Learning 2 Lead Leading 2 Learn
reflections on higher education, executive coaching, and leadership
recent posts
- What’s Trying to Be Born Through You? A Different Approach to New Year Intentions
- Authentic Assessment Moves beyond the Workplace
- Leading Through the Holiday Season: When Self-Criticism Takes Over
- Enhancing Student Careers Through Undergraduate Research
- Leading Change in Higher Education: A Framework for Strategic and Relational Leadership
about
Category: Educational and Curriculum Development
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I was inspired to read this paper on authentic assessment, which confirms that when we refer to authentic assessment practices in higher education we must move “from a primary focus on workplaces and assessment performance to a broader focus that includes students and societal needs” (Zhan et al., 2025). Research findings Zhan et al. (2025)…
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As a leader working in higher education, I navigate what feels like an unprecedented array of challenges. Everything feels like an urgent priority. I recently collaborated with colleagues across UCalgary’s Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning to explore the shifts and transformations we are experiencing in higher education (Kenny et al., 2025), and to develop…
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Trusting your inner wisdom in team coaching to navigate conflict and strengthen psychological safety
What is team coaching? Team coaching involves partnering with and walking alongside teams to help them learn together, relate together, reflect together, achieve together, and grow together. Team coaching supports teams in leveraging their collective talents and gifts to achieve goals, strengthen performance, enhance team health, and transform themselves, their team and their organization(s). Traylor et al. (2020)…
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I’ve been connecting with several teaching and learning leaders across Canada, exploring the shifts and transformations we have been experiencing in higher education following the pandemic. I’ve experienced something during these conversations that has taken me by surprise. I’ve caught myself wondering: What does it mean to be an educational developer? What do we do…
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When I started my work in educational development and teaching and learning in the early 2000s, we talked a lot about the need to shift our focus from teaching to student learning in higher education. Fundamentally, this meant embracing a mindset more focused on what and how students learned rather than the content we taught, or how we would…
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I was asked to share some insights on the future of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) by Mindi Summers and Fabian Neuhaus as part of their work as educational leaders in residence at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. They asked me to reflect on my hopes for SoTL at UCalgary into…
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By: Natasha Kenny and Patti Dyjur Following teaching and learning disruptions during the pandemic, we heard a lot about the struggles students were facing as they returned to the classroom. For example, Nappierala et al. (2022) summarized that undergraduate students faced a “skills gap” in time management, organization, independent learning, engagement and communication. Students were…
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I love a good read on how best to influence teaching and learning cultures in higher education. This recent article had me thinking critically about our work in higher education – Myllykoski-Laine et al. (2023). It reminded me of four key elements critical to building a supportive teaching culture in higher education: The authors acknowledge…
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As we embark on a new academic year, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be an effective educator in higher education. I have to admit that I struggle with the word effective recognizing that teaching and learning are complex and nuanced. Developing teaching expertise is a consistent practice that is supported…
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The last three years have presented extraordinarily complex challenges in higher education, as we navigated pivots and experienced ongoing disruptions in our teaching and learning spaces, environments, and communities. We became more aware of the systemic inequities that exist across our organizations. We’ve questioned and leaned into the opportunities and challenges our organizational infrastructure presents…
Learning 2 Lead Leading 2 Learn 