This spring the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning is thrilled to announce the inaugural event, Spring Design. A dynamic, 2 week-long series of workshops dedicated to empowering educators with teaching tools, insights, and the design time needed to elevate their teaching and course designs for the upcoming fall semester. 

Whether you are looking to enhance your teaching techniques, integrate competency-based education, revitalize your course design, or infuse your curriculum with principles of Indigenization, inclusivity, and sustainability - this Spring Design event offers a workshop for you!

Calendar of Events

Click on a title in the calendar to jump down the page to see a description and registration button.
Icons for Session delivery modes

• In-Person sessions 
• Zoom sessions 
• Hybrid offerings 

Designing your Course with GenAI: An Introduction to SMARTIE

Time: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Location: Murray Library, Room 161

Join us for an engaging one-hour workshop, with 30mins Q&A, to explore the potential of Generative AI as a thinking partner for designing your courses.

This interactive session serves as a critical introduction to SMARTIE, a GenAI tool trained specifically for assisting instructors in tasks such as creating learning outcomes, course descriptions, and more. By the end of this workshop, you’ll be ready to enhance your educational approach and lighten your workload using GenAI. Don’t miss this opportunity to stay at the forefront of educational technology and elevate your teaching practices!

• Click once to register

Setting up manageable reflective practices for your course

Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Location: Zoom

Join our 1-hour workshop where we'll explore practical strategies for integrating reflection into your university course with experiential learning components.

• Understand the importance of reflection in experiential learning, discover how it enhances understanding, critical thinking, and personal growth.
• Learn versatile techniques such as the One-Minute Paper, Reflective Journal, Reflective Essay, and Learning Portfolio.
• Adapt these methods to suit your course context.
• Follow a simple framework for creating strong reflections: Describe what happened during the experience, interpret what you learned and why, evaluate how valuable the experience was, and consider how you'll apply your insights going forward.
• Engage with fellow educators to share best practices and brainstorm innovative approaches.

Let's foster a reflective culture and empower students on their experiential journey!

• Click once to register

Embed the Sustainable Development Goals in your Course

Time: 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: Online

This workshop is designed to help you: Identify the SDGs that are most pertinent to your course. Develop learning outcomes that will help students work towards the goal(s). Adapt methods of instruction for student engagement in sustainable development. In future teaching & learning, how might we: Modify curricula to bring in relevant SDGs? Add new courses to expand students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes related to the SDGs? Use interactive pedagogies such as enabling interaction with society? 

Learning/Guiding Questions:

• Which Sustainable Development Goals SDG(s) does your course address?
• Could you identify one or two specific goals and targets (indicators) your course helps work towards?
• How might you convey this to your students?
• What kind of alignment would they see? How would it help their learning?

This session is offered in partnership with AASHE. NOTE: Registration is through the AASHE website using the link below. *Use the amount of $0 (zero) on the intake form.

• Register - AASHE form

Tired of the Disengaged? Strategies for Increasing Student Effort

Time: 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Location: Murray Library, Room 145 (CLL)

In this 1.5 hour workshop, you’ll learn simple ways to increase student ownership of learning using assessment and instructional approachs.

• Click once to register

Designing your Course with GenAI: Introduction to SMARTIE

Time: 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Location: Murray Library, Room 161

Join us for an engaging one-hour workshop (plus 30 minutes Q&A) to explore the potential of Generative AI as a thinking partner for designing your courses.

This interactive session serves as a critical introduction to SMARTIE: a GenAI tool trained specifically for assisting instructors in tasks such as creating learning outcomes, course descriptions, and more. By the end of this workshop, you’ll be ready to enhance your educational approach and lighten your workload using GenAI. Don’t miss this opportunity to stay at the forefront of educational technology and elevate your teaching practices!

• Click once to register

IDR Short Course

Dates: May 14, 16, and 17th
Time: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm (attend all three dates)
Location: Murray Library, Room 102

This short course will help prepare faculty begin the process of indigenizing their courses and/or making their respective department Indigenous friendly. Participants will be encouraged to delve into the effects of colonization, power and privilege in relation to knowledge and history of Indigenous peoples. Indigenous knowledges, epistemologies and pedagogies will be introduced.

• Click once to register

Developing Competency: Outcomes-based Grading

Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Murray Library, Room G3

This workshop will explore some major ideas of competency development and competency-based assessment and contrast them with traditional assessment practices. You'll have the opportunity to consider your own approach to assessment and its implications.

There are three sessions available this week which will focus on competency development. Attend one, or two, or register for all three!

1. Developing Competency: Outcomes-based Grading (*This session, May 15) An introduction to the spectrum of outcomes- and competency-based approaches to learning.
2. Developing competency in the classroom (Thur, May 16) Participants will explore experiential learning as a strategy for competency development.
3. Grading Competencies and Outcomes using Canvas (Fri, May 17) Explore ways to assess outcomes or competencies using the Learning Mastery gradebook in Canvas.

• Click once to register

Designing for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Location: Murray, GMCTL Classroom 50.12

Using EDI as a critical lens, you will be reimagining one element of course design using Universal Design for Learning, to reflect diversity of learning needs and foster inclusion. Please bring a device for the redesign process.

• Click once to register

Developing Competency in the Classroom

Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Murray Library, Room G3

In this session you’ll identify the learning from your course that you think students would be most likely to use in the rest of their degree or their professional lives. The session will help you design an learning experience that’s likely to ensure students are competently demonstrating the learning that matters to you. You’ll also come away with tips for providing efficient feedback, and helping students understand why the learning matters to them.

There are three sessions available this week which will focus on competency development. Attend one, or two, or register for all three!

1. Developing Competency: Outcomes-based Grading (May 15) An introduction to the spectrum of outcomes- and competency-based approaches to learning.
2. Developing competency in the classroom (*This session, Thur, May 16) Participants will explore experiential learning as a strategy for competency development.
3. Grading Competencies and Outcomes using Canvas (Fri, May 17) Explore ways to assess outcomes or competencies using the Learning Mastery gradebook in Canvas.

• Click once to register

Designing Large Classes: Strategies for Engagement, Active Learning, Feedback, and Assessment

Time: 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Location: Zoom

In this session participants will learn about a variety of tools and techniques for engaging, assessing and providing feedback to students in large classes. You will practice choosing and using appropriate strategies for your own courses.

• Click once to register

Designing your Course Syllabus

Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Murray, GMCTL Classroom 50.12

Through this session, participants will learn about how to shape their course syllabi to not only include the elements required under the Academic Courses Policy but also to set the tone for the course and provide students with a road map of their learning in the course, as well as who you as the instructor are as a person and educator.

• Click once to register

Grading Competencies and Outcomes using Canvas

Time: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Delivery: Hybrid
Location: HLTH 2334 / Zoom

This workshop explores implementing a competency or outcomes-based grading and assessment structure within Canvas. We’ll explore how to set up outcomes and use the Learning Mastery gradebook in Canvas. We’ll engage in activities and discussions to understand the various grade calculation methods and how to align outcomes with assessments.

There are three sessions available this week which will focus on competency development. Attend one, or two, or register for all three!

1. Developing Competency: Outcomes-based Grading (May 15) An introduction to the spectrum of outcomes- and competency-based approaches to learning.
2. Developing competency in the classroom (Thur, May 16) Participants will explore experiential learning as a strategy for competency development.
3. Grading Competencies and Outcomes using Canvas (*This session, Fri, May 17) Explore ways to assess outcomes or competencies using the Learning Mastery gradebook in Canvas.

• Click once to register - IN PERSON
• Click once to register - ZOOM