Connect, Create, and Collaborate: Teaching & Learning Conference goes virtual | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by the Teaching & Learning Centre

in the September 2020 issue

To kick off the new school year, the Teaching & Learning Centre held their Teaching & Learning Summer Conference on August 27 and 28. This was their first conference offered virtually. The conference was well attended and featured Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Calgary, who delivered the keynote presentation: “A Systems Approach to Student Success: Advocacy, Activism and Engagement.”

Dr. Eaton’s message focused on understanding what a systems approach to student success means, how advocacy and activism can promote student learning and success, and how each of us can make a difference through our own commitments to student learning.

Dr. Eaton walked us through an approach to solving the complex issue of academic integrity by using the 4M Framework (mega, macro, meso, and micro), detailing the process and initiatives undertook by individuals and the community as a whole. If you missed it, you can watch the recorded presentation here:

The two-day conference provided faculty with micro-teaching sessions. Micro-teaching allows faculty to prepare micro-lessons and deliver their lessons in front of their peers to get constructive feedback. This year, the focus of the conference was on formative assessment strategies.

Faculty were put into micro-teaching groups with a Teaching & Learning Centre facilitator, where they had the opportunity to present 15-minute lessons on pre-assigned topics to each other and receive feedback on their teaching and assessment strategy.

Also on Day 1, participants could choose two of the five workshops offered which included Communication and Collaboration in Your Course, Creating, Adding & Embedding Content in Blackboard, “Multiple Means” Can = Accessibility, Connecting Research to Practice: A closer look at the Science of Learning, and Best Practices in Online Teaching.

Day 2 of the conference began with “A Focus on Formative Assessment” delivered by Linda Facchini and Karen Spiers from the Teaching and Learning Centre. Their presentation focused on defining assessment with a specific focus on the strategies and benefits of formative assessment. Participants were led through a variety of interactive online activities including the opportunity to work collaboratively to convert examples of face-to-face formative assessments to an online synchronous or asynchronous delivery.

Faculty were then given time to plan and prepare a new 15-minute lesson on a topic in their area of expertise. They incorporated the feedback they received and the information they learned in the workshops they attended on Day 1 of the conference. The micro-teaching final presentations took place later in the afternoon where faculty presented and received feedback about their new lesson and assessment strategy.

Thirty-four faculty participated in the micro-teaching sessions on both days of the conference. Here is what some had to say about their experience:

• “I’d like to compliment the T&L team for a fabulously well-managed two days. I liked trying new teaching tools, and [receiving] the feedback for the micro-teaching sessions.”
• “The best takeaway from the conference was learning new formative assessment strategies and then getting to practice those strategies.”
• “The best part of the conference was learning about engagement tools and formative assessments that I can use in the virtual classroom.”
• “I enjoyed learning about the micro, meso, and macro levels of Dr. Eaton’s work.”

Save the date: our next Teaching & Learning Day will be on Monday, October 26, 2020 (during Study Week). The focus of this virtual conference will be on Assessment Strategies. We look forward to seeing you there!

You can watch all the recorded presentations from past Teaching & Learning Centre events on the Keynote Presentations page of the Teaching & Learning Centre website.

^{Icon credit: "Writing" by Creative Stall from the Noun Project}

View the September 2020 issue of the Academic Newsletter.