Learning 2 Lead Leading 2 Learn

reflections on higher education, executive coaching, and leadership

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Higher Education Leader. Executive & Organizational Coach. Perfectly Imperfect Human, Mother & Partner. Lifelong Learner & Mindfulness Practitioner (emphasis on the practice!).

Category: Educational and Curriculum Development

  • Five practical strategies for fostering learning and wellbeing in student assessment

    Recently, we’ve heard that students and course instructors are reporting feeling overwhelmed. Assessment is often at the centre of these conversations. Jones et al. (2021) acknowledge that assessment practices impact both educator’s and student’s perceptions of their wellbeing. They highlight some common tensions related to challenge, format, weighting, flexibility, and group work. I anticipate more…

  • Guiding Principles for Student Assessment in Higher Education

    As institutions rapidly transformed the delivery of student learning, the pandemic drew attention to the importance of student assessment in higher education.  Postsecondary institutions continue to grapple with the opportunities and challenges that assessment practices present across multiple organizational levels, whether in individual courses, across academic programs, or as it relates to institutional structures, policies,…

  • Supporting wellbeing for students and educators

    By: Natasha Kenny (Senior Director, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning) and Patti Dyjur (Educational Development Consultant, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning) It’s been a tough couple of years for students and educators (Brazeau et al., 2020; Morgan and Simmons, 2021).  Over the past few weeks, we’ve increasingly heard from our academic community that students…

  • Five approaches to guide the planning, design, and use of active learning classroom spaces

    By Natasha Kenny and Gavan Watson Post 2 of 2 In our first post, we explored what active learning classrooms were, concluding that they are fundamental to supporting student-centred approaches to learning, provide a visible artifact of an institution’s philosophy of learning, and must be seen as a critical component of our teaching and learning…

  • Department Chairs and Leadership During the Global Pandemic

    The global pandemic has been difficult for many in higher education.   “The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the key assumptions and beliefs that serve as the foundation of higher education” (Brazeau, 2020, p.688). Recognizing that the pandemic has impacted people very differently, Dr. Klodiana Kolomitro and I highlighted a few of the challenges the pandemic has…

  • A framework for influencing change in teaching and learning cultures, communities, and practices.

    As a leader of a teaching and learning institute at a large-research intensive institution, I reflect a lot on how change and learning happens in organizations.   How do teaching and learning centres work to influence teaching and learning cultures, communities and practices? A couple of years ago, I presented at the Educational Developers of Caucus…

  • Fostering Meaningful Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Learning and Development Opportunities in Higher Ed

    With leadership from University of Calgary’s Dr. Lorelli Nowell (https://twitter.com/lorelli_nowell), I recently collaborated with a fabulous group of scholars to publish a framework for postdoctoral scholar professional learning and development. The framework presents a holistic view of how we can better support postdoctoral scholars as they move forward in their academic and professional careers –…

  • Asking Powerful Questions

    Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22206521@N03 Appreciative inquiry (AI) is an energizing approach for sparking positive change in people, groups, and organizations. It focuses on what is working well (appreciative) by engaging people in asking questions and telling stories (inquiry). The shift in focus to the positive and what is working well generates energy within the group or organization,…

  • SOARing through Curriculum Development Processes

    As a foundational component of most curriculum review processes, we frequently engage in a Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Challenges (SWOC) analysis with faculty and instructors involved in the teaching and delivery of courses within a major or degree program.  The SWOC analysis framework is also often used as an effective framework for conducting focus groups…

  • External Factors Impacting Educational and Curriculum Development in Ontario

    In thinking about some of the external factors which are likely to impact and increase demand for Educational and Curriculum Development at the University of Guelph, the following five came quickly to mind.  All of the factors below will  impact areas that are core to the expertise, services and support areas that we provide including: …