Events

Friday, December 5
12–1:20 p.m.
Online
Link to register for the event

Learning outcomes set the parameters of course design, guide assessment creation, and communicate expectations and goals to students. Outcomes that are specific and higher-order encourage students to meet course expectations and assessment tasks with integrity. Outcomes that are responsive to authentic futures develop students’ critical and ethical engagement within and beyond course contexts. Learning outcomes can be crafted to guide students in appropriate course and academic behaviour, and help them build capacities and competencies to participate in a GenA.I.-infused world. 

This workshop will lead participants in crafting such outcomes, with tips on how to communicate them to students and testing the alignment of assessments and activities with outcomes.

Presenter

Kate Crane, MA (she/her), Educational Developer, Centre for Learning and Teaching

Monday, December 8
10–11:20 a.m.
Online via Microsoft Teams
Link to register for the event

What does trust look like in a higher education classroom? (How) Can we trust GenAI tools? How does our pedagogical approach to GenAI impact the trust between instructors and students, or between students?

This session will begin with a summary of an international research collaboration on the topic of instructor-student trust in higher education. The Dal SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) researchers that have been contributing to this project will briefly discuss the background of this trust research, including the trust framework that has emerged from it, and the results of the work that has been done here at Dal.

We will then have a group discussion about how the concept of trust in the university classroom might apply to, or intersect with discussions of GenAI in this setting.

Presenters

• Hoyeon Chang, Undergraduate Student, Psychology
• Kaelyn Collins, Undergraduate Student, Biology and Environmental Science
• Debra Grantham, University Teaching Fellow, Department of Biology, Dalhousie University
• Subin (Ali) Kim, Undergraduate Student, Medical Sciences
• Laurel Schut, Instructor, College of Sustainability
• Kate Thompson, PhD, Educational Developer (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)

Wednesday, December 10
3–4 p.m.
Online

Link to join the drop-in. (Opens in Microsoft Teams)

Wednesday, January 14
2–3 p.m.
Online
Link to join the drop-in

No registration is required. Drop in anytime during the session if you have questions about your role as a TA, CLT’s workshops for graduate students, or the Certificate in University Teaching and Learning (CUTL) program. Whether you are navigating your first teaching assignment or looking to deepen your professional development, this informal space is an opportunity to connect, ask questions, and learn more about the supports available to you.

Facilitator

Ezgi Ozyonum, PhD (she/her)
Educational Developer (Student Development)

Intended audience

• Graduate Students
• TAs
• Markers
• Demonstrators

Tuesday, January 20, 2026
2–3 p.m.
Online
Link to register for the event

Grades, rubrics, and tests often reflect Euro-Western notions of success. This workshop introduces alternative, relational, and culturally responsive approaches to evaluating learning, helping faculty critically examine whose knowledge is valued and how assessment can reinforce or challenge inequities.

Through attending this session, participants will learn to:

• Recognize how traditional assessment methods reflect colonial and cultural assumptions.
• Explore relational, inclusive, and culturally responsive assessment strategies.
• Design evaluation practices that honor diverse ways of knowing and learning, while supporting student growth and success.

This session builds on concepts from the previous workshops but can be attended independently by anyone interested in transforming assessment practices.

Facilitator

Rachelle McKay, Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges & Ways of Knowing

Tuesday, January 27, 2026
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
Online via Microsoft Teams

Link to register for the session. 

In this workshop, facilitators will introduce the pedagogical competencies and frameworks of Intercultural Teaching Competence (ITC) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), reflective tools that help guide instructors in designing courses and creating safe, interactive, flexible, and culturally responsive classroom environments.

The workshop will centre on a (virtual) “hands-on” activity where participants in small groups will arrange the “building blocks” of culturally responsive teaching by identifying the connections and overlaps of UDL and ITC. Then, together, we will reflect on, discuss, and strategize ways to incorporate these concepts into our course designs and teaching practices.

Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, we hope that you will be able to:

• articulate the main ideas of ITC and UDL, and how these intersect to form culturally responsive pedagogies (CRP)
• identify ways in which you are already using ITC, UDL, and/or CRP in your courses
• feel inspired and invested in continuing to embed CRP into your course designs and teaching

Facilitators

Dr. Shazia Nawaz Awan (she/her), Educational Developer (Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Global Engagement)

Dr. Les T. Johnson (he/him), Educational Developer (Accessible Digital Learning)

Wednesday, January 28
1:30–3 p.m.
Killam Library, Room B400*
Link to register for the event

Back by popular demand: the Navigating the Emotional Labour of Teaching workshop! “Emotional labour” is a term that was first coined by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in 1983 to describe the process of managing outward expressions of feelings to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job. It involves wearing a “mask” that requires the suppression of negative emotions and the display of only positive emotions, regardless of how you actually feel. Consider a time when you received negative news and then had to teach ten minutes later or when you had to hide your frustration while telling the tenth student, “Check the syllabus!” Performing emotional labour can lead to lower job satisfaction and burnout (Humphrey, 2021). In this in-person workshop, you will:

• Learn what emotional labour looks like in the context of teaching and its associated impacts.
• Be introduced to a set of strategies to redirect the energy and efforts used for emotional labour toward effective pedagogy and instructor self-care.
• Reflect upon your own experiences with emotional labour in your teaching. Group sharing is welcomed, but not required.

Facilitator

Daniella Sieukaran, MA (she/her)
Senior Educational Developer (Program Development)

Intended audience

• Instructors
• Graduate students
• Early career instructors

*Please note that the B400 classroom is in the basement of the Killam Library. We are aware of, and apologize for, the accessibility barriers associated with this room. If you require the use of an elevator to reach this room, one of the CLT staff will have to access the elevator with you, using their key card. Please let us know in advance so that we can facilitate a smooth and timely transition to the basement.

We also ask that participants be respectful of those with significant allergies and avoid wearing perfume, aftershave, cologne, and highly scented hairspray, soaps, lotions, and shampoos.

Tuesday, February 24
1–2:30 p.m.
Killam Library, Room B400*
Link to register for the event (opens in new window)

When we think of enhancing memory in the university context, the focus usually is on helping our students learn course content. In this in-person session, we flip the script and focus on how memory impacts the experience of teaching. You will learn the basics of how memory works and how different types of memory are used in teaching. We will then explore factors and conditions that may contribute to memory challenges and may impact your teaching, such as age; lack of sleep; medical conditions (e.g., head injuries, menopause, long COVID); mental health challenges (e.g., chronic stress/burnout, depression, anxiety); and medication side effects.

The session co-facilitators will share their own lived experiences with memory and teaching. Sharing your experiences is welcomed, but not required. We will end with collectively brainstorming and sharing strategies for improving memory in the context of your teaching responsibilities. You will use these ideas to begin developing a memory plan of personalized strategies.

Presenters

Daniella Sieukaran, MA (she/her), Senior Educational Developer (Program Development)
Suzanne Le-May Sheffield, PhD (she/her), Director, Centre for Learning and Teaching

Intended Audience

• Graduate students
• Instructors
• TAs/markers/demonstrators

*Please note that the B400 classroom is in the basement of the Killam Library. We are aware of, and apologize for, the accessibility barriers associated with this room. If you require the use of an elevator to reach this room, one of the CLT staff will have to access the elevator with you, using their key card. Please let us know in advance so that we can facilitate a smooth and timely transition to the basement.

We also ask that participants be respectful of those with significant allergies and avoid wearing perfume, aftershave, cologne, and highly scented hairspray, soaps, lotions, and shampoos.