Stemming from increased levels of participation and diversity of the student base and from growing scrutiny on the quality of university degrees, governments have begun establishing mechanisms to monitor and support quality in higher education. Faced with administrative quality assurance structures, academics often complain that little is…

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…

Building passion and potential for creative learning in higher education involves deliberately seeking to understand, appreciate, and teach for creativity. Recognizing the urgent need for creativity and problem solving skills, and understanding that instructors must embrace creative learning for themselves first, is central. Creativity cannot be…

The importance of moral courage to teaching and learning has been recognized by a number of authors. The process pedagogy of Alfred North Whitehead proposes that emotion is central to experience and to the imaginative questioning which enables learning and the ability to stand up for one's beliefs. Faculty who wish to connect with their students…

Communities of practice are becoming more widespread within higher education, yet little research has explored how these social learning networks can enhance faculty development. The focus of this paper is to describe the first-year experience of a community of practice initiative at McMaster University that was designed to engage groups of…

Evaluating higher education degree programs is an arduous task. This paper suggests innovative strategies for addressing four types of challenges that commonly occur during program evaluation: identifying theoretical models for evaluation, balancing potentially conflicting standards, accommodating faculty differences, and aligning courses.…

A global view requires not only a broader perspective, but also greater depth to anchor it firmly. In increasingly changing contexts, are we connected to ourselves in a way that feeds our spirits and nourishes our work? A professional sphere based only on research and practice risks being unbalanced and may jeopardize our well-being as academics.…

Feedback on student work is problematic for faculty and students in British higher education. Evaluation feedback takes faculty much time to produce and students are often dissatisfied with its quantity, timing, and clarity. The Sounds Good project has been experimenting with the use of digital audio for feedback, aiming to save faculty time and…

The student population in Canada's higher education institutions is becoming increasingly racially and culturally diverse. Canadian higher education has the obligation to build inclusive teaching and learning environments where the needs and aspirations of students from diverse cultures and backgrounds can be addressed in an equitable manner.…