Every term at Queen’s, instructors at all levels look to innovate in the classroom or adopt new approaches to their teaching informed by the latest research. The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is there to support their pedagogical needs and has recently expanded the resources it offers on key topics related to equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization (EDII) in the classroom as well as its dedicated resources for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

“The Centre for Teaching and Learning has a wide array of resources available to help Queen’s instructors and now we are better positioned to support them in equity-related areas such as curricular globalization and anti-racism,” says Associate Vice-Principal (Teaching and Learning) Klodiana Kolomitro. “These are some of our institutional commitments, and I encourage any instructor at Queen’s to explore how we can help them make their courses more equitable and inclusive.”

The CTL has added new educational developer positions to create these new EDII resources and facilitate related professional development opportunities. One of the new educational developers, Yunyi Chen, focuses on program and curriculum globalization and another, Yasmine Djerbal, on anti-racism and inclusion. They both offer consultations, workshops, teaching observations, and other services available to all Queen’s instructors.

Integrating these priorities into supports for graduate students, teaching assistants, teaching fellows, and post-doctoral fellows is Karalyn McRae (Educational Developer, Graduate Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows). In this role, McRae facilitates the Professional Development in University Teaching and Learning online module series as well as the Educational Development Associate (EDA) program.

The EDA program mentors a team of graduate students to serve as educational resources for teaching assistants and teaching fellows. Three Queen’s graduate students are serving as educational development associates in the program for the 2021-2022 academic year: Clarissa de Leon, Monica L. Garvie, and Samantha Twietmeyer.

“There are many facets to successful teaching at the university level, and graduate students and post-docs sometimes need guidance as they develop,” says Andy Leger, Interim Director, CTL. “Our complement in the CTL can help in a wide variety of areas, including leveraging the strengths of teaching assistants, integrating active learning, and finding ways to make use of the physical space of the classroom.”

The CTL’s Student Educational Technology Assistants Team is returning this year to help instructors implement technology in their courses. The team was created in the 2020-2021 academic year to assist with remote teaching and learning, and it is continuing this year to support a wide variety of technological needs for both in-person and online courses. The student team works under the guidance of the CTL’s Educational Technology Team.

Learn more about these resources and how to access them on the Queen’s CTL website.