UM Congratulates Successful 2022 Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) Program Applicants

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) Program provides opportunities for professors, instructors and librarians to meaningfully engage in projects that increase knowledge in pedagogy and learning.

This year, ten awards of $6K and one major award of $25K were given to fund faculty projects. Learn more about the successful applicants, and how you can take part next year.

Major Project: Improving Learning Outcomes by Changing the Choice Architecture

The SOTL Teaching and Learning Major Project funding was awarded to a project focusing on improving pedagogies for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) instructors at UM through “nudges” and microteachings.

The project is a collaboration between project leaders, Dr. Jillian Seniuk Cicek (Engineering), Dr. Danny Mann (Agricultural and Food Sciences), Dr. Paul Labossiere (Engineering), and collaborating faculty members Dr. Robert Renaud (Education), Dr. Kyle Bobiwash (FAFS), Dr. Afua Mante (FAFS), Dr. Myrle Ballard (Science), and Christina Penner (Science).

The goal of the project is to take the principles of “nudge theory” and, used in tandem with microteachings, help instructors become more effective in their classrooms and hopefully lead to better learning outcomes for students. Nudge theory focuses on making small, seemingly insignificant changes that help move people in the direction of better decisions and outcomes. Often this can involve making alterations to our “choice architecture”, like replacing chocolate bars with fruit at a supermarket checkout to encourage healthy eating choices. It isn’t forcing anyone’s hand; it’s simply changing the choices around them to nudge them in a healthier direction.

The second component of this project is focused on providing more accessible “pull” training, where important evidence-based advice for instructors is made available through short video “microteachings”. These microteachings will cover all aspects of classroom instruction and will be accessible to instructors whenever they need it.

Doctoral Engineering Education Research student, Jeff Paul, the Research Assistant on the project, likens this approach to attempting home plumbing and watching an instructional video on YouTube.

“You’re in your classroom and none of your students are answering questions when you ask questions. Here’s a little micro teaching on how to ask better questions. You as an instructor can pull this information and it’s just a 3-minute video on how to ask effective questions.”

“We don’t know if this approach will work, because no one’s tried this,” explains Paul. “What the research is going to look at is – does this create change? Does it make a better choice? If it does, how long does that better choice last for? Does it have an impact? Those are the kinds of things we’re looking at.”

Apply for one of the four SOTL funding streams:

This year, we are especially encouraging applications for the teaching scholars and teaching fellows award – these streams provide unique opportunities for enhancing educational leadership.

Teaching and Learning Seed Project: This program is available to all full-time tenure track/tenured faculty and probationary/continuing instructors and librarians. Funds up to a maximum of $6000 per project. Approximately ten (10) will be funded.

Teaching and Learning Major Project: This program is available to all full-time tenure track/tenured faculty and probationary/continuing instructors and librarians. Funds up to a maximum of $25,000 per project with matching/in-kind contributions from the unit(s). Approximately three (3) will be funded.

Teaching Scholars: This program is offered to three (3) tenure-track faculty members. Scholars will spend 40% of their time focused on SOTL and will be situated in CATL. Funding will be provided for a course replacement instructor to the unit. (Priority may be given to those individuals who have completed the Teaching and Learning Certificate Program.)

Teaching Fellow: This program will support one (1) tenured faculty member. The successful applicant will dedicate between 40-50% of their time for a two-year term. The program will provide funds for a course release instructor(s), as well as a project funding up to $25,000 over the duration of the fellowship and units will provide matching funds.

The next call for proposals will begin in early January.

To learn more about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Program, read the full call for applications and download application forms on the Provost website.

2022 SOTL Seed Award Recipients

Seed Project: Evaluating remediation strategies for clinical practice in nursing education

Faculty: Nursing

Leads: Dr. Nicole Harder, Dr. Marnie Kramer, Jennifer Dunsford

Seed Project: Evaluating an Immersive Virtual Reality Training Program for Nursing Students

Faculty: Nursing

Leads: Dr. Nicole Harder, Sufia Turner, Barbara Rose-Lovett, Dr. Marnie Kramer

Seed Project: On becoming a ‘good’ physiotherapist: exploring professional identity formation in physiotherapy students with multiple marginalized identities

Faculty:  College of Rehabilitation Sciences

Leads: Liz Harvey, Dr. Patty Thille

Seed Project: Remote Learning in Law School During the Pandemic: A Canadian Survey

Faculty: Law

Lead: David Ireland

Seed Project: Investigating the Learning Gains of Code Diagram Query (CDQ) Questions for Novice Programming Students to Help Address High Failure Rates in Introductory Programming Classes

Faculty: Science

Lead: Dr. Celine Latulipe

Seed Project: A pilot project to examine the feasibility and efficacy of undergraduate medical students learning anatomy through hands-on ultrasound

Faculty: Medicine

Leads: Dr. Terry Li, Dr. Tom Jelic, Dr. Noam Millo

Seed Project: Scaffolding Effective Writing: Tasks, Tutors, and Teaching Assistants

Faculty: Various

Leads: Dr. Kenneth MacKendrick (Arts), Kathy Block (Academic Learning Centre)

Seed Project: Building a Canadian Social Policy Teaching and Learning Lab

Faculty: Social Work

Lead: Dr. James Mulvale

Seed Project: Experiential Learning Challenges in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education: Guidelines, Implementation and Impact on Student Learning

Faculty: Engineering

Lead: Dr. Sean O’Brien

Seed Project: Evaluation of Musculoskeletal Learning and Knowledge Retention among Post-Graduate Physicians from the University of Manitoba Medical Program

Faculty: Medicine

Lead: Dr. Jason Peeler

UM TODAY STAFF