Disruption and Uncertainty as Drivers for Change
The context in which we teach has permanently changed; there are more expectations and requirements than ever – some of them even contradicting each other – amidst diminishing resources. Even more in recent years, university pedagogy has increasingly come to reflect “contingency and uncertainty” (Shulman 2005), where educators must be resourceful, flexible, and aware. In a world “that continues to face multiple, compounding crises” (Global Futures, UW 2024), we need to take care of our students and ourselves as we learn to cope, adapt, and respond. Faced with many competing, complex challenges, the university community must “continue to be bold and unconventional” (“Our strategic vision”) in devising strategies that prioritize our well-being, while also building community, capacity, and a shared culture of teaching and learning.
While there is no shortage of disruptions and sources of uncertainty to teaching and learning, some have been paramount in the past few years: the pandemic skill gap; the rapid expansion of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and the accompanying concerns about academic integrity; the uncertainty around the implementation of the proposed Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Postsecondary Education Standards recommendations; the realization that we must do more to Indigenize and decolonize our campus, and ensure that equity, accessibility, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism shape the decisions we make, even as we face the prevalence of sexual harassment, sexual violence, homophobia, and transphobia on campus and beyond.
For our 16th annual University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference, we will centre our conversation around strategies for responding to disruption and uncertainty and leveraging them as occasions to innovate and improve our educational practices. How do we address challenges and opportunities that arise from crises, whether local or global, individual or collective? How do we deal with these disruptions to our carefully planned terms or programs? What are the key lessons to take into future disruptions? How do we support students and faculty and staff members? How do we survive expanded workload expectations? How do we help our students navigate having a full course load, a part-time job, and care duties? How do we deal with the high levels of stress experienced by our colleagues and students? How do we partner with colleagues and other units on campus to support each other and leverage each other’s strengths? How can we use technology to limit the impact of disruptions? How do we encourage our students to “think differently” (“Vision, Mission, and Values”) about challenges and build resilience? How do we provide them with the tools they need? How do we engage with local and global communities to bridge academia and real-world challenges? What new directions are we taking?
We invite you to submit proposals for presentations, panel discussions, workshops, alternative sessions, and posters that address these questions. We also welcome proposals from recipients of Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE) grants.
