Enhancing Your Teaching

Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL)

The mandate of the Centre for Teaching and Learning is to enhance the quality of student learning and support instructors from all disciplines in their teaching through the provision of resources, programs and services, and tips for good practice to anyone who teaches at Queen's. For example:

Resources

The CTL maintains a Resource Library of over 4000 books, articles, journals and videos on university teaching and learning. All items have been catalogued, and are searchable in the Centre's online library database. In addition to library resources, CTL also provides a number of online resources and publications.

Programs and Services

In addition to offering a wide range of workshops and programs on various teaching topics, the CTL also provides a teaching consultation service for individuals and departments. 

Good Practice

The CTL also offers information on good practice relating to curriculum development, discipline-based teaching, graduate supervision, case-based learning, field-based learning, inquiry-based learning, lab-based learning, problem-based learning, community service learning, integrating technology, teaching more students and help with your teaching.

Scholarship

Teaching is a major professional responsibility for all academics, and good teaching is a scholarly activity, which means reflecting on our teaching practices, documenting how we teach, what our students have learned, and what changes we've made to improve their learning. Teaching scholarship implies making instructional processes more public than they typically have been in universities, enabling colleagues to discuss them and learn from each other about practices that are effective in enhancing learning. The programs and resources we provide or promote are intended to help making teaching a more scholarly activity at Queen's. This includes information about teaching awards (including grants that can fund innovative teaching projects) and the evaluation of teaching.

For further information about ways the Centre for Teaching and Learning can support your in your teaching, for example in the preparation of a teaching dossier, please contact the Centre at ctl@queensu.ca.

Integrated Learning Centre (ILC)

The Integrated Learning Centre is the ideal place to try different styles of teaching and learning, where flexible teaching spaces, work spaces and presentation spaces can be re-configured to suit the needs of the class, and where professional help is available to develop innovative learning and monitor and evaluate its results. A number of these unique teaching spaces, intended to facilitate new styles of teaching and learning, are available for booking through the Central University booking system; while preference is given to members of the Faculty of Applied Science, all members of the University community are welcome to book the space.

Resources for Health Sciences Faculty

The Office of Health Sciences Education works to enhance educational scholarship within the Faculty of Health Sciences. Members of the Faculty are encouraged to contact the Office with questions or concerns about learning, teaching, educational development and/or research. The Office provides consultations on educational design, research, and the evaluation and documentation of teaching, as well as information on educational development events and activities, funding opportunities, conferences, and publications and organizations that foster educational development in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The Teaching Improvement Project System (TIPS) course offered by the Faculty Development office is an intensive workshop designed to aid health sciences faculty developing successful teaching skills. Participants are afforded the opportunity to define their teaching objectives, plan lectures/seminars and demonstrations, produce instructional materials, and practice their teaching skills. Participants are asked to prepare and present two ten-minute teaching sessions, or microteaches, based on their own lectures/seminars and demonstrations; each of these microteaches is videotaped for private viewing and is evaluated by a leader. Over the course of the workshop, participants learn the fundamentals of teaching, how to evaluate their own teaching, and how to take the initiative to improve their teaching on an ongoing basis.

University Survey of Student Assessment of Teaching (USAT)

Queen's University uses the University Survey of Student Assessment of Teaching(USAT) assessment process to provide instructors with quantitative and qualitative feedback from their students.

USAT evaluation reports may be consulted by department heads and Deans when making promotion and tenure decisions. Aggregated USAT data is used for Internal Academic Reviews and facilitates comparison of departmental performance. USAT reports are often requested from candidates during job interviews. Instructors may also elect to release their results to student societies and organizations, enabling students to make informed choices when selecting courses.