CTL Workshops

Braiding First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Truths into Teaching Practice: Foundations

 Tuesday, Oct. 13

 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

 In-Person | North Campus (details to be confirmed via email)

 See session description / details

Join colleagues for an in-person, focused 90-minute working session to explore essential preliminary steps for assessing the absence, presence, and accurate representation of First Nations, Inuit and Metis People and Wisdom in your courses.

We begin by acknowledging the shared reality that many of our foundational educational experiences have not adequately prepared us for this vital work. This session is a supportive space to engage in the necessary reflective work and professional dialogue needed to uncover missing truths and identify new pathways forward

Together, we will use the powerful teachings of braiding to examine our current course curricula and pedagogies. We will begin to assess our current knowledge and access to resources (human, digital, print, etc) to develop a preliminary commitment to decolonize our courses. 

This 90-minute session is just the beginning of making a personal commitment to practice and thinking about ongoing peer support. Insights gained from this session will contribute to next steps in the Indigenization of specific courses in the Winter Term.

Please bring a laptop/charge cord and potential course syllabi for consideration.                               

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Establish the foundational knowledge and rationales for Decolonization and Indigenization in teaching and learning across diverse fields in higher education

  • Apply Braiding Past, Present and Future, the Indigenous Strategic Plan, in an effort to responsibly unsettle taken-for-granted assumptions in our courses

  • Begin to address gaps and opportunities for including First Nations, Inuit, and Metis wisdom, knowledge, people, and current realities into courses and programs

Gemini Notebook: AI Support for your Teaching, Learning and Research

 Tuesday, Oct. 20

 12:30 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.

 In-Person | North Campus (details to be confirmed via email)

 See session description / details

Gemini Notebook (formerly Notebook LM) is an AI-powered research and study assistant that turns your uploaded sources into summaries, study guides, and audio overviews. Combined with a Gemini Gem, Notebook can even power interactive case studies. In this in-person, 80-minute session, we'll explore practical and creative ways to support your research, course prep, and augment student learning. No experience necessary — just bring your laptop.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Identify use cases where Gemini Notebook can advance teaching, learning and research objectives

  • Assemble a Gemini Notebook that fits a teaching, learning or research use case

  • Recognize where outputs from Gemini Notebook warrant special review

Organizing your Canvas Gradebook

 Wednesday, Oct. 21

 12:00 p.m. – 12:50 p.m.

 Online | via Zoom

 See session description / details

Building a clear gradebook is the single most important thing you can do to ensure transparency and lower student stress. In this 20-minute webinar, we’ll share workflow and troubleshooting tips, and we will explore some best practices for creating your gradebook and assignments in Canvas. Stay for an additional 25-minute Q&A to discuss this tool in detail.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Organize your Canvas Gradebook in a way that is clear and transparent
  • Adjust gradebook settings to streamline your workflow

Braiding First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Truths into Teaching Practice: Foundations

 Thursday, Nov. 19

 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

 In-Person | North Campus (specific details to be confirmed via email)

 See session description / details

Join colleagues for an in-person, focused 90-minute working session to explore essential preliminary steps for assessing the absence, presence, and accurate representation of First Nations, Inuit and Metis People and Wisdom in your courses.

We begin by acknowledging the shared reality that many of our foundational educational experiences have not adequately prepared us for this vital work. This session is a supportive space to engage in the necessary reflective work and professional dialogue needed to uncover missing truths and identify new pathways forward.

Together, we will use the powerful teachings of braiding to examine our current course curricula and pedagogies. We will begin to assess our current knowledge and access to resources (human, digital, print, etc) to develop a preliminary commitment to decolonize our courses.

This 90-minute session is just the beginning of making a personal commitment to practice and thinking about ongoing peer support. Insights gained from this session will contribute to next steps in the Indigenization of specific courses in the Winter term.

Please bring a laptop/charge cord and potential course syllabi for consideration.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Establish the foundational knowledge and rationales for Decolonization and Indigenization in teaching and learning across diverse fields in higher education

  • Apply Braiding Past, Present and Future, the Indigenous Strategic Plan, in an effort to responsibly unsettle taken-for-granted assumptions in our courses

  • Begin to address gaps and opportunities for including First Nations, Inuit, and Metis wisdom, knowledge, people, and current realities into courses and programs

Going Analog: Re-Humanizing In-Person Teaching

 Thursday, Nov. 19

 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

 In-Person | Cameron Library, Room 5-02D (North Campus)

 See session description / details

As generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in teaching and learning, this collaborative in-person gathering invites instructors to explore a different possibility: what it means to design and facilitate a fully offline course. Participants will share practical strategies, consider the pedagogical possibilities and challenges of an unplugged learning environment, and reflect on what this approach might make visible about teaching, learning, and assessment.

Hosted by the Centre for Teaching and Learning, this monthly gathering is a space for peer-led roundtable discussions to share collective practical expertise, questions, and practical needs of participating instructors. This group offers a dedicated sounding board to workshop your ideas alongside like-minded colleagues.

In this November offering of Going Analog, participants explore analog strategies for teaching statistics and graphs.

Diversifying your Question Types in Canvas Quizzes

 Thursday, Nov. 19

 11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.

 Online | via Zoom

 See session description / details

Now that Reading Week is over, you might be getting ready to create your final exams online. In this 20-minute webinar, we’ll showcase all of the different question types available in the Canvas New Quizzes engine and how they appear on the students’ screens. We will also differentiate between questions that are graded automatically or manually.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Create different types of questions for your online quizzes
  • Differentiate manually vs automatically graded questions

Feedback, Grading, and AI

 Tuesday, Nov. 24

 12:30 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.

 Online | via Zoom

 See session description / details

The relationship between artificial intelligence and assessment is shifting how instructors evaluate student work. When considering AI and grading, you stand at the intersection of effective teaching practices, the ethics of assessment, and workload management. This workshop goes beyond AI tools to evaluate which aspects of feedback necessitate the human touch — and which might benefit from AI-assisted processes.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Evaluate assessment and feedback tasks to distinguish where human instructor judgment is essential versus where AI assistance can safely improve grading efficiency and workload management.

  • Design transparent, AI-informed feedback workflows

  • Explore the ethics and implications of AI-assisted grading tools.

Humanizing Online Learning

 Thursday, Dec. 10

 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

 Online | via Zoom

 See session description / details

Get ready to adapt or transform your online learning spaces this Winter term! Through this interactive workshop, you will explore practical ways to create authentic instructor presence, build vibrant and connected communities, and design intentional learner-to-instructor, learner-to-learner, and learner-to-content interactions, both in synchronous and asynchronous online courses. By aligning engagement strategies with their unique teaching styles and disciplines, instructors will leave with an action plan to elevate student connection, motivation, and success in the online environment.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Analyze the impact of instructor presence on student motivation
  • Examine strategies for effective online community building
  • Implement interactive activities to foster authentic learner engagement