Keep Learning Team Mandate
Preparing for Waterloo’s Teaching and Learning Future
The pandemic has further demonstrated that the best results are likely to occur when academic support units (ASUs) and faculty work together in a coordinated fashion. Insights and knowledge gained from a holistic perspective and shared across the institution can enhance and amplify faculty plans and positive institutional and student outcomes.
For these reasons, the core Keep Learning Team, Centre for Extended Learning (CEL), Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE), Information Systems and Technology (IST) - Instructional Technologies and Media Services (ITMS), and the Library, believes it can and should continue in a collaborative and coordinated manner in a post-pandemic era. The team will continue to discuss how it should evolve as it shifts from a reactionary, tactical stance to a more thoughtful, proactive, and strategic one, and offers this revised mandate in keeping with that goal.
Mandate
- Identify and operationalize the pedagogical resources, training and support needed by instructors to advance teaching and learning-related institutional and strategic plan initiatives via a model of shared responsibility and expertise.
- Coordinate the more efficient provision of these supports by pooling resources, leveraging complementary expertise, and reducing the duplication of effort.
- Expedite multilateral, coordinated action on emerging issues and needs by facilitating identification, communication, and collaboration across existing units.
- Provide thought leadership, knowledge mobilization, and research to inform and influence University directions, initiatives, and committees.
- Identify and remedy (with appropriate approvals) systemic gaps and barriers that impede advances in teaching and learning (e.g., lack of institutional course delivery definitions, access to course outline data, etc.).
- Collaborate with other teaching and learning-related ASUs in recurring meetings to share issues of common interest and discuss how to support our mutual goals.
Group Composition and Meeting Frequency
It is important that those on the team should be senior leaders within their respective units and have authority to allocate resources (staff, budget).
- The Core Group (CEL, CTE, ITMS and Library) meet twice per term.
- The ASU-Wide Group (Core Group plus AccessAbility, Academic Integrity, Writing and Communication Centre, and Student Success Office) meet once a term.
