Held over a shared lunch and engaging dialogue, the Café featured an interactive, art-based session led by Dr. Bruno de Oliveira Jayme, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and a celebrated arts educator. Rather than simply discussing pedagogical theory, participants experienced it—through creative exercises that brought vulnerability and connection to the forefront. 

The session began with a quiet challenge: staring into a partner’s eyes before drawing their face—without looking at the paper. What followed was a powerful metaphor in motion: overlapping drawings, cutting out shared shapes, and building a balanced sculpture in community with others. As Dr. Jayme guided participants through this artful process, the activity embodied the core of humanizing education—embracing imperfection, fostering trust, and working together to create something meaningful. 

Dr. Juliana Marini Marson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography, shared practical approaches she uses to build building community with her students, like learning their names and integrating personal stories into her lessons. Though not previously familiar with the formal concept of “humanizing education,” Dr. Marson illustrated how small, authentic practices can significantly impact student engagement and belonging. 

Organizers Cintia Costa and Renato Bezerra reflected on the intentional design of the Café, which emphasized meaningful classroom experiences over traditional lecture. “We wanted participants to have time and space to reflect on their own teaching practice,” Costa shared. “And we knew that art could offer a unique way to explore identity and trust in the classroom.” 

Participants left the event not only with fresh insights, but also with a curated list of practical strategies and reflective prompts to take back to their own classrooms. The energy in the room was palpable, with one attendee noting, “This was the best Teaching Café yet—everyone was truly engaged.” 

For Dr. Mirella Veras, the experience was especially meaningful. She reflected, “The Teaching Café created a space of openness and care. Cintia Costa set a welcoming tone, and Dr. Bruno Jayme’s art-based activity became a powerful moment of connection—with ourselves, and each other. It reminded me just how vital it is to build community and humanize our roles as educators, especially in the health sciences, where that approach is often most needed.” She added that this kind of pedagogical dialogue is something she hopes to see more of in her field. 

Special thanks to Dr. Bruno Jayme and Dr. Juliana Marson for generously sharing their time, perspectives, and creative energy. Their contributions helped shape an experience that went beyond teaching techniques—one that invited us to reflect on the relationships, values, and shared humanity at the heart of education. 

Teaching Café 2025 reminded us that meaningful learning begins with trust, curiosity, and the willingness to connect. We look forward to continuing this conversation—and to welcoming you to next year’s Teaching Café. 

TLCN09 Reflective Practice

Date and time: Thursday, December 05, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

John Dewey observed that, “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” In order 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 will also have the opportunity to share their own successes and struggles as they strive to become a better teacher.

Register for the Reflective Practice workshop

TLCN10 Self-Evaluation of Teaching Practice

Date and time: Monday, December 9, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

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 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. 

Register for the Self-Evaluation of Teaching Practice workshop

TLCN02 Teaching and Technology

Date and time: Monday, December 9, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

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.

Register for the Teaching and Technology workshop

TLCN03 Navigating Challenging Student Situations

Date and time: Tuesday, December 10, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

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.

Register for the Navigating Challenging Student Situations workshop

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

Date and time: Tuesday, December 10, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

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 the Mental Health in the Classroom workshop

TLCN08 Indigenous Knowledges for Teaching Higher Education

Date and time: Wednesday, December 11, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

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.

Register for the Indigenous Knowledges for Teaching Higher Education workshop

TLCN01 Universal Design for Learning

Date and time: Wednesday, December 11, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

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.

Register for the Universal Design for Learning workshop

Teaching Through Entrepreneurship

Date and time: Thursday, December 12, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Entrepreneurship is recognized as one of the 12 types of experiential learning at UM. Entrepreneurship is not only the early stage start up of businesses, but the solving of real world problems. In this workshop, participants will learn to create experiences that allow students to learn through entrepreneurship. 

Register for the Teaching Through Entrepreneurship workshop

TLCN04 Academic Integrity Teaching and Learning Strategies

Date and time: Thursday, December 12, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Do you want to promote academic integrity in your course but don’t know how?  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.

Register for the Academic Integrity Teaching and Learning Strategies workshop

TLCN05 Developing Intercultural Teaching Competence

Date and time: Monday, December 16, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Every student and instructor brings 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.

Register for the Developing Intercultural Teaching Competence workshop

TLCN06 Teaching Dossier

Date and time: Monday, December 16, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

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.

Register for the Teaching Dossier workshop

At this year’s Teaching Café, hosted May 1 by The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, four UM panelists presented basic concepts of accessibility, shared thoughtful approaches for the classroom, and encouraged both small, cumulative actions and strategic planning to bring about positive change.   

Removing the burden of proof for everyone’s benefit

Event moderator, The Centre’s Johnathan Bevan, opened the session with a series of broad definitions and invitations to help set a foundation for discussion.

As an Educational Developer specializing in accessible course design, Bevan acknowledged that the topic of accessibility presents a complex narrative, and moving toward accessibility in teaching begins with recognizing that universities are inherently ableist in their design. Institutions have often excluded individuals based on arbitrary barriers such as mobility, sensory impairments, cognitive and psychological diagnostic criteria, and many other categories.

“We want to examine our practices, examine how we are interacting with each other and how to make room for all kinds of people,” he said.

Accessible design benefits both those who identify as disabled and those who do not; for example, a noisy HVAC system in a classroom can negatively affect those who don’t identify as hearing impaired, or some people may be disabled for short periods of time due to illness or injury. Inclusivity, noted Bevan, helps those who don’t know that they might need accommodations to be successful and also those who don’t know how to ask for help.

“Embracing accessible pedagogy means respecting people’s right to exist,” he offered. “When we begin from a place of trust and move to design courses to be inclusive, we remove the burden of proof regarding a disability from the individuals.”

Rethinking classroom practices for a positive impact

Panelist Dr. Stephanie Hladik, Assistant Professor in the Price Faculty of Engineering, has successfully introduced inclusive practices in her teaching. She described how a defining moment came for her last year, on the topic of lecture slides. She had been wrestling with whether to post her slides online for students before or after each lecture, and she had decided on the latter, thinking that would encourage students to attend class.

She changed this practice after a student whose first language was not English let her know (in an anonymous survey) that having the slides ahead of class would help them prepare and allow them to better follow along in class.

“That flipped my thinking,” she says. She then began analyzing her other classroom practices. “It came down to my values. Am I worried about students who are trying to game the system? Is it worth it to stop one student from gaming the system if I now have 10 students who are struggling to keep up in lectures? That reflection has been helpful for me. I would like students to learn what I am teaching, in a way that works for them.”

She has also instituted a “late pass” system where her students can hand in late work five times per term, no questions asked. Students have told her they appreciate the flexibility as they juggle workloads from other courses. And she now also receives much fewer emails from students asking for assignment extensions.

“It’s about making students feel valued and welcome,” she says.

Dialing down the power dynamic

Carolyn Christie is the Director of UM’s Student Accessibility Services (SAS), working to support students identifying as having a disability – who now number 2,700 across UM campuses. SAS looks at all aspects of a student’s university journey, from recruitment, application, access to online and physical spaces, the classroom experience, program requirements, and how they’re progressing – all the way to convocation or whatever their journey’s end might be.

Christie emphasized how important a student’s relationship with an instructor is for their success. “What are we doing in the classroom to engage all students?” she asked. “When students report back to us about how their year went, their relationship with faculty is the main thing, and not so much about this or that door didn’t open.”

She invited instructors to consider the power they have, how students feel when they approach them, and whether that promotes learning. “Students are often extremely scared. We run coaching sessions with students, on how to talk to their instructor if they don’t understand an assignment.” Building positive relationships is key to empowering people to ask for help.

Thinking strategically to make meaningful change

Panelist Dr. Tina Chen serves as UM’s Vice-Provost (Equity), the newly created position to advance the university’s vision and work around all kinds of equity and anti-oppression for students, staff and faculty.

“We are becoming better informed,” she said. “My office helps support people in their understanding of ableism as a system of oppression, to begin to identify actions they can take and then to support collective transformation within units.”

Chen suggested that instructors who are taking steps toward inclusive practices should advocate to have accessibility principles embedded in ongoing department or unit EDI strategic plans, so that ableism is identified as a system of oppression, along with the many other barriers that exist at institutions.

“Get some real commitments in there, because that is the opening for you to be the advocate among your colleagues to think about how you might change practices,” she said.  

Learn more about accessibility

At The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, we will collaborate with you to make your pedagogy more accessible for everyone who comes into your classroom. Whether you need a review of a specific element of your course or a full overhaul, we will be there to help you design for inclusion.

Learn more about accessible course design coaching

Learn more about the Teaching and Learning Certificate Program

The Teaching and Learning Certificate Program has been specifically designed to accommodate the busy schedule of faculty: limited classroom hours, flexible workshop offerings, supportive mentoring and individualized teaching feedback.

Learn more about the Teaching and Learning Certificate Program

Wednesday, May 1, 2024, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (Doors open at 9:30 AM) Room 200 – Education

The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning will celebrate teaching innovation by hosting the annual Teaching Café on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, to be held in room 200 – Education.

The need to implement accessible course design principles increases with each passing year in the academy. Knowing where to start and in what direction to go can seem overwhelming. We invite you to join our panel at this year’s Teaching Café as we dive into accessible practices already being implemented at U of M.

Agenda

9:30 AM: Doors open – Coffee and tea provided 

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Welcoming remarks and introductions

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM: Panel discussion

11:15 AM – 11:45 AM: Questions for the panel

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM: Closing remarks

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch and casual discussion

Panelists

Dr. Tina Chen is the Vice-Provost (Equity) at the University of Manitoba. She previously served as Executive Lead (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) from (2022-2023), Department Head of History (2013-2020), and Acting Director of Asian Studies (2020).

Dr. Chen is also a Distinguished Professor of History.  Her research and teaching focuses on feminism, anti-colonial solidarities, anti-racist activism, and alternative political imaginaries in modern Chinese, Asian and World history.  Dr. Chen is a committed activist and advocate for equity, anti-oppression, and social justice at the University of Manitoba, with local and national community organizations, and within sport organizations.

Carolyn Christie is the Director of Student Accessibility Services.  She has worked in the area of accessibility and student support for over 20 years and has a Master of Education in Post Secondary Studies.  Carolyn is the co-chair of Accessibility and Inclusion for the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services.  

Dr. Stephanie Hladik (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education, Price Faculty of Engineering. She teaches courses about technology & society and engineering communication to engineering undergraduate students. Her research employs qualitative and design-based research to challenge historical and existing inequities in STEM education.

Johnathan Bevan, Johnathan is an Educational Developer with the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. His work focuses on accessibility practices. He supports faculty, staff, and graduate students with workshops and consultations. He is involved in the Teaching and Learning Certificate Program with The Centre as well as other projects as needed, will be moderating the panel.

This event is open to all faculty and instructors at the university. TLC Program participants will be required to attend the event in its entirety to receive credit for the Teaching Café.

The Centre’s Teaching Café is a special in-person event. This year we have an online option, with a livestream of the speakers and moderated Q&A. Please note that networking opportunities will be limited for online attendees. You will be able indicate your mode of attendance on the registration form.

Register for Teaching Café 2024

A safe place to make mistakes

Giving students a safe space to take on real-world challenges is key for Instructor Katherine Isaac in the Faculty of Architecture’s Environmental Design program. In her Professional Practice course, students create a “request for proposal” (RFP) for an architecture project; they then role play and become the client who is receiving the RFP. This self- and peer-evaluation exercise allows learners to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their work “and to have reality-based conversations,” she says.

Instructor Jenna Tichon, whose statistics classes in the Faculty of Science are often large, shared how she has scaled up experiential learning techniques and uses authentic assessment and student self-reflection to help her learners succeed.

“I value that in university and science, people are able to say, ‘I think I’m making a mistake, I did something wrong, there might be an issue here.’” She believes that if that opportunity isn’t built into the learning experience, “the consequences of people not being able to speak up can be incredibly severe.”

Stepping outside one’s comfort zone

Encouraging students to overcome their reticence has been rewarding for Professor Peter Kulchyski of the Department of Indigenous Studies. His six-week “bush school” in Pangnirtung on Baffin Island is land-based education and community-based learning at its most challenging.

“I’m very deliberate about working with communities and seeing them differently,” he says. Students are encouraged to look for community strengths and avoid colonial-based thinking. His visitors are to be mindful of three things when interacting with community members: impacts on the learner, impacts on the setting being learned in and impacts on those who might receive the learners during the experience. 

We are ‘doing beings’

Senior Instructor Colleen Plumton in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management has been a proponent of experiential learning for more than 20 years, and she has seen how it can ignite students’ curiosity as a result. For those looking to try it, she says, “It comes from believing in our students and ourselves. Our students want this. Remember that we are doing beings, we are not sitting beings.”  

She encouraged instructors to seek out the help available through the Centre and the Office of Experiential Learning. “We have a collection of humans to support one another.”

Compelling stories and useful advice

Attendee Mona Maxwell, Education Developer with the Centre, summed up the value of hearing the panel’s collective knowledge. “I left feeling secure that the enduring impact that a well-crafted experiential learning activity can have on a learner justifies the extra effort and risk-taking needed to overcome the barriers to creating them,” she says. “The panel convinced me that experiential learning binds our discipline content and lifts it off the pages of the text, while creating learners who appreciate the autonomy, self-growth and sense of accomplishment of their experiential learning experience for years to come.”

Since 2017, the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning has hosted an annual Teaching Café to celebrate teaching innovation at the university. UM educators share their teaching strategies and discuss, in a roundtable format, the lessons they have learned. The Café is open to all UM faculty and instructors, and lunch is provided.

Learn more

Learn more about the Teaching and Learning Certificate.

Learn more about experiential learning.

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ll want to check out the following events, hosted by the Office of Experiential Learning at the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning:

The Experiential Learning Gathering: Teaching Experientially in 2023

• May 2, 2023
• 9:30 am -12 pm, light refreshments provided
• Room 200A (The Cloister), St John’s

A growing number of instructors and faculty members are incorporating different forms of experiential learning into their courses. The aim of this series of gatherings is to create a vibrant, supportive and collaborative community of experiential learning practitioners at the UM.

Covid-19, the rise of A.I. and uncertainty about the role of post-secondary education in our rapidly changing world are transforming the way we think about experiential learning. Join colleagues from diverse faculties and backgrounds as we explore emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities for EL in 2023.

Please note, the Experiential Learning Gathering is not a component of the TLC program.

Register for the Experiential Learning Gathering here (only 8 spaces left!)

The Teaching Café: Journeys into Experiential Learning

• May 3
• 10 am -12:30 pm (Doors open at 9:30; lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 pm)
• Multi-purpose Room, UMSU University Centre

This year’s Teaching Café features a panel of faculty members and instructors from Statistics, Indigenous Studies, Architecture and Kinesiology and Recreation Management. The panel will explore the speakers’ unique journeys into experiential learning across their diverse teaching careers.

In addition to the panel, participants will have the opportunity to engage in small group discussions with panelists and connect with other participants over lunch.

Register for the Teaching Café here (only 10 spaces left!)