February 2007

Unless otherwise indicated, sessions occur in the Learning and Teaching Centre (LTC) Classroom in the Harry Hickman Building (HHB) Room 128.

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Workshop on Study Groups [TA ProD Series]
Any member of campus welcome.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007, HHB 128
4:30 PM ~ 6:00 PM
Study groups are an excellent and fun tool to promote engaged learning. If you want to know how to stet up study groups, this workshop is for you!

NEW
Student Learning at the Center, Teaching Excellence around The Ring: Recognizing and Rewarding a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Research Universities
Thursday, February 15, 2007, University Club [Honeysuckle/Snowberry Rooms]
12:00 PM ~ 2:00 PM [hosted lunch]
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Richard Gale, Senior Scholar with the Carnegie Foundation and Director-The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Higher Education Program
This event is jointly sponsored by the Learning and Teaching Centre and the Faculty of Education.

Introduction
UVic has recently been selected as one of only 9 universities and colleges in Canada to join the prestigious CASTL Institutional Leadership Program. We have been identified as having expertise to contribute in the key area of Policy, Assessment and Accountability and are now part of an international group working in this area
http://web.uvic.ca/terc/research/castl/index.php
Because of the variety of our disciplines we are an excellent place to explore both definitions of the scholarship of teaching and learning and the variety of ways in which it is captured and rewarded in our assessment procedures. Any department interested in being part of the project is welcome. We are delighted that Dr. Gale has kindly agreed to come and help us launch this new initiative at UVic.

ABSTRACT: Scholarship is the coin of the realm at research universities; it is the conduit for funding and the pathway to fundamental knowledge, a well-traveled road through rigor and review and sometimes a fast-track to recognition and reward for students, faculties, and institutions. But scholarship in the twenty-first century is more than the creation of new knowledge within and between disciplines and professions, more than the narrowly-defined research agendas of previous generations. Today, scholarship encompasses the application and integration of knowledge as well as its discovery; it includes "the how" and "the why" we teach and learn. not just "the what." If we are serious about the education of our students, then we should turn our scholarly attention towards the learning that occurs within our own classrooms.  And if we are committed to excellence in our faculty, then we should support and sustain, recognize and reward inquiry into the ways and means of teaching and learning. This presentation provides background and foreground for the scholarship of teaching and learning as it is commonly understood within the research university landscape, offering participants a chance to consider their own classroom contexts and pedagogical perceptions as the impetus for scholarly inquiry into student learning and the teaching that can lead to understanding and improvement.

Our guest speaker, Richard Gale is a Senior Scholar with The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the United States’ oldest and most prestigious center for educational research and policy studies.  He serves as Director for The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Higher Education Program and coordinates international initiatives centered on the promotion of inquiry into faculty teaching and student learning.  He has also worked with The Foundation’s Initiatives in Liberal Education, Integrative Learning Project, and Knowledge Media Laboratory.  Dr. Gale’s publications and research interests include aesthetic literacy, assessment in the creative/fine/and performing arts, integrative learning and the pedagogies of integration, critical pedagogy and emergent curriculum, pedagogy and theatre of the oppressed (PTO), theatre and national identity, the meanings of place, and of course the scholarship of teaching and leaning. He holds a doctorate in theatre history from the University of Minnesota, a master of fine arts in playwriting from the University of California San Diego, and a master of arts in drama from San Jose State University.

Instructional Technology Working Group (ITWG) ~ Moodle at UVic
NEW DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 2007, HHB 128
1:30 PM ~ 2:30 PM
Moodle is an open source course management system/e-learning platform for teaching. The ITWG would like this meeting to provide a forum for everyone interested in helping develop campus wide support for those wishing to try out this system. We won't be doing a hands-on introduction to Moodle. The discussion will be around what services, support and mentoring would encourage exploration of this system at UVic. We would encourage not only instructors but also support staff to join in this discussion to learn of current initiatives and provide guidance for future developments. For an overview of Moodle, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle
New members always welcome!