Email: klithgow@uwaterloo.ca
Office: EC3 2023A
Pronouns: she/her
As Senior Educational Developer, Integrative & Experiential Learning, Katherine Lithgow provides leadership and support for experiential and integrative learning initiatives across the University, helping students connect learning across academic, workplace, community, and social environments. Her work focuses on high-impact practices such as ePortfolio pedagogy, self-directed learning, and initiatives designed to help students recognize, articulate, and showcase the development of their transferable skills.
Prior to joining the Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE), Katherine was with the Distance and Continuing Education department (now the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL)) where she assisted instructors in designing learning activities for online courses. She holds a Master's in Educational Technology from the University of British Columbia, and a BA from the University of Toronto. Earlier in her career, Katherine worked as a cytotechnologist after graduating from the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences (TMI) where she later taught in the Diagnostic Cytology program.
Selected professional highlights
Grants
Project Title: Adapting Student-Led Individually Created Courses (SLICCs) to Encourage Self-Directed Learning
Co-Leads: Mariam Mufti, Political Science; Katherine Lithgow, Centre for Teaching Excellence (see complete team in link above)
(Project timeline: Fall 2023 -Fall 2026)
Project title: Creating, Testing, and Assessing a Toolkit to Help Instructors Integrate the Student-Led Independently Created Courses Framework
Grant Recipients: Mariam Mufti, Political Science; Wayne Chang, Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business; Katherine Lithgow, Centre for Teaching Excellence; Tracy Hilpert, School of Accounting and Finance; Narveen Jandu, School of Public Health Sciences; Elena Neiterman, School of Public Health Sciences; Mary Robinson, Faculty of Engineering; Steffanie Scott, Geography and Environmental Management; Diane Williams, School of Public Health Sciences; Brendan Wylie-Toal, Green House Social Impact Incubator; Jennifer Yessis, School of Public Health Sciences
(Project timeline: Spring 2022)
Project title: Assessing the Application of the Student-Led Independently Created Courses Model in the Master of Public Health Capstone Course through Utilization of PebblePad
Grant Recipients: Jennifer Yessis, School of Public Health Sciences; Katherine Lithgow, Centre for Teaching Excellence; Narveen Jandu, School of Public Health Sciences; Nada El-Abbar, School of Public Health Sciences (Research Assistant)
(Project timeline: Winter 2022)
Project title: Evaluating a New Student-Centric Learning Approach: The Impact of SLICCs (Student-Led Individually-Created Courses) on Student Learning Outcomes
Grant recipients: Sean Geobey, School of Environment Enterprise and Development; Katherine Lithgow, Centre for Teaching Excellence; Judene Pretti, Waterloo Centre for the Advancement of Co-operative Education; Wayne Chang, Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business; Brendan Wylie-Toal, St. Paul's University College; James Nugent, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability
(Project timeline: January 2020-December 2021)
Project title: Bridging the 'Articulation of Skills' Gap through 'WatCV: Career And Competency ePortfolios.
Investigators: Tomasson Goodwin, J., (Principal Applicant) Co-applicants: Lithgow, K., Danisch, R., Roberts-Smith, J., Hulls, C., Bermingham, C., Goh, J., Cegys, P., Malone, T., McWebb, C., O’Hara Pierce, K., Paci, T., Thompson, J., Ferries, L., Adair, J., Landriault, D., Gindrod, K., Kampen Robinson, C., Pretti, J., & Fannon, A.
(2016)
Project title: ePortfolios for Career, Reflection, and Competency Integration
Investigators: Jill Tomasson Goodwin (Principal Applicant), Department of Drama and Speech Communication, Katherine Lithgow (Co-applicant), Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) Seed Grant, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
Grant duration: October 2014-March 2016
Project title: Unifying experiences: Learner and instructor approaches and reactions to ePortfolio usage in higher education
Investigators: Katherine Lithgow (Principal Applicant), Kyle Scholz (Co-applicant), and Crystal Tse (Co-applicant), Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
Grant duration: September 2014-August 2015
Publications
Robinson, M., Lithgow, K., & MacGregor, C. (2022). Joining Students on Their SLICCs Journey. Proceedings 2022 Canadian Engineering Education Association Conference (CEEA-ACEG22; Paper 112).
Tomasson Goodwin, J., Goh, J., Verkoeyen, S., & Lithgow, K. (2019). "Can students be taught to articulate employability skills?", Education + Training, 61(4),445-460, https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-08-2018-0186
Tomasson Goodwin, J. & Lithgow, K. (2018). ePortfolio, Professional Identity, and 21st Century Employability Skills. In B. Eynon & L. Gambino(Eds), Catalyst in Action – Case Studies. Stylus.
Tse, C. T., Scholz, K. W., & Lithgow, K. (2018). Beliefs or Intentionality? Instructor Approaches to ePortfolio Pedagogy. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(3), 10.
Penny Light, P., Lithgow, K., Hubert, D., Sutherland, S. (2017). On the Right Track: Using Eportfolios to Address Institutional Challenges. In T. Batson, K.S. Coleman, H.L. Chen, C.E.Watson, T.L. Rhodes, & A. Harver (Eds.), Field Guide to Eportfolio. Washington, D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Scholz, K.W., Tse, C.T., & Lithgow, K. (2017). Unifiying experiences: Learner and instructor approaches and reactions to eportfolio usage in higher education. International Journal of ePortfolio, 7(2), 139-150Scholz, K.W., Tse, C.T., & Lithgow, K.L. (2017). Unifiying experiences: Learner and instructor approaches and reactions to eportfolio usage in higher education. International Journal of ePortfolio, 7(2), 139-150
Sproule,B., Penny Light, T.& Lithgow, K. (2009). Connecting contexts and competencies: Using eportfolios for integrative learning. In B. Cambridge, D. Cambridge & K. Blake Yancey (Eds.) Electronic portfolios 2.0: Emergent research on implementation and impact. Stylus.
Recent invited and/or peer-reviewed presentations
Lithgow, K., & Yessis, J. (January 13, 2025). Authentic Assessment Unveiled: Practical Insights for Academic Leaders [Webinar]. eCampusOntario
Yessis, J., & Lithgow, K. (June 2024) Integrating PebblePad to adapt the Student-Led, Individually Created Course Model into a Master of Public Health Capstone Course: What we learned. Presentation at PebblePad PebbleBash Conference, Edinburgh, UK.
Lithgow, K. (2022, August 25). Introduction to experiential Learning: moving from experiences to experiential learning. Khalifa University Professional Development Week. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Riley, S., McCabe, G., Lithgow, K. & Evans. C. (2022, April 4). The student’s role in co-creation of their own learning outcomes, and their assessment. PebblePad Panel Presentation
Chang, W., Wylie-Toal, B., & Lithgow, K. (2022, April). Evaluating a New Student-Centric Experiential Learning Approach for Entrepreneurship Education: The Impact of SLICCs (Student-Led Individually-Created Courses) on Student Learning Outcomes. Presented at the University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference. (Virtual conference)
Lithgow, K., Robinson, M., Williams, D., Chang, W., & McBay, M. (2022, April). Panel Discussion - Reflection, Community and Student-Led Independently Created Courses: Student and Instructor Perspectives. Presented at the University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference. (Virtual conference)
Riley, S., McCabe, G., Lithgow, K. & Evans. C. (2022, February 22). The student role in co-creation of their own learning outcomes, and their assessment. Panel presentation at e Interdisciplinary Network for Research-Informed Assessment Practices (INRAP). Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
Lithgow, K. (2021, November 3). Changing experiences to learning experiences. Keynote at Khalifa University Experiential Learning Symposium. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Chang, W., Wylie-Toal, B., Nugent,J., Lithgow, K., Etmanski, B., & Geobey, S. (2021, October). Entrepreneurship Education with Student-Led Individually Created Course (SLICC) Teaching Model. Presented at The Canadian Council for Small Business & Entrepreneurship Conference (CCSBE/CCPME) 2021.