The 2022 CTLT Spring Institute will take place online from May 30 – June 3, 2022. This year’s theme, Embracing Creativity and Risk Taking in the New Normal, is defined by the UBC Strategic Plan, Shaping UBC’s Next Century, “in a world characterized by complex societal challenges and heightened public expectations, broad-based innovation is imperative,” (p. 32)
“We define sustainability as simultaneous improvements in human and environmental wellbeing.” – UBC Strategic Plan, Shaping UBC’s Next Century (p. 39).
Session materials and relevant resources will be curated on the UBC Wiki to support your ongoing learning.
Please see below for a detailed schedule and to register for sessions.
Schedule of Events (PDF)
An Introduction to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
May 30, 2022 | 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | Zoom
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) uses systematic inquiry into student learning with the goal of advancing the practice of teaching by making inquiry findings public (Hutchings, & Shulman, 1999). During this session, we will break down the definition of SoTL, explain the value of inquiry for determining the impact of teaching practices on student learning, and how to start the journey of becoming a SoTL practitioner.
This workshop will offer attendees a chance to develop a deeper understanding of SoTL and learn how to overcome some of the most common challenges for initiating a SoTL project in the classroom.
Education for Sustainability: Integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership
May 30, 2022 | 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | Zoom
In this session, we will explore ESD for 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (or UNSDGs) frameworks and connections to post-secondary teaching and learning. The UN SDGs framework is meant to provide a universal roadmap to end poverty and engage nations across the globe on common global issues. Participants will explore the UN SDG framework and its implications for their teaching and learning goals. The presenters will share how they are integrating the UN SDGs in their practice and give examples of successful approaches and models in different contexts. This session will reflect on the learning process and the role of education in advancing the UN SDG global goals; highlighting some of the challenges and opportunities in cultivating SDG-related competencies.
Talking is Encouraged During Exams: The Formative Use of Summative Exams
May 30, 2022 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Zoom
Even exams can involve collaboration! In this participatory session, we will discuss how to effectively incorporate group discussion in exams. This workshop will start with a brief explanation of the concept of group exams, then describe the benefits of using group exams in your classroom by sharing examples of how they have been used with success, and conclude with the chance to discuss how group exams may be possible in your classroom!
Public Scholarship and Applied Research in Graduate Seminars: An Example from HIST 595B, Public History
May 30, 2022 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Zoom
This panel will bring together a UBC faculty member, graduate student, and staff member, to discuss an applied research project that took place in a graduate-level seminar in Fall 2021. Applied research is one of the nine types of work-integrated learning recognized by CEWIL Canada; students participating in applied research projects solve workplace problems in partnership with community organizations or industry. Solutions to these problems are typically generated through consulting, design, community-based research, or some combination of all three.
Applied research is common in business, computer science, and planning, but less often implemented in Arts disciplines‚ especially at the graduate level. Yet students in coursework-based MA programs have requested that public scholarship and work experiences be integrated into their classes, as, with heavy course loads and familial commitments, they don’t usually have the time to dedicate to such activities outside of their courses.
This panel will focus on Dr. Richard Menkis’ Fall 2021 Public History seminar as an example of a well-executed applied research project.
The Surprising Impact of Hands: Using the LFS Popup Studio to Enhance Online Lectures
May 30, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. | Zoom
Online teaching might be here to stay, but pedagogy can be affected when the online instructor’s presence is not ideal. The narrow window of Zoom cameras can prevent the use of hand gestures that are common in in-person teaching. To eliminate this, Professor Carol Mc Ausland approached the Land and Food Systems (LFS) Learning Centre to try and teach in a weather forecaster setup, allowing her to annotate and point to her graphs and slides with her hands.
The pop-studio, set up with an ATEM Mini Pro and studio gear, enables instructors to deliver their online lectures with minimal technical assistance required. The low cost and ease of setup can allow such studios to be set up in every building to provide a space for online teaching for instructors.
Let’s Talk About Academic Integrity: How, What, and When to Incorporate Academic Integrity into Your Course
May 30, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Zoom
Academic integrity is a commitment to upholding the UBC values of respect, integrity, and accountability in all academic endeavours. Academic integrity is important for activities that produce new knowledge through scholarly activities, including creative pursuits, writing, and speaking. It is also important for activities that have students demonstrate their learning through assessments and assignments. Instructors have a responsibility to work together with students and staff to promote a culture of academic integrity. This starts in the classroom, through explicitly teaching the standards of academic integrity in their discipline, and including information about academic integrity in course syllabi and coursework.
In this panel discussion, educators will share how they bring academic integrity discussion into their classes. Panelists will be from multiple disciplines and teach writing-focused and test-focused courses. Attendees will learn about UBC’s resources for teaching academic integrity and supporting students, including the new website https://academicintegrity.ubc.ca
This is a companion session to Academic Integrity & EDI: Rethinking Pedagogy and Practices for Inclusivity and Accessibility‚ though registration in both is not required.
Student Experience of Instruction: Interpreting Statistics in Instructor Reports
May 30, 2022 | 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. | Zoom
Student Experience of Instruction (SEI) quantitative data consists of responses on a Likert-type scale (most commonly a 5- or 7-point scale). For many years, the mean (average) and standard deviation were used to summarize and present quantitative data in instructor reports. However, more recently, UBC began using different metrics to report SEI survey results. The reported metrics include: the interpolated median, percent favourable and measure of dispersion suitable for ordinal data. This session will introduce the new SEI metrics. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss, in small groups, how to interpret the summary stats in instructor reports.
Embracing Renewal: Building Foundational Research Skills Across Disciplines
May 31, 2022 | 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. | Zoom
UBC Library across both campuses has been identifying ways to better support transformational library learning and experiences. Specifically, the Library was working on an ALT-funded project that focused on supporting and offering multiple options for students to learn about the cross-disciplinary, transferable skills and critical engagement of a foundational information literacy skill set.
Can I Submit That? Using Student Assessment to Challenge Power Structures in Our Learning Environments
May 31, 2022 | 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | Zoom
Why do educators assess? To whom are our students demonstrating their achievement of the course learning objectives? While assessment directly influences what students will do to learn, students often have no role other than to subject themselves to the act of assessment, to be measured and classified (Bain, 2010; Boud and Falchikov, 2007).
This interactive workshop will invite you to engage in critical reflection and reflexivity to explore how choices in student assessment can challenge marginalizing power structures. We will share our own work in redesigning a traditional summative assessment to centre student partnership and agency. We ask that you bring with you an assessment that you would like to re-design.
Academic Integrity & EDI: Rethinking Pedagogy and Practices for Inclusivity and Accessibility
May 31, 2022 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Zoom
During our time together, we’ll share relevant research findings and resources, unpack some of the dominant assumptions about academic misconduct, and consider ways that we, as educators, can adopt an accessible and inclusive pedagogy of integrity in our courses that supports all in doing their work with integrity. What are the ways that policies and pedagogy may increase barriers for students, or perpetuate damaging assumptions? How do we construct an EDI-informed framework for academic integrity in courses?
In this one-hour workshop, participants will reflect on disciplinary and classroom practices, respond to findings, share questions, and generate ideas to take back into their own teaching and departments to foster a culture of integrity (Bretag 2011) that is accessible and supportive.
This is a proposed as a companion session to Let’s Talk About Academic Integrity: How, What, and When to Incorporate Academic Integrity Into Your Course, though registration in both is not required.
Embracing Emotion and Emotive Writing in the UBC Classroom: Benefits, Risks, and the Ways Forward
May 31, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Zoom
During the pandemic, increased funding has been allocated and myriad initiatives spawned to improve the health and wellbeing of faculty and students alike. In the classroom, for example, we have observed a trend towards flexibility, accommodation and other general strategies. There has, however, been little work accomplished on how we might center emotion itself in our diverse classrooms and through our distinct field/disciplines to address students’ emotional wellbeing.
Although more accepted today, emotion in the classroom is still frequently stigmatized as contrary to principles of ‘objectivity’ and ’neutrality’ and its evocation in classrooms is seen as risky. While acknowledging risks, we and others argue that emotive expression is vital to upending inequitable academic conventions that benefit some groups, and disadvantage others as well as to reorienting our disciplines/fields away from their troubled origins to create more just and inclusive fields of study. Most importantly, we believe classroom emotionality interventions hold the potential to ameliorate students’ emotional wellbeing.
In this session, we will share research findings on this topic before facilitating an interactive discussion on emotion and emotive writing interventions in our diverse classrooms and fields.
Integrating Sustainability and Climate Change Content in your Course
May 31, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Zoom
Are you interested in exploring how to connect your teaching with sustainability and/or climate change? Not sure where to start or how to approach it? Join the Sustainability Hub for a conversation with faculty members from a variety of fields including Sociology, Education, Applied Science, and Forestry, who are on the journey of integrating sustainability and climate education into their teaching. We will discuss why sustainability and climate change education are crucial in higher education and will share our work, how we’ve set goals, made content connections, and how we approached the design of our courses and programs. We will also highlight some key resources and support for this work on campus.
Our projects range from the integration of new modules into an existing course to the design of an entirely new program, and incorporate principles of interdisciplinary, experiential, and applied education. We are excited to learn about what your goals are and hope we can help and inspire you to take your next steps in bringing your perspective on sustainability to your students.
The Livestream Lightboard and the Organic Building of Learning Communities
June 1, 2022 | 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. | Zoom
Online classrooms and e-learning have become more the norm for teaching and learning, and Dr. Matt Yedlin, a UBC ECE professor in partnership with his TA, Samuel Ng and Andrew Wang, Media Specialist from UBC Studios, looked at ways to see how different technological tools can be used to counteract the phenomenon of dropping engagement that can inhibit the student learning experience in the virtual classroom.
To address this challenge, the technical team at UBC Studios partnered with Dr. Yedin and his teaching team to create a live Zoom feed, a confidence monitor, and a system to notify Dr. Yedlin of any student questions. During the course, Dr. Yedlin saw a positive change in the level of student engagement.
In this session, we will share how the livestream lightboard was set up, how Dr. Yedin used it in the virtual classroom, and how students engaged with the livestreams. We will then investigate how the engagement in the livestream setting shaped and impacted the live classroom environment when classes transitioned back to the face-to-face format.
Implementing Alternative Grading Practices
June 1, 2022 | 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | Zoom
Alternatives to traditional grading include systems like standards or competency-based grading, specifications-based grading, and even ungrading. Ungrading specifically de-emphasizes grades, and focuses on feedback to support student growth. It has been shown to allow students to be more deeply engaged in the learning process, to take more risks, and decrease the fear and anxiety that is brought on by traditional grading practices (Schinske & Tanner, 2017). Ungrading also highlights how grades reinforce bias against marginalized students (Stommel, 2021).
The goal of this session is to examine different forms of alternative grading practices that inform formative and summative assessments, which in turn impact students’ motivation, self-efficacy and course success.
SPPH410 – An Example from the Frontier of Public Health Education
June 1, 2022 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Zoom
There are challenges in efficiently delivering an engaging inter-professional authentic learning experience for a large diverse group. SPPH410 (Improving Public Health: An Inter-professional Approach to Designing and Implementing Effective Interventions) provides a successful example. Initial experience with this annual course was reported in a 2016 international conference and subsequent 2017 international journal publication. This workshop describes more recent experience and provides sample material handouts, inviting discussion regarding how SPPH410 overcomes those challenges.
The Return to Campus and Accessibility: Perspectives of Disabled Instructors
June 1, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. | Zoom
This workshop follows up on our previous workshop “What Would an Accessible University Look Like? Perspectives of Disabled Instructors at UBC” and invites three disabled instructors at UBC and other postsecondary institutions to share their experience and perspectives on the “return to campus” that occurred in the spring of 2022.
What does the “return” mean to disabled instructors? What are some challenges? What support is needed to make the transition and future teaching more accessible? This workshop is offered primarily for disabled instructors and there will be an opportunity for open discussion and networking. Non-disabled faculty and students are also welcome but with the understanding that the workshop will centre disabled people’s needs and experiences.
Preparing Students to Write: Using Team-Based Learning to Boost Student Confidence
June 1, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Zoom
This interactive workshop will introduce instructors to team-based learning (TBL)‚ an approach that uses a flipped classroom and collaborative, active learning activities to foster student engagement and learning; and strategies where instructors can use TBL to prepare students for writing assignments.
While TBL is commonly used in STEM courses, it is less commonly used in writing courses or in lessons that focus on writing. However, TBL is also ideally suited to providing explicit writing instruction that helps build student confidence prior to a writing assignment, like a research paper, proposal, or article/book review.
Engaging Online Learning
June 2, 2022 | 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | Zoom
In this session, we will explore ways of engaging students in online classes using sound pedagogical approaches to guide our use of technologies in the environment of synchronous online classes. Through the session, we will demonstrate the use of a number of online tools, while discussing strategies to help students to remain focused and connected with the material being taught, and the activities they are engaging in.
Confronting Climate Distress: Climate Affect, Anxiety and Action
June 2, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Zoom
This session is meant to offer a thoughtful, interactive, and supportive space for learning, sharing, listening, and expressing theory-to-practice approaches on the intersections of climate change, mental health, and wellbeing. It focuses on tangible and accessible ways to connect educators, researchers, and students with climate justice and trauma-informed coping mechanisms, strategies and pedagogies that support navigating and responding to the complex processes and impacts of climate.
It is important to note that even though an educator, course or content may not directly address climate change, students are regularly living through, and bearing witness to mass climate trauma locally and globally. This means students are often holding forms of climate trauma and anxiety whether we are addressing climate change in our learning spaces or not.
Systematically weaving sustainable and effective threads of integrated climate mental health and wellbeing into our planning and practice through climate justice and trauma-informed lenses can offer powerful support and constructive pathways to action for addressing growing climate and eco anxieties and experiences of climate trauma.
Flexible and Effective Learning Environment Creation Strategies in a Concurrent Hybrid Modality
June 2, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Zoom
In this session, we will share insights of gained knowledge of the pedagogical value of the concurrent hybrid model to create a flexible and effective learning environment for learners. The concurrent hybrid modality was adopted and implemented a few times in a computation course in Forestry.
During the workshop, we will demonstrate how course modules were structured to create an adequate environment to learn collaboratively and engage with course materials in real-time when the teaching team members were present to support on-campus and remote students together.
In-Person Tour of UBC Studios
June 3, 2022 | 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. | In-person
Learn what UBC Studios is all about at our in-person Open House! Our Educational Producer will introduce our professional services including video, animation, graphic design, and 3D scanning, as well as our Do-It-Yourself support services including workshops and DIY video and audio studios–the Lightboard, One Button Studio, and audio recording studio.
UBC Studios is located in room 0110 in the University Services Building, 2329 West Mall, by the corner of West Mall and Agronomy.
Emerging Media Lab Drop-in: Demos, Discussion, and Engagement with Learning Technologies
June 3, 2022 | 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. | In-Person
The Emerging Media Lab (EML) specializes in the development of teaching/learning and research projects that use emerging technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, or machine learning.
UBC faculty members come from a wide range of disciplines and possess varying levels of technical experience and expertise. They collaborate with EML in several ways: as principal investigators and subject-matter experts on projects they initiate, as faculty in residence, or by integrating coursework with EML itself.
In this in-person drop-in session, attendees will join Emerging Media Lab’s faculty and student workers for live demos and Q&A with our project teams. They will also hear from EML staff on the different ways to get involved with EML, what EML can offer UBC faculty for their teaching practice or research. And finally, they will have the opportunity to speak directly with UBC faculty members, hearing first-hand their experience of working with EML.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to watch or try our Fall 2021-Spring 2022 projects, as well as past work. If you’ve never tried virtual reality or augmented reality before, the EML team will walk you through the process, and will demonstrate some of EML’s past projects.
Location: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre Learning Concourse (2nd floor)