News

We have two new Communities of Practice:

The Collaboration and Teamwork Community of Practice provides an opportunity to connect with peers to share examples, experiences, ideas, resources, and best practices around collaboration, teamwork, and group work in education. Organized by the Department of Knowledge Integration and the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

The first meeting will be held on Friday, November 1 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. 

For more information and to register visit: https://bit.ly/2Vihz0E

The Educational Technologies Community of Practice aims to provide instructors with the opportunity to connect with peers to share examples, experiences, and best practices around all kinds of educational technologies. This community of practice will have a blended format combining both face-to-face and online opportunities to connect. Organized by the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

The first meeting will be held on Monday, November 25 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

For more information and to register visit: https://bit.ly/2W9jEfu

Applications for the 2019 LITE Full Grants round are due October 1, 2019. Funding for the LITE Full Grants is upwards of $15,000 per year (for a maximum of two years and $30,000).

The Centre for Teaching Excellence is pleased to share with our university community that as of July 1, 2019, we have been approved to make a few changes to our organizational structure:

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) Seed Grants.

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