News

CTE Instructional Developer Monica Vesely and Senior Instructional Developer Katherine Lithgow have received funds through the Staff International Experience Fund (SIEF) to learn from colleagues in educational development in the UK, the Netherlands, and Australia. Administered by Waterloo International, the SIEF program allows selected staff members to embark on an international experience that advances the University’s strategic objectives and supports their professional development.

Get a hands-on introduction to Waterloo's course management system, LEARN, in our half-day LEARN Kick Starter on August 16. 

What basics must be on your accessible syllabus in your Faculty, and what are the nice-to-haves? How do you achieve a course outline "voice" while also making sure you've covered all your course outline basics? Join us at our Syllabus Builder Workshop on August 16 where CTE's Monica Vesely and the Writing and Communication Centre's Nadine Fladd will provide tools and expertise so that you leave with a completed product.

On August 9 & 10, our annual New Faculty Teaching Days will feature our core new faculty offerings: Who Are Our Learners, Classroom Dynamics and Engagement, Assessment for Learning, and Course Design Fundamentals. This event is intended for all new faculty. Registration closes August 2.

Find out how to register by visiting New Faculty Teaching Days.

The sixth annual Women in Physics Canada Conference is being held this week at Waterloo and will bring together early career scientists and leaders in physics. In her workshop on implicit bias, Crystal Tse, CTE's Instructional Developer, Research and Consulting, will introduce participants to what social psychology research has to say about prejudice and the impact implicit bias has on achievement, retention, and hiring in STEM. The Conference runs July 26-28.

At the Eco-Summit held on Wednesday, July 12, the Centre for Teaching Excellence was the first unit on campus to receive the Green Office Gold Certification. 

We’re pleased to announce that the next annual University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference will be held on Thursday, April 26, 2018. Information about the Conference theme, the proposal submission deadline, and registration will be posted in the fall.

2017 Conference slides and handouts are now available on our website.

The latest CTE Teaching Story profiles David Harmsworth, Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, whose "backwards" approach to teaching mathematics helps students develop intuition and problem-solving skills. Read the full story: David Harmsworth: Teaching Intuition in Mathematics.

This May, seven exciting new educational research projects were funded through the Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) Grant initiative.

LITE grants provide support for experimenting with and investigating innovative approaches to teaching that foster deep student learning at the University of Waterloo. The program is composed of two kinds of grants:

• LITE Seed Grants (funding up to $5000 for one-year projects)
• LITE Full Grants (funding up to $30,000 for two-year projects)

The upcoming LITE Seed Grant deadline is June 1, 2017.

For descriptions of LITE grant projects and for more information about the initiative, please visit the LITE grants program website, or contact Crystal Tse (ext. 31240) or Kristin Brown (ext. 32940) to discuss project ideas.

Every two years, CTE offers the the Facilitators Development Workshop (FDW) to ten participants interested in becoming trained Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) facilitators. These future ISW facilitators will dedicate a week of their time (40-hours) to their teaching professional development as they prepare to guide teaching colleagues through the ISW program. This year's FDW will be facilitated by Waterloo's Monica Vesely, Instructional Developer, Faculty Programs and Development, and McMaster University's Erin Aspenlieder, Educational Developer, Program Enhancement Lead. Continue reading to learn more or visit our ISW program event page.

Image source: Instructional Skills Network