News

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

Over 320 participants from the University of Waterloo and beyond joined us on April 27 to explore the role curiosity plays in teaching and learning. Conference co-organizer Crystal Tse, Instructional Developer, Research, looks back on the day in the latest CTE Blog post. We've also collected some highlights shared by participants, facilitators, and presenters in our Storify story: A Day of Cultivating Curiosity in Teaching and Learning. 

Our colleagues in the Centre for Extended Learning are pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Online Teaching and Design Awards. They are Edwin Ng and Doug Cowan. 

Dr. Crystal Tse has assumed the role of CTE's Instructional Developer, Research and Consulting (a position formerly held by Julie Timmermans, who has moved on to a position at the University of Otago in New Zealand). Crystal was previously CTE's Research Associate. 

Recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Teacher Awards have been announced! They are:

• Mónica Barra, Chemistry
• Sanjeev Bedi, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
• Dan Davison, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• David McKinnon, Pure Mathematics

Recipients of the 2017 Amit and Meena Chakma Awards for Exceptional Teaching by a Student have been announced! They are:

• Alex Huynh, Psychology
• Houman Mehrabian, English Language and Literature
• Mohammed Nassar, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Lay Ling Tan, Chemistry

Cultivating Curiosity in Teaching and Learning: April 27

Join Eline Boghaert, Jason Grove, Marios Ioannidis, Felicia Pantazi, and Mary Power at the Engineering Integrative Learning Group as they share their experiences teaching a first-year Chemistry for Engineers course using blended learning.

Date: March 24, 12:00-1:00pm

Location: CPH 4333

Lunch will be provided by the Office of the Dean of Engineering

Registration is required by March 22.

Teaching Methods: Wed., March 8, 1:00-3:00

Open to all graduate students, this interactive workshop will provide participants with a toolbox of activities suitable for any classroom and will introduce the concepts of active learning and teacher-centred versus student-centred classrooms. Attend and discuss some of the reasons for using different teaching methods and to begin to decide which ones are right for your classroom. Registration is required.