2018-2019 Distinguished Visiting Teaching Scholars

It is with great pleasure that we introduce to you our Distinguished Visiting Teaching Scholars for 2018-2019! Please click on a name to view more about dates and session information.

Visiting Scholar	Date (2018)	Visiting Scholar	Date (2019)
Greg Evans and Patricia Sheridan	November 5	Celia Popovic	January 17
Nick Baker	November 27-28	Robert Nelson	January 31
Dave Andrews and Judy Bornais	December 6	Erika Kustra	February 28
		Alison Flynn	March 1
		James Wittebols	March 7
		Linda Carozza	April 3

Dr. Greg Evans and Dr. Patricia Sheridan

Visiting November 5, 2018

Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice
Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto

Greg Evans, PhD, FCEA, FAAAS is the Director of the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice (ISTEP) a new department at the University of Toronto. He is also the Director of the Collaborative Program in Engineering Education, a 3M national Teaching Fellow, and a member of the University of Toronto President’s Teaching Academy.

Patricia Sheridan, BASc, MASc, PhD, is the Associate Director – Undergraduate Curriculum of the Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering and a faculty member in ISTEP. She is a developer of the Teamworks online team learning software and a recipient of the Alan Blizzard Award for collaborative teaching from STLHE.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Reflecting on our path as educators
Learning to teach is often a private process, that we pursue on a public stage. In contrast with the way we instruct fundamentals in our classrooms, or discover new knowledge in our laboratories, teaching is most often learnt experientially with little to no scaffolding or focus on underlying theory. Without this framing we can choose to see the best or worst versions of ourselves when we reflect on our teaching. Is this really an optimal approach to learning how to teach? Is there perhaps a better way?

In this talk, we will share lessons we have learnt about teaching. Drawing from the courses that we’ve designed and delivered, we will describe instructional strategies used to enhance learning and integrate transdisciplinary competencies such as communication, teamwork, and professionalism. We will share views on where we see education headed and how we might adapt our teaching accordingly, for the betterment of our students, professors, and institution.

Schedule & Location
Keynote: 2:00pm - 4:00pm, The Student Centre Event Space

Professor Nick Baker

Visiting November 27-28, 2018

Nick Baker is the Director of the Office of Open Learning and a faculty member in the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Windsor. Actively engaging with the higher education change agenda in Ontario and beyond, Nick has been involved with eCampus Ontario and its predecessors since their inception, including as a member of the Board of Directors. He is an advocate for openness in all its forms, and for equitable access to higher education opportunities for all learners, regardless of circumstance. He has been at UWindsor since 2009, where he works to improve access to education for all students through development of high quality flexible learning options, and ensuring that faculty have the tools they need to support innovative pedagogies.

Nick has worked in higher education for 20 years, and for the last 15 years this work has focused on online, open and blended learning, educational technologies, and organisational change. Since 2013, he has led the development of the Office of Open Learning at UWindsor. His academic background includes journalism, geography, ecology and conservation biology, and higher education. An award-winning teacher, he currently teaches courses on higher education pedagogies, educational technologies, open practices, and the intersection of science, technology, and society. His research spans the gambit of higher education, but has a particular focus on open educational practices, online and blended learning, organisational change, higher education policy, and the interaction between instructor beliefs and pedagogical approaches. He is a past board member of the Canadian Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), and an active member of several other professional associations in higher education, including the Ontario Council on eLearning (OUCEL).

Keynote
Open Educational Practices in higher education

Within the ever-changing higher education landscape, there are a dazzling array of buzzwords and fads that come and go, seemingly without ever significantly influencing the practices or processes of universities. Terms such as innovation, disruption, accountability, experiential learning, skills audits, strategic mandates, activity-based budgeting, and many more come and go, but the resilient structures we know as universities have remained remarkably resistant to change for centuries.

Against this backdrop of change and external pressures, there are calls to make higher education more inclusive, accessible and affordable for all learners. Open Educational Practices (OEPs) have emerged as potentially transformational practices that can help individuals and institutions achieve these goals. OEPs are part of the broader open movements that encompass such areas as open data (including the new Tri-Council policy), open government, open science, and open access publishing. OEPs include creating, adopting, and adapting open educational resources (OERs), using open pedagogies, open course development, and open scholarship. This session will explore the potential of OEPs to radically change higher education, enhance access and equity, and improve student learning outcomes.

Workshops
Effective online pedagogies: Tips from the trenches
(2 hrs; interactive; suggest bringing laptops/digital devices)

Online learning is a part of the modern university landscape that is rapidly expanding, bringing with it great potential and some challenges as traditional universities determine how best to utilise the online environment to further their mission. In this workshop, we will engage with some of the foundational techniques and tools that online instructors can use to plan, design, develop, and facilitate engaging and effective online learning environments. We will explore frameworks for quality, accessibility and universal design, communication, and strategies for enhancing engagement in online courses.

Designing and using video to support effective learning
(2 hrs; interactive; suggest bringing laptops/digital devices/smart phones)

Creating and consuming video has become a ubiquitous part of life in the western world. Doing so for educational purposes is no exception. Students regularly seek out video representations of concepts they are trying to learn, but not all video resources are equal. So what makes a good educational video? This workshop will explore some of the tools available to create and adapt educational videos, along with the contexts in which this approach may be most useful. We will touch on some of the theoretical underpinnings of effective educational videos, address some myths, and examine ways in which instructors can incorporate video into their classes to enhance learning, including finding existing openly licensed video materials.

Schedule & Location
November 27, 2018
Keynote: 1:00pm - 3:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)

November 28, 2018
Workshop (Online Pedagogy): 10:00am - 12:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)
Lunch for Participants: 12:00pm - 1:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)
Workshop (Designing and Using Videos): 1:00pm - 3:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)

Dr. Dave Andrews and Professor Judy Bornais

Visiting December 6, 2018

Dave Andrews David M. Andrews is a Professor in and Head of the Department of Kinesiology, and was the Teaching Leadership Chair for the Faculty of Human Kinetics from 2014-2018. He teaches Functional Anatomy and Human Factors, and Occupational Biomechanics at the undergraduate and graduate levels, respectively. Outside of his disciplinary research in ergonomics and biomechanics, David's interests in the scholarship of teaching and learning include educational leadership, peer observation of teaching, engagement of students in large classes, and assessment and evaluation in higher education. David has been recognized for excellence in research and teaching with awards such the University of Windsor Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity, Wayne Marino Faculty of Human Kinetics Teaching Excellence Award, University of Windsor Alumni Award for Distinguished Contributions to University Teaching, McMaster Student Union Teaching Award, and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) Teaching and Academic Librarianship Award.

Judy Bornais Judy A.K. Bornais is a faculty member in nursing who is currently Acting Executive Director, Office of Experiential Learning at the University of Windsor. She was the Teaching Leadership Chair for the Faculty of Nursing from 2014-2018. She also holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment at Western with the Department of Surgery at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. Outside of her disciplinary research in simulation in nursing education and diabetes, Judy’s interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning include experiential learning in higher education, engagement of students in large classes, peer observation of teaching, professional development and the assessment, evaluation and recognition of teaching practices in higher education. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and recognitions including the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) Teaching and Academic Librarianship Award, the University of Windsor Alumni Award for Distinguished Contributions to University Teaching, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) Excellence in Nursing Education for tenured faculty, the Council of Ontario Programs in Nursing (COUPN) Excellence in Teaching Award and the Elsevier Canada Learning Resource Award. She was the recipient of Western’s USC Teaching Honour Roll Award of Excellence, the University of Windsor Faculty of Nursing’s Research and Scholarship Award and the Inaugural Nursing Society, Faculty of the Year Award. In 2018 Judy was also named a 3M Teaching Fellow.

Workshops
Workshop 1: Threat or opportunity? Observation of teaching practices in higher education
It is common practice for faculty members on university campuses across Canada to spend approximately 40% of their time teaching and 40% of their time doing research. Although it is commonplace for instructors to receive feedback regarding aspects of their research (e.g., research ethics applications, manuscripts), limited feedback is generally provided in the area of teaching. There is also a consensus in the literature that students’ assessments of teaching on their own do not accurately reflect the teaching effectiveness of instructors (Atkinson and Bolt, 2010; Fraile & Bosch-Morell, 2015; Lomas and Nicholls, 2005). Moreover, our colleagues in higher education (department heads, administrators) who have to conduct teaching evaluations often feel inadequately trained to evaluate teaching practices in the classroom, teaching dossiers and to review teaching effectiveness as part of the performance review process. In this workshop we will be sharing different models of teaching observations that occur in higher education. We will also discuss the findings from our research which examined teaching evaluation practices at the University of Windsor. Our findings support the view that department leaders require formal learning support with regard to how to interpret and report faculty members’ evidence of teaching effectiveness. A collaborative approach utilizing educational leaders in different academic units was applied to develop a guide of best practices for evaluating teaching. Implementing some of these practices, including more formal training for administrators, can provide meaningful opportunities for growth for faculty and instructors alike, and in so doing, positively impact the teaching culture on campus.

Workshop 2: The need for POT (Peer Observation of Teaching) in higher education
Peer observation of teaching (POT) has been shown to help teachers develop new skills (Cairns, Bissell, & Bovill, 2013) and become more aware of their own teaching (O’Keefe, Lecouteur, Miller, and McGowan, 2009). In addition to the benefits for the teacher, observers have also found benefit in observations (Cairns et al., 2013). Despite POT being an internationally recognized strategy to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in higher education (McMahon, Barrett & O’Neill, 2007), it is not practiced in many Canadian higher education institutions. This two hour interactive workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to reflect on and share the types of feedback they have received regarding their classroom teaching. In addition, the session will provide participants with an opportunity to learn about a reciprocal classroom observation model, which provides teachers with an opportunity to discuss and learn from their own teaching practices and those of their colleagues, and to reflect on their teaching, both specifically and generally, across all stages of their careers. The benefits of a reciprocal peer observation model, as well as challenges and solutions to keep in mind when developing a similar initiative, will also be discussed.

Following this session, participants will be able to:

Describe the type of feedback they have received in higher education
List at least three benefits of POT for faculty members
Identify potential challenges with implementing POT on campus.

Take away: Participants will take away the value of POT as a means of engaging in on-going professional pedagogical growth and fine-tuning educational practice.

Schedule & Location
Workshop 1: 10:00 am - 11:30 pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)
Lunch for Participants: 11:30 pm - 12:30 pm
Workshop 2: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)

Dr. Celia Popovic

Visiting January 17, 2019

Celia Popovic Celia is Director of the Teaching Commons at York University. Her work includes cooperating with partners from across York University to identify what will be of help to her teaching colleagues, and contributing to teaching-related strategies through the TC. Celia also conducts research into teaching and higher education, with particular focus on the transition from high school education to university education; and the development of educational developers. She is the co-author/editor of four books: ‘Understanding Undergraduates’ (Popovic and Green, Routledge 2012), ‘Advancing Practice in Academic Development’ (Baume and Popovic, Routledge, 2016), ‘Learning from Academic Conferences’ (Popovic, Brill, 2018) and ‘Centre Reviews: Strategies for Success (Elis, Chu, Popovic, Rolheiser, Sheffield, Wolf and Wright, EDC, 2018).

Keynote
How Universities can support Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) work as a form of educational research.

Dr. Celia Popovic will be sharing the experience at York University of the investment of $4.5m in teaching innovation grants since 2010. While we don’t all have access to large funds for work of this kind, we can all share in the output of projects. Popovic will be highlighting some of the many innovations that have been implemented, the successes as well as the challenges. She will also explore the lessons learnt from conducting a university wide project of this kind.

Schedule & Location
Keynote: 10:00am - 12:00pm, TSC 2.02
Lunch for Participants: 12:00pm - 1:00pm, TSC 2.02
Workshop: 1:00pm - 2:30pm, TSC 2.02

Dr. Robert Nelson

Visiting January 31, 2019

Robert Nelson Robert L. Nelson is Head of the Department of History at the University of Windsor. While a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia he participated in one of the earliest iterations of Harry Hubball’s now universally acclaimed Certificate in Curriculum and Teaching in Higher Education, in 2003/4. Since arriving at Windsor, Nelson has published on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and has received first the Faculty’s Kathleen E. McCrone Teaching Award in 2010, and then the University’s highest teaching honour in 2014, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching. Nelson has published widely in Modern German History and the History of Colonialism, and in addition to the Killam Trust, has won fellowships from the Humboldt Foundation, and was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. He has also been awarded the University of Windsor’s highest honour in research, the UWindsor Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity.

Keynote
Dr. Nelson’s keynote will introduce his course design that brings History on the Web. This is a highly interactive course that has produced both scholarship for myself, as well as having been an incubator for many teaching projects in the digital humanities, such as a major Wikipedia project and digital exhibitions of online walking tours of Windsor. I’ve never had students indicate to me that they’ve gotten so much out of a course as this.

Schedule & Location
Keynote: 1:00pm - 3:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)

Dr. Erika Kustra

Visiting February 28, 2019

Dr. Erika Kustra joined the University of Windsor as the Director of Teaching and Learning Development, Centre for Teaching and Learning in 2008. She is the Chair of the Canadian Educational Developers Caucus (EDC), on the Board for the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education's (STLHE), and has been in educational development for over 20 years, beginning part-time in 1997, full-time in 1999. Erika completed her post-doctoral work in physiological psychology at McMaster University, and was an educational developer in the Centre for Leadership in Learning there for ten years. She has taught university-level small and large classes with undergraduates, graduates and faculty using a variety of active learning methods including discussions, inquiry and problem-based learning, labs, and demonstrations. She co-authored guides on Leading Effective Discussions, Learning Outcomes Assessment and Educational Developer’s Portfolio; and publishes on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, educational development, and teaching culture. She is leading a multi-institutional SSHRC grant exploring teaching culture. Erika was part of a collaborative team that won the Alan Blizzard Teaching Award, and has received the Leadership Award at the University of Windsor.

Sessions
What Counts? Documenting Teaching through a Teaching Dossier
There is growing interest in documenting and evaluating teaching. A teaching dossier allows teachers to succinctly describe their beliefs, activities, and accomplishments as university educators, using information from multiple sources. In this interactive session, participants will explore the primary components of a teaching dossier, examples of evidence to include, and ways to share their narrative.

How can you Document Research into Teaching and Learning for Permanence/Tenure and Promotion?
Research into teaching and learning, or the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is one approach to systematically studying and understanding teaching and learning. Scholarly and evidence-based teaching depend on the availability of research into teaching and learning in higher education. Participants will explore how to document different forms of knowledge mobilization for permanence/tenure and promotion.

Schedule & Location
Session 1: 10:30am - 12:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)
Lunch for Participants: 12:00pm - 1:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)
Session 2: 1:00pm - 2:00pm, CTL Design Studio (BL)

Dr. Alison Flynn

Visiting March 1, 2019

Alison Flynn is a bilingual Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Ottawa. She was recently accepted into the 3M National Teaching Fellowship, Canada’s highest recognition for excellence in education at the post-secondary level. Her work includes developing open-access online learning tools and flipped course structures to support student learning, especially in high enrolment classes. Her research group studies student learning in organic chemistry (FlynnResearchGroup.com). As a uOttawa Chair in University Teaching, she is developing and evaluating new Self-Regulated Learning and Growth Mindset initiatives for students. At the provincial level, she is a Director on eCampusOntario’s Board; this organization brings together all the provinces universities and colleges to foster technology-enabled innovation, research, and excellence on behalf of students. At the National level, she is helping to build Canada’s strength in Chemistry Education Research (ChemEdCanada.com), and is the Canadian Society for Chemistry’s Director of Accreditation. She is also part of an IUPAC-funded international team that is exploring learning outcomes focused on systems thinking in chemistry. In all her work, she is committed to helping students succeed in their chosen careers and goals.

Keynote
Growth & Goals Module: helping students improve lifelong learning skills
For today’s post-secondary students, success requires that students monitor their learning, develop autonomy, and acquire professional capacity. However, few courses currently address these skills explicitly. As educators, we have an opportunity to adapt our practices to help our students succeed in this new culture. Toward that opportunity, we developed a Growth & Goals Module, an open education resource (OER). The module is integrated with a given course and can be readily modified to suit a variety of contexts. Join us for a presentation about the module and the findings of our study on its effectiveness. We will describe the module’s intended learning outcomes, use, and key features. We will also share the evaluation findings from our pilot project in five different courses. Each attendee can take an electronic (editable!) copy of the module with them, which is also available on our website: FlynnResearchGroup.com/Chair.

Workshop
During this workshop, participants will work through parts of the Growth & Goals Module’s key learning outcomes from a learner’s perspective then identify areas to adapt the module to their own course or setting.

Joining Alison is Emily O'Connor and Kevin Roy

Emily O'Connor is a professional engineer and a 3^rd year honours B.Sc. Psychology student at the University of Ottawa. She is part of the development and evaluation teams of the Self-Regulated Learning and Growth Mindset project and acts as project manager for the team. She is particularly thinking about how we improve the content and the usability of the module through feedback from both students and instructors. She is looking at data collected from the pilot implementation of the project to evaluate the efficacy of the module. She also tests and completes initial evaluations of potential new platforms for the module and is supporting adopters of the module through implementation in their classes.

Kevin Roy is a 4^th year B.Sc. student in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Ottawa. He is heavily involved in student leadership at uOttawa, particularly in the sciences. He was elected by his peers as an executive member of the Science Students’ Association in 2016. In the SRL and Growth Mindset project, he is part of the development and evaluation teams. He focuses particularly on analyzing students' responses to understand how the module might better support and equip students as they head toward their chosen careers. He acts as a student champion for the project by presenting to students across campus the value and importance of the SRL module.