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The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning June Workshops

Nicolas Tamayo — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:47:15 +0000

Check out the variety of workshops scheduled for June, offered by The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning!

Revitalize Your Teaching: Accessible Learning

This series of four 60-minute sessions aimed at faculty and instructors at all experience levels in Rady Health Sciences. Each session offers practical strategies on a range of topics relevant to teaching, including strategies for assignment design that offer students greater levels of clarity, developing your teaching-centered Personal Reconciliation Action Plan, checking in with accessible learning design, and staying motivated and creative when it comes to including active learning in your lesson planning.

This session will outline the Accessibility for Manitobans Act – Information and Communication Standard. We will review strategies and tools available to align with this legislation.

Experiential Learning Community of Practice Brown Bag Lunch Conversations: Learning from Experiential Learning Challenges

Bring your lunch and connect with other members of our community of practice! There is no formal agenda for these casual meetings just good people and conversation! Everyone is welcome to share their thoughts and experiences as we explore different topics in experiential learning.

Topic: Have you ever introduced an experiential activity in your class that didn’t unfold as expected? Anyone who has engaged in experiential learning knows that setbacks are inevitable. Let’s take this opportunity to reflect on our “flops,” not as failures, but as valuable learning moments—reminding ourselves that not every activity is a triumph, and that’s part of the process.

Revitalize Your Teaching: A Teaching & Learning Reconciliation Action Plan

This session will introduce attendees to strategies required for developing your teaching-centered Personal Reconciliation Action Plan.

Manitoba Open Education Symposium

UM Libraries is working with Campus Manitoba and other Manitoba post-secondary institutions to organize the Manitoba Open Education Symposium — with the theme of Open Horizons: Affordability and Access through Open Education.

We’re inviting faculty, staff and students to join us for engaging discussions on how to build an open and accessible education system that fosters digital innovation, cross-institutional collaboration, and student affordability.

Keynote speakers include Amanda Coolidge, executive director, BCcampus, and Robert Luke, CEO, eCampusOntario. Apurva Ashok, executive director of the Rebus Foundation will be facilitating workshops on “Creating OER with Students” and “DEI in Open Publishing.”

Registration and program details can be found here

Designing Accessible and Engaging Online Courses

In this engaging 3-hour workshop, university faculty and instructors will explore practical aspects of designing online courses. Participants will engage in hands-on activities to develop learner personas, apply constructive alignment, and integrate UDL principles, focusing on decolonizing and accessible design approaches. Guided by real-time facilitation, participants will create course blueprints that align learning outcomes with active learning and assessment strategies. They will be empowered to craft a targeted, interactive, and inclusive course that prioritizes learners’ agency.

This workshop is part of The Centre’s Online Learning Institute. No prerequisite workshops required.

Revitalize Your Teaching: Keeping Active Learning Fresh and Fun

Whether you are flipping a day or two in your upcoming courses, or just looking for new active learning strategies to add to your toolbox, this session on ‘Keeping Active Learning Fresh and Fun’ will help you continue to add to your repertoire of activities and options.

What’s Working, What’s Not?: Shake Hands with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

All instructors identify problems in their courses. Whether students’ struggles to master a key concept or a teaching practice that may not be meeting its purpose, how do we explore “what’s working and what’s not” in our courses? In this workshop we will explore problems that are ripe for investigation and consider how SoTL (the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) practices might help us to systematically evaluate the impact of intervention strategies. To participate fully, please bring a smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Developing Accessible and Engaging Courses in UM Learn

Ready to enhance your online teaching with a course that’s clear, interactive, and accessible? Join us for a hands-on workshop where you’ll learn how to create student-friendly course modules using UM Learn and other UM-supported tools. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refine your approach, this workshop will equip you with practical strategies to develop inclusive and engaging online learning environments.

This workshop is part of The Centre’s Online Learning Institute. No prerequisite workshops required.

Facilitating Online with Confidence and Care

This workshop empowers faculty members to translate and build on their teaching expertise, in the online environment by applying and using inclusive facilitation practices, active learning strategies, accessible technologies, and evidence-based approaches, including decolonial and relational methods to foster meaningful connection, engagement, and equity in digital spaces.

This workshop is part of The Centre’s Online Learning Institute. No prerequisite workshops required.

Universal Design for Learning in Practice: Integrated Accommodations and Incorporating SAS Accommodations to Design Inclusive Classrooms

In an ongoing monthly series, participants will review discreet elements of Universal Design (UDL) for Learning and work together to develop pedagogical practices that align with the UDL principle being discussed that month.

This session will focus on the Integrated Accommodations initiative. This initiative is a collaboration between Student Accessibility Services and The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and is meant to help instructors design SAS accommodations into their courses. Courses with integrated accommodations are registered with SAS, removing the need for further accommodations within that specific course. Attendees will learn about the philosophy and benefits behind this initiative as well as how to take part.

The Future is Open: Director of world’s largest OER publisher to speak at UM

Alyssa Sherlock — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 17:19:38 +0000

This Open Education Week, March 3-7, 2025, the University of Manitoba will be hosting an event featuring keynote speaker Richard Baraniuk, Director of OpenStax, the world’s largest open educational resource (OER) publisher, and professor of computer and electrical engineering at Rice University.

Education: The Future is Open

Friday, March 7, 2025, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Senate Chamber, Room E3-262 EITC
This session will be in-person with a live-stream option.
Details and registration

Richard Baraniuk [BSc (Eng)/87] will share his experience with the Open Education movement, a grassroots movement shared by a wide range of academics, recognizing that:

knowledge should be free and open to use and re-use

collaboration should be easier, not harder

people should receive credit and kudos for contributions to education and research

concepts and ideas are linked in unusual and surprising ways and not the simple linear forms that traditional media present

Baraniuk will speak to this pivotal moment for the OpenEd community to come together as education is reshaped by advances in AI, evolving student needs, and expanding global challenges.

About the presenter

Dr. Richard G. Baraniuk, a graduate of the University of Manitoba, is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University and founder and director of OpenStax (formerly Connexions) as a platform for open knowledge sharing and the world’s largest OER publisher with more than 70 digital textbooks used by 7 million college and high school students this school year. He is also the founder and director of SafeInsights, a large-scale education research hub that will safely connect educational institutions, researchers, and learning platforms. Baraniuk has been active in AI theory research and education applications for 15 years and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors, AAAS, and IEEE. He has received numerous research and education awards, including the IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal, the James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal, and the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education.

This event is supported by the Advance Open Ed project.

At the University of Manitoba, Bisons are at the centre of health care, finance, Reconciliation and so much more. Wherever there’s a challenge, you’ll find UM alumni leading the charge. Explore the Bisons at the Centre campaign and meet the alumni shaping Manitoba and beyond.

Related activities

Check out the previous event in the series: From Access to Justice: Realizing the Transformative Potential of Open Educational Practices, with Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani.

Advance Open Ed provides financial and practical support along with educational opportunities to help the UM community create, adapt, and adopt open educational resources (OER).

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning October Workshops

Nicolas Tamayo — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 17:22:41 +0000

Check out the variety of workshops scheduled for October, offered by The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.

The Experiential Learning Institute: Assessment in Experiential Learning

Date and time: Tuesdays, October 1, October 8 and October 15, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

The Experiential Learning Institute offers faculty and instructors an opportunity to engage deeply with a topic over the course of three weekly sessions. The focus of the Fall 2024 institute is assessment in experiential learning.

Participants must attend all three sessions to receive a certificate of completion. If you are not able to attend all the sessions you may register for individual sessions, but you will not receive a certificate of completion for The Experiential Learning Institute.

Sessions:

Oct 1, 2024: Assessing Experiential Learning (led by Gera Villagran Becerra)
What are effective ways of assessing experiential learning? How does assessment fit in the experiential learning cycle? In this workshop, we’ll explore best practices for assessing experiential learning. Participants will be challenged to take an experiential approach to assessment and reflect on the challenges it involves.
Oct. 8, 2024: Beyond Reflection Papers: Innovative Strategies for Assessing Experiential Learning (led by Meaghan Ewharekuko)
Have you heard about multi-stage assignments, two-stage exams and gamification as strategies to assess experiential learning? In this workshop we will explore novel methods and effective strategies for assessing different types of experiential learning within the classroom and beyond.
Oct. 15, 2024: Assessing 21st Century Competencies (led by Janine Carmichael)
How do you assess 21st century competencies like empathy, active listening, conflict resolution and innovation in experiential learning? In this workshop, we’ll explore strategies to assess these competencies and mitigate potential challenges. We’ll also learn how to use tools like the newly created UM Competencies Framework.

Small Shifts, Significant Gains: Transformative Teaching Strategies Series (Session Two, Three, and Four)

Date and time: Thursday, October 3, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, Thursday, October 10, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, and Monday, October 21, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Looking for ways to revitalize your teaching but don’t have time for a big redesign? In Small Teaching James Lang argues that small changes in classroom techniques and activities can have big impacts on student learning. Drop in to any or all of these brown bag lunchtime chats to hear creative strategies from your faculty colleagues across the university. Bring your questions and your lunch. Leave with ideas you can implement right away in your courses!

Session Two, Lightning Presentations:

Xiaopeng Gao (Department of Soil Science) presents: Enhancing Education Through Hands-on Learning and Real-world Connections
Brandon Trask (Faculty of Law) presents: Building in Relevance: Integrating Aspects of Clinical and Applied Learning in Different Course Types

Session Three, Lightning Presentations:

Jillian Seniuk Cicek and Jeff W. Paul (both from the Price Faculty of Engineering) present: Your Students’ Brains on PowerPoint: How to Leverage Cognitive Science to Use PowerPoint to Teach Instead of Present
David Watt (Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media) presents: Developing Relationships through Assignments and Feedback

Session Four, Lightning Presentations:

Julie Pfeffer (Department of Restorative Dentistry) presents: Self-Directed Student Assessment – How to Maximize the Output/Input Ratio for Your Learners (and for Yourself!)
More to come

Decolonizing Classrooms: Barriers to Decolonizing, Part 2

Date and time: Thursday, October 10, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM

The Decolonizing Classroom series aims to give participants the context and tools necessary to meaningfully engage with decolonizing processes as they relate to education. “Unpacking and Overcoming Barriers to Engagement and Decolonizing Processes” explores the barriers that exist for teachers and students, which prevent them from enacting decolonizing processes in educational contexts. Part two of this workshop series discusses the barriers that prevent teachers from engaging fully in decolonizing classrooms and creates a space for the discussion of strategies for overcoming these barriers.

Open Educational Resources – What, How, Why (Part 2)

Date and time: Thursday, October 17, 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM

The term open educational resources (OER) describes a wide range of materials in teaching and learning that are available for public use with an open license or in the public domain. Examples of OER include full courses, course modules, syllabi, textbooks, lectures, assessments, and datasets. In this workshop, participants will learn why OER are valuable, how to locate them, how to evaluate them using a rubric, and how to adapt and create them. The workshop does not assume prior experience with these topics.

Cultivating Minds, Nurturing Hearts: Fostering Well-Being, Integrity, and Inclusion in Teaching and Learning

Date and time: Tuesday, October 29, 10:00 AM to 11:30 PM

The University of Manitoba (UM) identified well-being as one of five core values in its 2024 -2029 strategic plan to “advance the personal and professional growth and academic success of our community members. Grounded in respect and compassion for each other and our community, we cultivate a supportive environment that embraces the values of mino-pimatisiwin (good life) and mino-ayawin (good health) (University of Manitoba, 2024, p. 4).

This raises important questions for educators: How do we approach teaching with care, compassion, and kindness? How do these pedagogies of care, compassion, and kindness align with other priorities in higher education (e.g., academic integrity, accessibility)?

In this interactive workshop, we will take a holistic approach to understanding pedagogies of well-being and how these pedagogies can be implemented to better support our students’ mental well-being without compromising academic standards.

Experiential Learning Community of Practice Monthly Meeting – Partnerships 101

Date and time: Wednesday, October 30, 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

The Experiential Learning Community of Practice brings together faculty and instructors involved in the development and facilitation of experiential learning (EL) across UM.

The EL Community of Practice meets once a month to build relationships and explore topics related to teaching in experiential learning. Each monthly meeting includes opportunities to meet other faculty and instructors, explore best practices and innovations in EL, and participate in group discussions.

At this session, we’ll chat about challenges and best practices for finding industry and community partners for EL. Join us to share your own experience in this area, hear perspectives from colleagues in other faculties and programs, and learn about successful strategies for engaging community and industry partners in your courses.

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning June Workshops

Nicolas Tamayo — Thu, 30 May 2024 14:50:25 +0000

Panorama – Improving Digital Accessibility

Date and time: Thursday, June 13, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Create pages in UM Learn from HTML templates, discover best practices in managing files, and understand your legal responsibility in creating accessible content. Explore various media objects that can be created for your courses in collaboration with the Centre’s Media team.

Open Educational Resources – What, How, Why (Part 1)

Date and time: Tuesday, June 18, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Best Practices in Providing High Stakes Feedback in Clinical Instruction

Date and time: Thursday, June 20, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

This workshop is offered to all educators in Health Sciences who teaches in classroom, lab, and clinical settings. The purpose of this workshop is to inform about the best practices in giving high stakes feedback in their classroom, lab, and clinical instruction.

The Flipped Classroom

Date and time: Tuesday, June 25, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Interested in more knowledge application and problem-solving activities in your classroom? Looking to add more active learning to a traditional lecture course? Come to this workshop and learn the basics of a flipped classroom that will enable you to flip a lesson or two in an upcoming course.

SoTL Ethics

Date and time: Tuesday, June 25, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Research with human participants requires approval from the UM Research Ethics Board to ensure the safety and well-being of all participants. This is true of all research with human participants, but SoTL projects often have unique characteristics that warrant extra consideration when preparing an ethics application. For example, how do you ensure that students do not feel coerced to give consent when the instructor of their course is also the lead researcher? In this workshop, we will provide possible solutions for this and other research design elements that require careful consideration of ethical practices when designing your SoTL study. We will also review the Research Ethics application process at the University of Manitoba, and attendees will be given the opportunity to begin to draft their ethics application. This workshop will be interactive and collaborative. To get the most of this workshop, please bring a laptop or device to the workshop.

Reflections of amiskwaciy: Indigenous protocols in open education

Betty Dearth — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 14:10:32 +0000

This Open Education Week, March 4-8, 2024, the University of Manitoba will be hosting an event featuring keynote speaker Kayla Lar-Son, Acting Head of the Xwi7xwa at the University of British Columbia.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 12 noon to 2:30 p.m.
Room 108, St John’s College, University of Manitoba
Details and registration
Pizza and coffee will be provided for registrants.
To attend in person, click the blue Begin Registration button in this link. Register by Zoom to attend virtually.

Kayla, joining us via Zoom, will share Reflections of amiskwaciy: Indigenous protocols in open education, followed by an in-person panel of open educational resource (OER) users from the University of Manitoba who will discuss their experiences with OER.

Kayla Lar-Son is a member of the Metis Nation of Alberta, with Ukrainian heritage, and is originally from Tofield Alberta. She holds a BA in Native Studies from the University of Alberta and an MLIS from the University of Alberta. She is the current Acting Head of the Xwi7xwa at the University of British Columbia.

The panel of UM OER users:

Julie Doner, Linguistics
Xinli Wang, Mathematics
Charlotte Moore, Education

Facilitator: Dr. Mark Meagher, Architecture

6 R’s of Indigenous OER

6 R’s of Indigenous OER provides an Indigenous-focused framework for incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into openly-licensed teaching and learning materials. The “R’s” are influenced by the FAIR/CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Sovereignty, OCAP, and were originally adapted from the 4 R’s of First Nations and Higher Education and the UBC Longhouse Teachings. This talk discusses new developments in the 6 R’s based on the presenter’s own

This event is sponsored by the Advance Open Ed project.

Related activities

Check out the previous event in the series: From Access to Justice: Realizing the Transformative Potential of Open Educational Practices, with Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani.
Advance Open Ed provides financial and practical support along with educational opportunities to help the UM community create, adapt, and adopt open educational resources (OER). Apply today!