Friday, September 2, 2022
8:45am – 12:30pm
with informal social and networking hour
1:00 – 2:00pm
Overview
This popular conference is an opportunity for graduate students, faculty, and teaching staff from across disciplines to come together to learn and share ideas. The conference will explore strategies for creating flexible, inclusive and student-centred learning environments, whether we are teaching large, small, undergraduate, graduate, online, blended, or on-campus courses.
Note for Zoom sessions: For each concurrent session, one presentation will be available online using Zoom. The Zoom link will be provided two days in advance. For those who register less then 2 days before the event, the link will be sent in their registration confirmation.
8:15 – 8:45am
Registration | Coffee, tea and water will be provided
8:45 – 10:00am
Plenary and Welcome | Panel: Fostering Supportive Environments as Educators
Moderated by: Yasmine Djerbal and Karalyn McRae, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Panelists: Dan Vena (Film and Media), Jo-ann Ferreira (Student Wellness Services), Megan Ingram (Sociology), and Paul Boonmak (Public Health Sciences)
Biosciences Complex, Room 1102 (In-person, will be recorded)
Although we may have different roles on campus, as students, educators, and staff, we all have a role to play in fostering a campus environment that supports mental health, wellbeing, and belonging. For educators, this means attending to our own mental health and wellbeing, as well as adopting strategies to support students in our classrooms and in the broader teaching and learning landscape at Queen’s. This panel discussion will feature “Superstar Champions for Mental Health” who will share with us their strategies, challenges and successes.
10:00am – 10:20am
Refreshment Break | Coffee, tea, water and snacks will be provided
10:20 – 11:20am
Concurrent Sessions A
A.1: PANEL: “What I know Now: Demystifying Teaching Assistantships”
Moderated by Clarissa de Leon, Centre for Teaching and Learning; and Faculty of Education
Panelists: Indrani Karmakar, Smith School of Business, Nishana Ramsawak, Civil Engineering Department, and Gagandeep Minhas, School of Kinesiology and Health Studies
Biosciences Complex, Room 1102 (In-person)
What kinds of responsibilities will I have as a TA? What can I do as a TA to be inclusive and equitable? What are some of the things I need to know as a TA? Join a panel of experienced TAs from a variety of disciplines to discuss the challenges and opportunities within TAing at Queen’s. Our panelists will speak on their past experiences, as well as strategies for the upcoming semester. This webinar is open to new and experienced teaching assistants.
A.2: Getting to Know onQ: An Intro for TAs
Facilitated by Selina Idlas, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Biosciences Complex, Room 1101 (In-person)
This webinar is designed for new users to onQ. In this introduction, we will be giving you a brief tour of the essential tools to get you started in onQ. These include Announcements, Content, Assignments, Grade Book, Classlist and Classlist Email.
A.3: Understanding the TA/TF Collective Agreement and Union Resources
Facilitated by Justyna Szewczyk, VP Community Relations, PSAC 901
Online (Zoom)
This is a workshop for TAs and TFs on understanding how the Collective Agreement operates at Queen's, what it offers TA/TAs in terms of benefits, standardized hiring practices, grievance procedures and more. TAs and TFs are encouraged to attend to learn how the Collective Agreement benefits them and what changed during the last round of bargaining.
11:30 – 12:30pm
Concurrent Sessions B
B.1: Nurturing Community for Meaningful Discussions
Facilitated by Clarissa de Leon, Centre for Teaching and Learning; and Faculty of Education
Biosciences Complex, Room 1102 (In-person)
As educators, we are called to grapple with the question of how to foster dynamic and engaging discussions while creating and maintaining accountable spaces. This session will unpack how to nurture community for meaningful discussions from the very first day of class and/or tutorials. Questions we will explore together include: what are co-created community guidelines and how can we use them throughout a course? What is the hidden curriculum of class discussion? How can we diversify facilitation strategies?
Nurturing Community for Meaningful Discussions Slides (PDF, 17.3MB)
B.2: Strategies for Effective Teaching in the Laboratory
Facilitated by Karalyn McRae, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Biosciences Complex, Room 1101 (In-person)
Teaching happens in many different places and spaces, and for some of us, coming back to campus this Fall means preparing to teach, and inviting students back to learn, in our laboratory, clinical, and experiential learning environments. Teaching in science, engineering and health science disciplines are all enhanced through the hands-on experimentation that happens in laboratory sessions. As a TA, how can you best prepare for in-lab teaching sessions? What are some of the common challenges of teaching in a lab space? This session will focus on introducing some essential strategies and practices that you can rely on as either a TA or new course instructor in a lab setting.
4 Key Questions for Teaching Assistants Teaching in Lab Settings (PDF, 263KB)
B.3: Implementing Equity-minded Practices in Higher Education
Facilitated by Yunyi Chen, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Online (Zoom)
To effectively respond to the continuous diversification of student populations at Queen’s, educators, including TAs and TFs are expected to develop equity-mindedness so as to better support students in their academic studies. This session aims to spark an initial conversation [with TAs and TFs] on what equity mindedness means in higher education, why it is important, and how to implement equity-minded practices in their teaching role. By the end of the session, participants will be able to define equity mindedness as well as identify a few equity-minded teaching strategies that they could apply in their practices of teaching and learning.
1:00 – 2:00pm
The Teaching and Learning Community: A Social and Networking Hour
Biosciences Complex, Atrium
In this informal hour, we invite you to come meet the Educational Development Associates team from the CTL, learn about upcoming programming for the year ahead, ask questions about teaching strategies and resources, and network with other new graduate students and educators on campus. We will meet in the Bioscience Atrium!