The TLC program: enhancing teaching and empowering educators

Nicolas Tamayo — Tue, 06 May 2025 14:39:31 +0000

Offered by The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, the TLC program is grounded in five essential teaching roles: curricular designer, communicator, student advocate, assessor, and lifelong learner. These roles, informed by literature and best practices from other North American institutions, reflect the diverse responsibilities faculty take on in higher education.

The TLC helps participants:

Increase competency in teaching and learning.
Gain deeper understanding of evidence-based pedagogy.
Understand the diverse needs of students.
Earn a formal certificate recognizing their growth and development as educators.

As a reminder, all pre- and tenured faculty, instructors, sessional instructors, librarians and post-doctoral fellows can partake in the TLC’s mini-institutes and workshops, without being registered in the TLC program. Past attendance at workshops may also count toward certificate requirements for those who decide to enroll later. Our upcoming events for the TLC program include:

TLC Mini-Institute (Day 1) – Designing and Evaluating Assessment Strategies

This workshop will provide instructors with opportunities to design assessment strategies to support student learning. You will design formative and summative assessments and learn strategies for providing constructive feedback on students’ work. You will also have opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of different assessment tools, such as holistic and analytic rubrics. Please have at hand a current course syllabus with learning objectives.

Register for the TLC Mini-Institute – Designing and Evaluating Assessment Strategies on Monday, May 12, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

TLC Mini-Institute (Day 2) – Strategies for Maintaining a Respectful Classroom Environment

As instructors, you may have experienced behaviour by your students that you felt was

disrespectful, rude, or disruptive. These can be challenging situations to deal with. This interactive workshop will focus on teaching strategies that foster and maintain respectful classroom behaviour.

Register for the TLC Mini-Institute – Strategies for Maintaining a Respectful Classroom Environment on Tuesday, May 13, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Please note:

Teaching and Learning Certificate (TLC) program participants are required to sign up for both workshops in the Mini-Institute to fulfill the program requirements.
The TLC Mini-Institute will return on August 18 and 19, 2025.
- Register for the TLC Mini-Institute – Designing and Evaluating Assessment Strategies on Monday, August 18, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- Register for the TLC Mini-Institute – Strategies for Maintaining a Respectful Classroom Environment on Tuesday, August 19, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

TLC Workshops

Select from this listing of workshops listed in date order.

Teaching Dossier (TLCN06)

Increasingly, university promotion and tenure committees are requiring a teaching dossier to document your development and achievements as an educator. This workshop looks at the requirements at the University of Manitoba for teaching dossiers and covers the basics of writing a Teaching Philosophy statement and creating a teaching dossier.

Reflective Practice (TLCN09)

John Dewey observed that, “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” To become a better teacher, it is necessary to reflect on what we do and why we do it – to ask ourselves, is what we do effective? In this workshop we will explore several models of self-reflection, including the Gibbs’ Model, as methods for engaging in a reflective practice. Participants can also share their own successes and struggles as they strive to become a better teacher.

Developing Intercultural Teaching Competence (TLCN05)

Students and instructors bring their own culture into the teaching and learning contexts in which they inhabit. Similarly, every teaching and learning context is informed by and situated in institutional, regional, and national cultures. In this workshop, you’ll explore your own cultural attitudes, knowledge, and skills, and those of your learners and the environments you all find yourselves in. Then, you’ll apply this to your own teaching practices through elements of course design.

Navigating Challenging Student Situations (TLCN03)

As instructors, you may have experienced behaviour by your students that you felt was disrespectful, rude, or disruptive. These can be challenging situations to deal with. Staff from Student Advocacy and Case Management and the Office of Human Rights and Conflict Management will provide an overview of pertinent University policies and procedures to help you understand your rights and responsibilities as an instructor. This interactive workshop will provide you with strategies and tips for preventing and responding to these behaviours.

Universal Design for Learning (TLCN01)

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an orientation to teaching and learning that promotes greater student choice and agency in learning experiences, with the aim of reducing barriers to learning by providing multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression. In this workshop, participants will explore how UDL values intersect with their own teaching philosophies, identify barriers to learning for students with a range of needs, and (re)design course elements to adopt UDL guidelines in a way that is practical for instructors yet beneficial to learners.

Self-Evaluation of Teaching Practice (TLCN10)

Feedback and evaluation of teaching are part of every teacher’s life. How do you make sense of the evaluative feedback you receive from SRI scores, daily classroom experiences, and student grades? This foundational workshop examines the theory and practice of evaluation and suggests practical strategies for integrating effective evaluative practices into your teaching. Please note that this workshop does not cover the design and creation of student assessments.

Mental Health in the Classroom: Responding to Students Demonstrating Mental Health Distress (TLCN07)

Young adults are highly susceptible to mental health problems. We know that most instructors encounter many students who are struggling with mental health issues that affect their academic performance, behaviour in the classroom, and interactions with teaching staff. Research also indicates that the incident rate and intensity of mental health problems experienced by students is increasing. These situations can be stressful, time-consuming, and potentially can involve risks to personal safety for the students and others. David Ness, the Director of the Student Counselling Centre at the University of Manitoba, will provide you with information about how to identify and respond effectively to student mental health issues, how to understand the factors that contribute to student distress, and how to access resources. This interactive workshop will involve case study material to apply your knowledge of risk assessment, response alternatives, and on- and off-campus resources.

Register for Mental Health in the Classroom: Responding to Students Demonstrating Mental Health Distress (TLCN07) on Wednesday, May 21, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Academic Integrity Teaching and Learning Strategies (TLCN04)

Do you want to promote academic integrity in your course, but you don’t know how to do this? In this workshop, we will discuss the meaning of academic integrity at the University of Manitoba, and how it relates to your teaching and learning environment (whether that be face-to-face, remote/online). We will discuss ways to implement teaching and assessment strategies that promote integrity that will allow you to focus on students’ learning and community building.

Resources for academic integrity education (e.g., syllabus statements, learning activities) that you can modify and incorporate into your courses will be shared.

Teaching and Technology (TLCN02)

In this workshop, we will explore a framework for using technology in teaching and learning. Rather than a technology ‘how-to’ session, the focus will be on providing a method for evaluating technology that supports the goals of teaching and learning. We will also discuss the benefits and challenges of using technology in the classroom.

Indigenous Knowledges (TLCN08)

This workshop introduces participants to Indigenous pedagogies by contextualizing Indigenous knowledges, discussing the importance of making space for Indigenous content and knowledge transmission in the academy, and providing participants with resources about the pedagogical significance of Indigenous knowledges.

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning will also be offering workshops TLCN01 through TLCN10 again in December, this time in an online format via Zoom.

Whether you’re just beginning your teaching career or looking to expand your toolkit, the Teaching and Learning Certificate provides the support, community, and practical knowledge needed to thrive as an educator at the University of Manitoba.

Improve your student conversations skills using virtual reality

Elizabeth Young — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:27:55 +0000

A new training series is combining new technology with verbal communication training to help faculty members and sessional instructors have better conversations with students.

The series, designed by Dr. Brenda M. Stoesz, Research Lead – Science of Teaching and Learning, at The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, begins Tuesday, October 29, 2024, with the Effective communication: How to have better conversations with your students workshop.

The Centre’s Evaluation Developer, James Plohman, led the development of the first installment in the program and will be co-facilitating the workshop session component with Evaluation Developer Dr. Ibiyemi Arowolo. Following the workshop, participants of the program will take part in in three immersive VR sessions in private sessions facilitated by undergraduate student research assistants.

The program was developed to support faculty members and sessional instructors looking to improve their communication skills in a variety of situations that may be difficult or high stakes.

“We’ve heard from faculty that they were looking for more information on how to improve their skills to better communicate with students—especially in situations that may be more challenging—and create better outcomes,” says Plohman.

Through a workshop and immersive VR sessions, participants will explore effective communication techniques relevant to various educational contexts and will be able to practice their skills in a judgement-free environment that incorporates role play within virtual reality simulations.

“The use of virtual reality as part of the training provides an environment that allows participants to practice in a semi-realistic way,” says Plohman. “They can do the modules multiple times, trying different approaches to see how it changes the interaction. The overall goal is to help people become more comfortable, confident and effective verbal communicators.”

Anika Budhiraja is a research assistant at The Centre and was involved in the pilot project as a student. She will also be facilitating some of the VR sessions. She says the focus on active listening and clear verbal communication, combined with being able to practice in virtual reality, made it a valuable and engaging experience.

“Going through it myself as a participant, I remember thinking that these are the things you may not think about explicitly—things that you sort of forget,” she says. “The VR practice gives you a safe space to check what you’re doing and practice and get better. It can be hard to pinpoint what might be going wrong. With VR you get that immersive feeling that you’re in that space, you’re communicating, but you’re not being judged.”

Following the training, a reflection workshop will enable participant to share their experiences with others in the program and discuss ways that they will transfer their training to their classroom and meetings with their students.

“We’re very excited to roll this out and hear back from faculty and use that feedback to develop further modules in the future,” says Plohman. Feedback will be used to improve this series and other teaching skills programs from The Centre.

Along with supporting instructors in improving their skills, the program also gives educational and research opportunities to three UM undergraduate students.

The program runs October 29 to December 10, 2024, with an approximate eight-hour time commitment from participants.

UM Todaycommunication skills – UM Today