Teaching & Learning Day Spring 2026 Recap | The Teaching & Learning Centre

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by Naomi Go, Associate Manager, eLearning in the Teaching & Learning Centre

On Tuesday, April 28th, the CITE building at Newnham Campus was abuzz with activity as faculty participated in Teaching & Learning Day Spring 2026. The conference theme was “Create, Challenge, Connect,” and attendees had many opportunities to realize the theme’s 3 C’s, as the event offered three workshop blocks, a keynote speaker, a Curriculum Integration design thinking activity, and, of course, prizes for some lucky few.

The morning kicked off with opening remarks from Michelle Hutt, Vice-President Academic, and Ivy Chiu Loke, Dean, Academic Quality. Attendees were then given an opportunity to reflect on what their goal(s) would be for the day, through a mindfulness exercise led by Cheryl Mitri from Accessible Learning Services. From there, faculty were then led through a design thinking exercise where they brainstormed ideas for a Curriculum Integration (CI) Community of Practice (CoP). At three different stations, based on their familiarity with Curriculum Integration, faculty were able to connect and ideate around what they wanted out of a CI CoP. This activity was followed by two morning workshop blocks. Attendees could choose from workshops that featured everything from learning about rainwater projects in Tanzania to Gen Ed primary research projects to CI classroom strategies.

In the afternoon, the main event was our keynote speaker, Dr. Mayu Nishimura, an associate professor at McMaster University, in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour. During her talk, Dr. Nishimura shared developmental research to support strategies on how to build trust between faculty and students. As an extension of building trust, she also presented ideas on encouraging resilience in learning, in order for deeper understanding to take place. Throughout her keynote, Dr. Nishimura presented research to show the work that has been done in support of these strategies.

We were lucky to be able to extend the conversation stemming from Dr. Nishimura’s keynote, as she graciously joined us for a lively fireside chat, moderated by Laura Page. Running in parallel to the fireside chat was the afternoon workshop block, which also offered attendees a diverse set of engaging topics around which faculty could challenge themselves.

To continue the conversations and ideas shared throughout the day, conference resources are available on the event website.

Thank you to the Teaching & Learning Day Spring 2026 planning team and all of our event partners: Seneca Events; Facilities; AV; ITS; and Catering, for helping to make the day run smoothly. Please join us for our next Teaching & Learning Day conference, which will be held during the fall 2026 semester.

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