4. Committing to teaching excellence | Plans and reports | Seneca Polytechnic

Principles and goals

4. Committing to teaching excellence

Each faculty member brings unique experiences to Seneca. We support that talent and expertise by fostering teaching and learning of the highest quality across the College, offering resources for faculty to be effective and innovative, and encouraging reflective practice. In addition to having passion for their field and teaching, all Seneca faculty recognize first and foremost that teaching is a human endeavor. In their critical role of leading and guiding learning, they are empathetic, creative and committed to student success.

Connecting with students as active partners in learning, Seneca faculty demonstrate a keen interest in their students and seek to develop their discipline expertise and model core literacies. They recognize the importance of connecting students to each other and to relevant content in a global context to encourage relationships that will last through their time at Seneca and beyond. Faculty also understand the need to employ appropriate technology in their teaching activities, engaging students as active learners.

In addition to having appropriate credentials and experience in the field, Seneca faculty are committed to refining their teaching practice through reflection, formative self-evaluation and formal and informal development.

Faculty will employ a variety of teaching methods, grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning, to inspire their students. They will select learning activities that are authentic and engaging as they challenge students to achieve a high standard of learning. Working collaboratively and building networks around teaching and learning faculty will continually explore, integrate and evaluate teaching strategies as they ask themselves: “How am I inspiring learning” and “How do I know?”

Goals related to this principle:

At the end of five years:

1. We will have implemented new policies and standards of practice for Seneca faculty.
2. Through an ongoing commitment to teaching excellence and reflective practice, faculty will demonstrate they meet the Seneca standards of practice.
3. Faculty will model digital literacy through use of a variety of media and/or mobile technologies to engage students as partners in learning.