Director's Message 2014-2015
Welcome to the second issue of the Teaching Centre’s A Light on Teaching magazine. This annual publication is an opportunity for the University of Lethbridge community to actively engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The high quality of the articles highlights the U of L’ s commitment to research and excellence in teaching and learning.
Although only one year old, the Teaching Centre has facilitated a number of new and ongoing initiatives to support teaching and learning at the U of L. I would like to highlight two of these, which have been pivotal for the Teaching Centre this year.
The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) continues to be an important part of the professional development programming at the Teaching Centre. This four-day workshop focuses on constructive strategies and individualized peer feedback to help participants refine their own approaches to teaching. Thanks to the commitment of our ISW facilitators, we were able to hold two workshops this summer for U of L instructors. We also reached a new milestone with this program as Sheila McManus and Robin Bright completed their training to be qualified to offer Facilitator Development Workshops (FDW). Thanks to their efforts the U of L now has the capacity to fully sustain and grow our ISW program.
The Learning Environment Evaluation (LEE) Research Project was a major focus of the Teaching Centre this past year. The goal of LEE is to evaluate how the physical environment affects instructors’ teaching and student learning. LEE research this year focused on large lecture halls, classrooms with two rows per tier, furniture, seminar rooms, and active learning spaces (L1050). This research will result in recommendations for increased effectiveness based on stakeholder needs to inform renovations to existing spaces, as well as the design of new spaces. This summer the LEE project completed building a SCALE-UP classroom, enhanced the active learning space of L1050, and replaced the furniture in W565. Research into these three updated active learning spaces will be a major focus of the LEE project this year, and we look forward to your feedback on the effectiveness of these spaces for your teaching.
I am proud of the high number of quality initiatives the Teaching Centre has engaged in this year, and look forward to new opportunities in the coming year. I am extremely grateful for the hard work and commitment of the staff, teaching fellows, Board of Governors’ teaching chairs, and numerous U of L faculty who support and facilitate the activities of the Centre. Their commitment to the Teaching Centre is evidence of the strong commitment of the U of L to excellence in teaching and learning.
I hope you enjoy the articles and columns in this year’s magazine as much as I did. I wish you the best in the 2014-15 academic year.
David Hinger