The colloquia will feature research talks and interactive workshops on selected topics in post-secondary pedagogy.
Friday, January 5
“Blended Practices in Critical Pedagogy”
A research talk by Graeme Northcote (PhD Candidate, English Language and Literature)
This paper explores the applications of blended project-based learning for critical pedagogy within the Humanities. A broad review of the goals and challenges of critical pedagogy as an educational philosophy is paired with a narrower survey of the affordances of blended project-based teaching methodologies for student engagement across a range of mobile, web-based, and classroom learning environments. Existing research is contextualized in order to highlight the profound synergistic potential between these seemingly disparate avenues of pedagogy. Specifically, blended learning models are explored as a means of facilitating critical learner engagement with sociopolitical issues through active community-facing projects that situate practical interventions and initiatives as extensions of theory and reflection.
“Implementing Lectures in the Classroom”
An interactive workshop by Jason Lajoie (PhD Candidate, English Language and Literature)
What place does the lecture as a teaching method have in contemporary undergraduate classrooms? In this workshop, we will examine recent literature on lecturing to identify the affordances and constraints of the lecture format, and we will consider when and how to lecture – and to lecture effectively. Throughout this workshop, you will also develop strategies for improving student learning before, during, and after lecturing, and you will begin to build a lesson plan that efficiently integrates lectures.
Friday, January 12
“The Classroom as Territory: (Re)Negotiating a Decolonizing Pedagogical Praxis”
A research talk by Maša Torbica (PhD Candidate, English Language and Literature)
The contemporary post-secondary Canadian classroom is at once a contested site of (neo)colonial power dynamics and a potential common ground for transformative interventions. In this context, how can non-Indigenous instructors work to become (apprentice) allies to Indigenous voices and Indigenous initiatives? Furthermore, how might we forge new frameworks in order to facilitate the critical shifts (ontological, epistemological, political) necessary for broader socio-political decolonization? This paper explores several productive strategies/paradigms for both individual and institutional recalibrations of existing pedagogical praxes.
“Creating Inclusive Classrooms amidst Discriminatory Content”
A research talk by Teresa Branch-Smith (PhD Candidate, Philosophy)
This paper examines the challenge of creating inclusive classrooms in spite of discriminatory content in course syllabi. Discriminatory content refers to racist, sexist, ableist, and/or heteronormative content and is not limited to the Humanities. The experience of reading this offensive “othering” language, I argue, can be interpreted as a type of microaggression. Microaggressions convey meanings to people based on group membership (like “The One” or “The Other”) that in negative instantiations can lead to unease, anxiety, feelings of self-doubt, and risks deterring students from learning. Therefore, if teachers are going to include this content, we must be prepared to address the offensive attitudes presented in academic works, else risk being a complacent contributor to the discrimination.
“Women’s and Gender Studies Across the Curriculum”
An interactive workshop by Meghan Riley (PhD Candidate, English Language and Literature)
This workshop will provide an overview of Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS), as well as a consideration of the benefits of introducing students in a variety of disciplines to studies, concepts, and topics in WGS, such as intersectionality theory and performativity theory. We will discuss strategies that you can readily incorporate into first or second year courses. We will also review and revise a comprehensive list of additional resources for introducing WGS in such fields. By the end of the workshop, you will be able to articulate the importance of incorporating Women’s and Gender Studies concepts across the curriculum, explain a number of WGS theories, and confidently design an introductory learning activity for a course in your field.