Teaching and Learning Centre Strategic Plan

The Teaching and Learning Centre Strategic Plan (2023–2025) shares our values, vision, mission, and priorities.  

 


Our Values

  • Collaboration and mentorship
  • Inter-disciplinary collegiality
  • Innovation and scholarship
  • Life-long reciprocal learning
  • Critical reflection on practices
  • Foster educational leadership in teaching and learning

Our Vision

The ¾«Í¯ÓûÅ® Teaching and Learning Centre supports instructors and the goals of ¾«Í¯ÓûÅ® with leadership, support, and resources needed for continuous evidence-based pedagogical advances, which are collaborative and compassionate, to create positive change in teaching and learning for our campus community. Our vision is grounded in principles of accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion with a strong commitment to indigenizing and decolonizing teaching and learning at ¾«Í¯ÓûÅ®.

Our Mission

The Teaching and Learning Centre supports innovative, transformative, and equitable education at ¾«Í¯ÓûÅ®, working in partnership with instructional colleagues, academic and student support units, and other campus partners to support instructors to embrace evidence-based and emerging pedagogies using learning, experimentation and reflection. By strengthening campus-wide capacities for teaching and learning through professional development and supporting effective engagement of educational technologies and techniques, the TLC serves students by supporting the instructors who teach them. 

Our Priorities  

  1. Support instructors and learners in reaching their full potential  
  2. Build a culture of inclusive teaching and learning  
  3. Deliver timely and high impact teaching and learning resources and supports 
  4. Recognize and celebrate engaged teaching  

As we work together toward our four priorities, the goals dashboard below tracks our progress.

Overall Progress - January 2024 
 

rust - Not started

7

gold - In progress

32

green - Completed

1

 

Priority 1 - Support instructors and learners in reaching their full potential

 

Continue to build teaching and learning support and professional development for all instructional staff, postdocs, and graduate students.

 

 

Provide resources for proactive and ongoing professional development for the TLC team in emerging areas of faculty development, instructional design, multimedia production, etc.

 

 

Explore teaching and learning topics where instructors and/or post docs and graduate students can learn from peers through communities of practice.

 

 

Encourage and support colleague's ongoing holistic assessment of teaching and critical reflection on innovation attempts, including as part of the tenure/promotion process.

 

 

Promote, support, and value SoTL research at ¾«Í¯ÓûÅ® (at different levels - individuals, collaborations).

 

 

Nurture scholarly engagement of instructors in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

 

 

Model SoTL by conducting and publishing research on teaching and learning.

 

 

Support instructional staff in development of experiential and work integrated learning for classes, labs, and community settings.

 

 

Respect faculty, staff, and students' contexts and pedagogical starting place, and understand the constraints within which they are working (e.g., disciplinary, career-stage, employment context) in our consultations and programming work.

 

 

Ensure that supports developed and curated by the TLC take into account the needs of diverse and underrepresented groups.

 

 

Explore and support trauma-informed pedagogical approaches.

 

 

Promote well-being in instructional settings for the campus community.

 

 

Support instructors and staff so that ¾«Í¯ÓûÅ® is a leader in inclusive and accessible teaching and learning.

 

 

Priority 2 - Build a culture of inclusive teaching and learning  

 

Incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing into teaching, learning and research activities offered by the TLC. 

 

 

Support faculty and instructional staff who are engaged in initiatives to decolonize curriculum and pedagogy.   

 

 

Support instructors in developing protocols for working with students who have disabilities which require accommodations. 

 

 

Support instructors who require accommodations.

 

 

Assist instructors with discipline specific teaching and learning activities. 

 

 

Assist instructors in providing improved teaching and learning support for international students. 

 

 

Incorporate student voice and feedback into TLC initiatives. 

 

 

Provide feedback to instructors on teaching and help them collect and interpret holistic evaluation of their teaching. 

 

 

Develop informal networks of practice and physical and virtual spaces that connect teaching and learning leaders with each other, and with those interested in enhancing their teaching. 

 

 

Develop stronger partnerships with centres for teaching and learning at local post-secondary institutions as well as regional, Canadian, and international universities.   

 

 

Strengthen the university’s connections with teaching and learning organizations such as the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), SoTL Canada, and the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). 

 

 

Priority 3 - Deliver timely, high impact teaching and learning resources and supports  

 

Collaborate with campus units on curriculum planning, review, and course design processes. 

 

 

Encourage innovative and effective use of educational technologies and learning spaces. 

 

 

Provide supports for Indigenous elders, faculty, instructors, and staff and by extension, for students. 

 

 

Integrate equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) perspectives into TLC resources and supports. 

 

 

Support effective graduate student supervision and mentorship. 

 

 

Foster the development and growth of educational communities of practice. 

 

 

Advocate for and support institution-wide teaching initiatives and resource development or revision (e.g., holistic and/or peer evaluation of teaching, online/digital education framework, review of core questions for SOTS, OER use and development, teaching innovations, flexible instructional spaces that meet current and future needs, etc.). 

 

 

Consider new ways that the TLC website might serve as a hub for teaching and learning support and resources. 

 

 

Ensure that quality assurance or continual improvement monitoring is part of the ongoing evaluation process in order to provide appropriate support to instructors (and other stakeholders such as Student Affairs, Accessibility Services, etc. 

 

 

Priority 4 - Recognize and celebrate engaged teaching  

 

Enhance incentives which support engaged teaching, innovative teaching, and teaching excellence (time, course-release, administration support for experimentation with and reflection on pedagogical ideas).   

 

 

Recognize and celebrate *all* of the instructors who are excellent educators and making a positive difference in students' lives, and to campus culture/climate overall. 

 

 

Continue to provide support for nominations for external awards. 

 

 

Strengthen awards programs to recognize excellence in teaching, outstanding contributions to student learning and strong educational leadership. 

 

 

Support teaching innovations through grants and awards. 

 

 

Highlight SoTL and innovation achievements with the campus community and beyond.