Standing (left to right): Rodrigo Villar, Kaarina Kowalec, Snehil Dua, Stephanie Chesser, Karen Gunderson, Danielle Yaffe, Vimi Mutalik, Dan Henhawk; Sitting (left to right): Laura MacDonald (a TLC mentor to one of the graduates), Sarah Cooper, Guo-zhen Zhu
Teaching and Learning Program celebrates 2022 graduates
Program designed for new instructors who are looking to bolster their teaching skills
For newly graduated teachers and instructors beginning their careers, making the transition from learning in a classroom to teaching in front of a classroom can often be a daunting one. While their university studies have prepared them to be an expert in their field, what they may not be totally prepared for is the experience of teaching itself.
It was with this in mind that the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) launched their Teaching and Learning program eight years ago. The program is designed for faculty and instructors who are in their first five years of teaching and who are looking to bolster their teaching skillset.
The two-year program begins as an institute where participants come together to learn core principles about teaching over three days. From there, teachers attend a series of workshops on a variety of topics that they can take at their own pace and are partnered up with a mentor. Mentors are typically faculty members and former program graduates who help participants by observing them in the classroom and providing them with constructive feedback and assessing what they have learned.
“It is a good opportunity to get a better understanding of the pedagogy behind teaching,” says Joanna Koulouriotis, educational developer for CATL and TLC program coordinator. “It gives them very applicable foundational knowledge that they can incorporate while they’re teaching. It’s not just theory; it’s practice. They get an opportunity at these workshops to share ideas and to talk about their own experiences. It’s an opportunity to reinforce what they’re doing that’s working well, to explore some new approaches and new ideas and to see what others are doing.”
Faculty and instructors who are in their first five years of teaching are encouraged to take advantage of the benefits of the Teaching and Learning program. Graduates of the Teaching and Learning Certificate (TLC) program develop the knowledge, skills and reflective practice that enable them to increase their competency level in the teaching-learning process and gain a deeper understanding of evidence-based best practices in higher education. The TLC program is accredited through the Educational Developers Caucus (EDC), a Canadian group for educational developers, which is an affiliate group of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE).
The Teaching and Learning program held their graduation ceremony on September 28, 2022. UM and CATL would like to once again extend congratulations to all the recent graduates!
Read the full list of 2022 TLC Graduates.