchairs, it facilitates entry for people pushing strollers, those carrying a load of heavy boxes, and those who might have difficulty opening a door or navigating a doorway.

We're pleased to announce the 2019 Conference Program is now available! The registration deadline for the Teaching and Learning Conference (April 11, 2019) is quickly approaching!

Please join usfor our 11^thannual University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference taking place on May 2, 2019 in Federation Hall and Science Teaching Complex. Our 2019 conference theme is Teaching and Designing for Diverse Learners.

To register and see faculties, departments, and units covering registration fees, please visit the Conference Registration webpage.

Last year saw over 330 faculty members, staff, and students gather to learn from and with one another around the theme of motivation in teaching and learning. This year, we are excited to welcome Allison Lombardi, Associate Professor in Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, as our keynote speaker, as well as Drs. Carol Hulls (Continuing Lecturer, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering) and Markus Moos (Associate Professor, School of Planning) from Waterloo, who will each recreate a successful instructional approach in our Igniting Our Practice plenary session, which showcases some of the excellent teaching being done on our campus.

The registration deadline is Thursday, April 11, 2019.

Marcus Abramovitch, recipient of the Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student, 2019

Chemistry, Faculty of Science

Interested in how you can combine technology with teaching to promote learning? CTE’s annual Educational Technologies Week is an opportunity for Waterloo’s instructors to focus more intensively on teaching development and technologies for promoting deep learning. It starts on March 18! Sign up for workshops today, at: https://buff.ly/2tKcbpU

A Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) Seed Grant awarded to Wade Wilson (Kinesiology) and Nicole Westlund Stewart (Writing and Communication Centre) was featured in the Waterloo News. Researchers studied the integration of mindfulness techniques in a large classroom and made recommendations for enhancing practice.

We are pleased to let you know that registration is open for our 11^th annual University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference taking place on May 2, 2019. Last year saw over 330 faculty members, staff, and students gather to learn from and with one another around the theme of motivation in teaching and learning. Our 2019 conference theme is Teaching and Designing for Diverse Learners.

The Office of the Associate Vice President, Academic and the Centre for Teaching Excellence are pleased to announce the recipients of this term’s Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) Full Grants.

• Assessing Student Problem-Solving Skills: A Comprehensive Study of Engineering Design Days, Ada Hurst, Chris Rennick, Carol Hulls, Sanjeev Bedi, and Samar Mohamed
• Promoting Meaningful Learning in Computer Science Courses by Leveraging Concreteness Fading, Edith Law and Sangho Suh
• Student Podcasting as Project-Based Learning in Science Communication, David Janzen