June 2022

OTL Announcements

Learning Enhancement Fund and AVPA SoTL Grant Recipients 

Three LEF projects received funding to support and enrich the learning experience of our undergraduate students: Learning to Bounce: Building Academic Resilience with SAS Students Experiencing Mental Health Disabilities (Tara Embrey and Melissa Beacom, Student Accessibility Services), Students as Partners in Authentic Assessment Design (Dr. Kerry Ritchie, Human Health & Nutritional Sciences), and Curricular Integration of Career Foundations in the College of Biological Science (Heather Pollock, Office of the Associate Dean Academic, College of Biological Science) 

The AVPA SoTL Grant provides financial support for research projects that inform and enhance learning experiences, teaching practices, and educational development within and across disciplines. Dr. Alena Barysevich (School of Languages and Literatures) received a grant for Investigating the Benefits of Translanguaging Pedagogy in a Language School at a Canadian University. 

Congratulations to this year’s LEF and AVPA SoTL Grant recipients! 

What's Happening In OTL?

New Facilitators Trained to Lead Instructional Skills Workshops (ISWs) 

This May, 9 faculty, instructors, and staff from across campus participated in the Facilitator Development Workshop (FDW) offered by OTL. During this intensive 5-day workshop, participants refined their teaching techniques through mini-lessons and developed strategies for facilitating group feedback and promoting reflection. The participants, representing CBS, CSAHS, Lang, the Library, OAC, and OTL, are now certified to facilitate Instructional Skills Workshops (ISWs). The ISW is an experiential, small-group workshop designed to enhance teaching skills in new and experienced instructors.  

If you’re interested in learning more about or participating in an ISW or FDW, email otl@uoguelph.ca to be added to the ISW/FDW contact list. 

Summer Reading Guide: Books on Teaching, Learning, and Assessment 

Consider adding a teaching, learning, and assessment-related book to your summer reading stack! We recommend the following engaging books, several of which have been discussed in the OTL Book Club. Each book includes practical teaching and assessment strategies supported by research. Many of the books are available in the McLaughlin Library in hard copy or e-book format.  

• Creating Self-Regulated Learners: Strategies to Strengthen Students' Self-Awareness and Learning Skills (Nilson, 2013). This book features research on self-regulation and describes the importance of this skill to enhance learning. The author describes activities and assignments through which students can progressively reflect on, monitor and improve their learning skills. 
• How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching (Eyler, 2018). This book features five broad themes related to teaching and learning (curiosity, sociality, emotion, authenticity, and failure) and highlights scientific inquiry and interviews with university instructors with concrete suggestions for teaching strategies.
• Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning(2nd Edition) (Lang, 2021). This inspiring book provides small, concrete strategies that instructors can incorporate into their teaching to improve student learning.  
• The Spark of Learning:Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion (Cavanagh, 2016). The Spark of Learning focuses on incorporating affective science into teaching and learning. The author discusses how instructors can capitalize on students’ emotions to increase motivation, attention, and learning. 
• Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) (Blum, [Ed.], 2020). This edited collection includes practical and evidence-based discussions from instructors who have ‘gone gradeless.’ 
• What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching (Addy, Dube, Mitchell & SoRelle, 2021). This book describes the results of a survey of hundreds of instructors who define what inclusive teaching meant to them and what inclusive teaching approaches they implemented in their courses.  

Spotlight on U of G SoTL Research

A recent publication in the Nouvelle Revue Synergies Canada highlights the work of Dr. Alena Barysevich from the School of Languages and Literatures (SOLAL). The paper describes an innovative online language learning mini course called Fundamentals of Language and Language Learning. The purpose of the interactive training modules (12-15 hours of intervention) is to introduce first-year SOLAL students, who take French, German, Italian, and Spanish Introductory courses, to the fundamentals of languages structure, function, and interconnections as well as to use general language (metalinguistic) awareness to consolidated language learning. Dr. Barysevich and her collaborators used evidence-based pedagogical practices and research from linguistics and second language acquisition to design the course and to run it among 300-500 students per semester. Feedback from SOLAL students who participated in a pilot version of the mini course in Winter 2021 was very positive. The project was supported by a Learning Enhancement Fund grant to Dr. Barysevich.