April 2012

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

If the register buttons are not working, please contact us by email.

Summarizing Your Research for an Interdisciplinary Audience [TWC Workshop]
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
10:00 AM ~ 10:30 AM, LIB Room 129
Facilitators: The Writing Centre (TWC) staff
This workshop is designed for graduate students, undergraduate students in an honours program, and students who are recipients of the JCURA award.
Register for this workshop by emailing TWCdir@uvic.ca.
TWC Workshop Information

Digital Opportunities in Course Materials Distribution
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
2:30 PM ~ 3:15 PM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Dr. Penny Draper, UVic Bookstore
E-texts, e-guides, e-pacs and ipads? Is the traditional textbook dead? Do course-packs have a future? When choosing course materials, the question is no longer merely, "What do I want?" but also "How do I want it?" In this presentation, Penny Draper, Textbook Manager of the UVic Bookstore, will outline various technological initiatives which the Bookstore is piloting to take advantage of the new delivery systems available today. Partnerships with the UVic Library and with other universities across the country are offering innovative and more cost-effective access to course material. These programs also create opportunities for the distribution of UVic-created material throughout North America. Stephanie Boulogne, Course-pack Coordinator, will be on hand to answer questions about course-packs. With the textbook industry in a state of disruption, now is the time to collectively investigate strategies and develop new tools that will improve student access to the material they need for success.

Developing Your Teaching Dossier Workshop [Teaching Assessment Series]
Thursday, April 5, 2012
10:00 AM ~ 12:00 PM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Dr. Marty Wall, Department of Educational Psychology & Leadership Studies, and the Learning and Teaching Centre
Developing your teaching dossier is the most effective way to document your teaching for reappointment, tenure and promotion, as well as for winning awards. The most important part of the dossier is the narrative statement that guides the reader through the supporting documentary evidence. This workshop will discuss the role of the teaching dossier in the assessment process at UVic, assist you in developing your narrative, and outline an effective structure for organizing your materials. The workshop is also useful for graduate students who plan to apply for teaching jobs!
Open to all those who are involved, or plan to be involved, in instruction.
Teaching Assessment Series

Résumé Lab [TWC Workshops]
Thursday, April 5, 2012
10:00 AM ~ 12:00 PM, LIB Room 129
Facilitator: Laurie Waye, PhD, The Writing Centre
Every Thursday, Career Services hosts a session in LIB Room 129; the first thirty minutes are instruction, followed by a hand-on work time, which allows students to apply what they have learned to their own CVs, résumés and cover letters.  Once a month, TWC co-hosts this workshop to answer questions and give guidance on writing well for the job market.
You can register here: https://learninginmotion.uvic.ca/home.htm.
TWC Workshop Information

Psychology Students of Vancouver Island Poster Session (PSOVIPS)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
3:00 PM ~ 5:00 PM, Michele Pujol Room, Student Union Building, University of Victoria
A select group of advanced undergraduate Psychology students from UVic and Vancouver Island University will present posters reporting their cutting-edge scientific research in such areas as human memory, child development, interpersonal social interactions, and electrophysiological analyses of brain processes. Additional information about PSOVIPS 2012 will soon be available on the UVic Psi Chi web site http://web.uvic.ca/~psichi/ or contact Prof. Elizabeth Brimacombe (psychair@uvic.ca). This event is sponsored by the UVic Department of Psychology, the UVic Chapter of Psi Chi (the honours society for psychology students), and the UVic Learning and Teaching Centre.
PSOVIPS Poster

Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA) Research Fair
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
11:30 AM ~ 3:00 PM, Michele Pujol Room, Cinecenta and Upper Lounge at the SUB
Facilitator: Learning and Teaching Centre
Join us in celebrating some of the outstanding research produced by the 2011 Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards scholars.
Scholars 2011-2012 with links to project abstracts
Everyone welcome. Registration is not required. Please drop in.
JCURA Agenda and Presentation Page Insert
JCURA Radio Broadcast
JCURA Poster
JCURA Information

Workplace Writing [TWC Workshops]
Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 1:30 PM ~ 2:50 PM, LIB Room 129
and Friday, April 13, 2012, 2:00 PM ~ 3:20 PM, LIB Room 129
Facilitators: The Writing Centre (TWC) staff
Transitioning from academic writing to workplace writing requires some thought and practice. This workshop will cover some of the differences between the two kinds of writing. You will also learn how to write appropriate workplace documents for different audiences.
Register for this workshop by emailing TWCdir@uvic.ca
TWC Workshop Information

Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW)
Participants must attend all four days.
9:15 AM ~ 5:00 PM each day, HHB 128
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Coordinator: Dr. Jane Gair, Teaching Consultant, Learning and Teaching Centre and Senior Instructor, Division of Medical Sciences
Facilitators: Erdem Yazganoglu, Health Information Science; Sohad Kadhum , Mechanical Engineering; Carolyn Sampson, School of Social Work; and Tara Coulter, Engineering & Computer Science.
Please note: This workshop is open at no charge to all teachers or potential teachers currently affiliated with a department/school at UVic (including post docs, TAs and other grad students). Graduate students must be enrolled in a UVic graduate program. However, we ask that you provide us with your department’s/school’s FAST account number to secure your place. Your department/school will ONLY be charged the $60.00 if you do not complete the program. Cancellations are permitted up to 10 working days before the start of the event without penalty. If you do not have access to a FAST account, a $60.00 deposit [cash or cheque only, made out to the Learning and Teaching Centre (LTC)] will be accepted at the LTC. It will be returned in full upon completion of the 4-day workshop.
Special arrangements are also available for current instructors at Vancouver Island Educational Developers’ Alliance (VIEDA) partner institutions (Royal Roads, Camosun College, Vancouver Island University and North Island College). The cost to VIEDA instructors is $50.00.
The cost to those not affiliated with UVic or VIEDA is $600.00.

Managing Your Thesis or Dissertation [TWC Workshops]
Monday, April 16, 2012, 12:00 PM ~ 1:20 PM, LIB Room 129
Facilitators: The Writing Centre (TWC) staff
This hands-on workshop teaches graduate students strategies to organize their writing, writing habits and themselves so that they can finish their thesis/dissertation work. Those in the depths of dissertation despair are particularly welcome.
Register for this workshop by emailing TWCdir@uvic.ca.
TWC Workshop Information

Defining and Assessing Learning Outcomes [Student Learning Series]
Part 1: Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 9:00 AM ~ 10:50 AM, HHB 128
Part 2: Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 9:00 AM ~ 10:50 AM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Dr. Joe Parsons, Learning and Teaching Centre
This interactive, two-part workshop introduces principles to guide effective learning outcome design. Participants will apply these principles by designing learning outcomes for their own courses. The workshop involves two, 110-min sessions (and a wee bit of between-session homework). General workshop learning outcomes include:
"Expect-to-see": participants will describe the principles and features of successful learning outcomes; " Like-to-see": participants will design a set of six or more useable learning outcomes applicable to their courses; and "Love-to-see": participants will apply the principles of learning outcome design to their selection of instructional and assessment strategies.
Student Learning Series

How I Learned to be Really Careful about Assumptions [Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Series]
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 [Brown Bag Lunch]
11:30 AM ~ 12:15 PM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Gary MacGillivray, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
We all enter into studies in the scholarship of teaching and learning with the best of intentions. The interventions we plan to try originate from careful analysis of the literature and data available locally. We're pretty sure that we'll be able to improve outcomes for students. What if we're wrong? The presentation will entail a discussion of an experiment that seemed like a good idea at the time, and how hidden assumptions led to valuable lessons learned.
And...
The Why, What, and How of Fostering Learner Reflection
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 [Brown Bag Lunch]
12:15 PM ~1:00 PM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Li-Shih Huang, Department of Linquistics
At one point or another in our learning journeys, we have probably all been asked to reflect on our learning experiences. As a teaching professional, you may also have asked your students to engage in reflection. Many instructors who try to integrate learner reflection in their teaching face this or a similar conundrum: how do I foster learners' abilities to engage in reflection that goes beyond a simple description of what I or they did in class? In this session, Dr. Li-Shih Huang will draw on her research in second language acquisition and explore with you what learner reflection entails, why learner reflection is critically important according to the most up-to-date research, and how to implement reflection in ways that will help your students reap its benefits and become autonomous learners.
SoTL Series Information

Mindful Experiential Learning: An Online Approach [Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Series]
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 [Brown Bag Lunch]
11:30 AM ~ 12:15 PM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Dr. Frederick Grouzet, Department of Psychology
This presentation will describe how to foster mindful experiential learning. For the last four years, I developed a stand-alone and free website that enables students to log their learning experiences on an online journal. The journal includes guiding questions that aim to enhance mindfulness while engaging in experiential learning activities. Empirical evidences of the impact of journal writing on mindful experiential learning will be presented. In addition, instructors who would like to include experiential learning activities in their class will be shown how to use my website to support students' mindfulness and optimize their learning experience.
And...
Giving up Lecture Time ... Are You Crazy?
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 [Brown Bag Lunch]
12:15 PM ~ 1:00 PM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Fraser Hof, Department of Chemistry
This presentation will describe a three-year project on the use of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) within a 3rd-year Organic Chemistry course of ~70 students. PLTL is a departure from traditional lecture-based content delivery that uses group work sessions guided by peer leaders to encourage student involvement in their own instruction, to deepen student appreciation for real-world material, and to improve learning outcomes. In the current project, PLTL sessions were implemented as once-weekly replacements for lectures that were used to introduce new, highly challenging material to the students. The advantages and disadvantages of carrying out PLTL in this setting will be discussed.
SoTL Series Information

Forum on Learning and Teaching in Foundation-Level Science Courses [First Year Course Instructors Community (FYCIC) Series]
Thursday, April 26, 2012
10:00 AM ~ 11:30 AM, HHB 128
Facilitator: Ed Ishiguro, Learning and Teaching Centre, and Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology.
This is an open discussion on challenges and opportunities in learning and teaching in foundation-level science courses. Topics such as early recognition and advising of at-risk students and designing inquiry-based instruction are unlikely to be specific for science courses, and interested instructors representing other disciplines are encouraged to join us.
First Year Course Instructors Community (FYCIC) Series

Curriculum Design Institute (CDI): Foundations [CDI Series]
Registrants are required to attend all five days.
Monday, April 30, 2012 to Friday, May 4, 2012, inclusive, HHB 128
9:00 AM ~ 3:30 PM daily [Lunch and nutrition breaks provided]
Facilitators: Dr. Ed Ishiguro, Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology and Learning and Teaching Centre, Dr. Joe Parsons and Teresa Dawson, Learning and Teaching Centre
The Curriculum Design Institute (CDI) provides a collegial environment and extensive support for instructors to design a new course or to redesign a current course in order to enhance student learning and student engagement. CDI provides a focused approach to course/curriculum development, including identification of 1) key course concepts; 2) learning goals/outcomes, 3) instructional strategies, and 4) appropriate assessment methods to support course goals. Additionally, the CDI introduces participants to a range of campus-wide expertise and resources which will be available to participants during and after the workshop session. As the University welcomes students with a range of learning disabilities and from a diversity of cultural backgrounds, we need to align our teaching practices with the needs of all students. We seek to promote values and competencies for inclusion, world-mindedness, global citizenship and Indigenous ways of knowing across all academic disciplines. Previous participants in this workshop have described it as a "transformative experience" and have expressed a renewed sense of enthusiasm for teaching.

Please Note: This institute is 5 days long, and attendance on all days is expected. CDI is available at no charge to all UVic instructors who are accepted into the program. There will be a cancellation fee of $200.00 for withdrawals with less than three weeks' notice. For this eventuality, a FAST account number is required at the time of registration.
Special arrangements are also available for current instructors at Vancouver Island Educational Developers’ Alliance (VIEDA) partner institutions (Royal Roads, Camosun College, Vancouver Island University and North Island College). The cost to VIEDA instructors is $500.00.
The cost to those not affiliated with UVic or VIEDA is $750.00.
Information and Registration

Learning and Teaching Development Grant (LTDG) ~ Information Session [Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Series]
Monday, April 30, 2012
11:00 AM ~ 12:00 PM, HHB 120
Facilitator: Dr. Marty Wall, Department of Educational Psychology & Leadership Studies, and the Learning and Teaching Centre
Do you have a question about how your students are learning in your class that you would like the opportunity to investigate? Is there a teaching and learning idea in your discipline that you have always wanted to explore? Come and find out how you can apply for a grant to assist you in achieving your pedagogical goals. We promise it is a straightforward process!
Please note: The amount available per grant is $7,500 maximum.
Deadline date for email submission of these grant applications is May 15, 2012 at 4:00 PM.
Open to all those interested in applying for Learning and Teaching Grants in 2012.
Link to LTDG Information and Application Form
SoTL Series Information

May 2012 Events