Events

10:00 -11:30 am

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Facilitators: Shawn Xiong, Instructor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Susan Gass, University Teaching Fellow, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Motivating students to get excited about our content can be a real challenge. Student often wonder, “why do I need to know this?” They want a concrete, real-world reason why they should learn it. “Because knowledge is good” is not an answer. “Because critical thinking is important” is also not convincing to a student. Clarifying relevance of our course materials will be increasingly essential for each new generation of students, and we must anticipate students repeatedly inquiring explicitly “Why do we need to know this?” It’s so glaringly obvious to us why everyone in the world should know what we think is important and how to do the things we know how to do, but students often don’t share our perspectives. Case studies are an excellent active learning tool to demonstrate the relevance of our content to students. Case studies also help students apply concepts within varied contexts and build teamwork skills. In this workshop, we will explore many examples of how a STEM educator may employ case studies to teach, engage, and assess our students.

10:00 - 11:00 am

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This session is for researchers including faculty members and graduate students, who want to learn more about taking part in Indigenous research. Whether you teach a research methods course within your discipline, are involved with Indigenous research, or are simply interested in the topic, this session is for you.

Indigenous research involves many considerations, including the beliefs and attitudes that guide our actions as researchers. Join this 1-hour virtual session to discuss research paradigms, positionality, and ways to cultivate respectful research partnerships. Relevant resources will be shared, and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions relating to their own research practices or goals.

Facilitators: Jessica Morin, MA. Indigenous Research Advisor, Office of Research Services: Jessica Morin (Ojibway, French Canadian and Polish) supports Indigenous research resource and process development in the Office of Research Services and is working alongside a steering committee towards the development of an Indigenous research policy framework.

Rachelle McKay, MA. Education Developer, Indigenous Knowledges and Ways of Knowing, Centre for Learning & Teaching: Rachelle McKay (Little Saskatchewan First Nation, Treaty 2 territory) aids faculty members in Indigenizing and decolonizing their course curriculums and teaching practices and has facilitated community-based research projects in the past.

1:00 - 2:00 pm, MS Teams

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Co-facilitators: Rachelle McKay, Educational Developer Indigenous Knowledges & Ways of Knowing & Meaghan Ryan, African Nova Scotian & African Descent Nursing Cohort Advisor

Abstract: Past and ongoing structures of various health professions have been produced by and within the white supremacy of colonialism: continued health disparities between racial groups and the underrepresentation of Black & Indigenous health care providers are the result of ongoing systemic and institutional inequities that underpin the contemporary health care system. To address these disparities and ensure all patients will receive quality care, education within the health professions needs to be infused with anti-racism and decolonial practice.

This virtual seminar, co-facilitated by Meaghan Ryan (School of Nursing) and Rachelle McKay (CLT), will critically engage in the topics of whiteness, racism, and colonialism, as they relate the health professions, to strengthen faculty members’ understanding of these topics while considering how course curriculums and approaches to teaching can better promote anti-racist and decolonial practice in the health professions.

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Online via Teams

To promote new and resurgent methods and approaches in teaching and learning, The Transformative Education Retreat (July 5-7) is an opportunity to learn from, and alongside, faculty members and educational developers who are developing and implementing creative and innovative teaching and learning practices, as examples of transformative education across the disciplines.  

Open to members of the Dalhousie community as well as those from other post-secondary institutions, virtual session topics will include: Transforming Spaces and Teaching Outside of the Classroom, Practicing Intellectual Humility, Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies, and Critical Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Methodologies.

Registration will open the end of May.