Dr. Michelle Majeed
Educational Developer

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What pathway did you take to your career as an Educational Developer?   

Like many of those who hold the title of Educational Developer, my path to this career was a winding one. It is challenging to remember a time when I did not imagine myself teaching in higher education. In the years between my undergraduate and graduate degrees, I worked in the mental health sector and was drawn to anti-stigma and community development work, essentially, teaching in the community for a diversity of learners (e.g., high school students, police divisions, ethno-cultural communities). The impetus for returning to university to complete a doctoral degree was to teach at the post-secondary level and I was very excited at the prospect of working as a Teaching Assistant (TA) to continue to improve my teaching practices. However, after several years of working as a TA, I hit a wall professionally and needed support to advance my teaching practice. That led me to the Teaching Assistant’s Training Program (TATP) at the University of Toronto, which is a peer-to-peer program for graduate-student learners. During my consultations with colleagues in the program, I realized how fulfilling educational development was and how excited I was about the work. I spent the next three years as a Trainer and then Coordinator in the program and then moved forward with a career in educational development, working as an Instructional Consultant at the University of Michigan, Humber College, and Durham College. I continued to work as a Sessional Lecturer teaching in geography, social sciences, and health studies departments with more and more of my teaching occurring online. When the pandemic hit, I applied my educational development knowledge alongside my hands-on experience as a Sessional Lecturer and took a role as an Instructional Designer at OCAD University to support the rapid shift to online learning. I am thrilled to have joined the OTL and to continue my educational development journey and growth at the University of Guelph! 

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What interests you about teaching and learning?   

As a multidisciplinary researcher and teacher, I enjoy learning about the pedagogical practices of different disciplines, how they have developed and how they can inspire and inform other disciplines and communities. This cross-pollination of ideas is exciting and illuminating. 

In addition to being an Educational Developer, I am also a health researcher who has a long-standing interest in making educational spaces healthier places for students, staff, and faculty. I believe that through the development of relationships and strategies that allow for holistic understandings of health, well-being can be nurtured in educational settings but taken up in all aspects of our daily lives. 

Additionally, what interests me in teaching and learning is that it can disrupt the notion that educational settings are “not the real world” by recognizing the full lives of our students and by providing them with the opportunities to engage with the world as critically engaged citizens.  

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What advice would you give new instructors?  

• Keep a Teaching & Learning Journal
  • A teaching and learning journal can provide instructors at any point in their career a space to document their observations, reflections, and other thoughts on teaching. The journal can offer a space to reflect on what worked well, what issues arose, and potential ideas for future iterations of courses. It is also a great place to note resources and other materials one might want to take up in their courses. The journal can also provide additional context to read student feedback through and can support the documentation of one’s teaching, such as through a teaching dossier. 

• Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

  • Teaching, just like learning, is a process and pedagogical changes can be scaffolded to support both the instructor and the students successfully navigate these changes. You might feel like you want to make large scale change in your course but that can be an overwhelming task. Breaking these changes up into stages can help with managing the change as well as provide time and space to reflect throughout the process that might bring up other exciting findings and opportunities.