This paper examines levers or drivers that have influenced the direction of educational development in Canada over the last 40 years and also tries to predict what will be the impact of some current levers on changing the work of developers in the next 20 years. Reflecting on those years, it is apparent our work in the 1980s was very focused on…

Teaching culture is the product of a dynamic interplay among the embedded patterns, behaviours, values, beliefs and ideologies about teaching and learning within and across the many microcultures that make up a university. Educational researchers from across Canada developed a set of Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Surveys (ITCPS) to…

This paper presents perspectives and outcomes from a multi-stage research project focused on improving understandings of foundations for student success. The research has shifted from a focus on the phenomenon (developing an understanding of student diversity and its impacts on student success), to experimental research (studying the impact or…

Curriculum mapping can be used to document, align, visualize, and assess curricular data, such as learning outcomes, assessment materials, instructional techniques, and student pre- and post-testing scores. A cross-disciplinary Curriculum Mapping Initiative currently underway at the University of Toronto Mississauga aims to: (1) develop guidelines…

In this paper, we (a faculty member and an educational developer) discuss our attempts to be more mindful in the academy with attention to mindfulness practices in the classroom and the development of a community of practice at our institution as ways to foster community and deepen learning. Included within the paper is an introduction to…

In our service-learning courses, students work with real people and record and reflect on these experiences, to learn appropriate professional behavior, how to think creatively, and how to respond to changing circumstances. Many of our students are strategic learners, characterized by alertness to assessment and intention to achieve the highest…

In this paper, we share examples of best peer review of teaching practices, drawing on our involvement in the design and implementation of the Peer Review of Teaching program at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology. We review the history of the Peer Review of Teaching Initiative at the University of British Columbia and explain key…

Would you like to help your students adjust to university life? Perhaps you are simply interested in allowing them to feel more integrated into a department right from the start of their first year? These were the types of issues that we were hoping to address when we founded the MySci Advisors Program, a peer-mentoring group for first year…

The fourth cohort of 3M National Student Fellows explores the current state of our post-secondary education system across Canada and opportunities to further tune into practice in order to pursue an authentic and meaningful academic life. Six of the 2015 3M National Student Fellows propose recommendations for decision-makers at post-secondary…

The University of British Columbia-Vancouver (UBC-V) implemented a campus-wide survey of faculty teaching practices and perceptions. All 11 Faculties participated, resulting in a total of 1177 responses for an overall response rate of 24%. We compared response patterns of faculty who reported spending less than 25%, between 26-50%, between 51-75%,…

In this paper, we present a step-by-step guide to implement a curricular alignment project, directed at professional development and student support, and developed in a higher education French as a second language department. We outline best practices and preliminary results from our experience and provide ways to adapt our experience to other…

Undergraduate research is one of several high impact educational practices used by educational institutions to increase student engagement and success (Kuh, 2008). Many studies on the impact of undergraduate research have surveyed students or faculty on their personal experience and its influence on students' subsequent degrees and employment…

The objective of this paper is to share with other educators a teaching method that was developed to help graduate students, and potentially undergraduate students, understand how to properly reference and cite academic papers. In an attempt to teach rather than reprimand, a new teaching practice was developed for a graduate class at the…

Given the increasing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in post-secondary environments (Roessingh & Douglas, 2012), educational practices such as availability of language support for mathematics should be assessed to ensure that all students' needs are met. To explore the effects of language on mathematics in ELLs, mathematical test…

This essay synthesizes our roundtable discussion about how to develop a campus culture of undergraduate research. Our discussion began with descriptions of the University of Alberta, Augustana's initiatives: Independent Studies courses, the Student Academic Conference, and summer research assistantships. Common concerns from roundtable…