TMU Learning and Teaching Conference
TMU Learning & Teaching Conference
Thursday, May 16, 2024
The Conference Program Schedule is now live! View the conference itinerary, speaker biographies, abstracts for the sessions, and more, to assist you in planning your conference experience ahead of time. Visit the program now.
Technology and Teaching in an Age of Disruption
This year's Learning & Teaching Conference will bring together the teaching community at TMU to share knowledge and experience related to technology-enhanced teaching and to discuss the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead for teaching and learning.
Building upon what we’ve learned over the past few years, we’ll ask big questions about how we might navigate through a rapidly changing teaching and learning landscape, experimenting with bold new approaches to pedagogy, leveraging the wealth of digital learning tools at our disposal, and making the most of our campus learning spaces to provide high-quality experiences for every student while mitigating the challenges that technologies like artificial intelligence introduce.
To stay informed about conference updates, we encourage you to join Teachnet or follow us on X (external link)
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Dr. Bonnie Stewart
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Windsor
Generative Ethics - Confronting What AI Means for Higher Education
Dr. Bonnie Stewart (external link) is an educator and social media researcher fascinated by who we are when we’re online. Associate Professor of Online Pedagogy and Workplace Learning at the University of Windsor, Bonnie explores the implications of digital networks and Generative AI for institutions and society. Bonnie was an early MOOC researcher and ethnographer of Twitter as an academic environment and currently investigates what it means to know, to learn, and to belong in a society shaped by our current information ecosystem. Bonnie is a career educator with extensive facilitation experience in higher ed, who has worked with learners and professionals on all three coasts of Canada and around the world.
Over a year after the public release of ChatGPT, how have universities responded to the new challenges and opportunities presented by generative artificial intelligence? This plenary session includes vice provosts from our region who have led efforts at their institutions to develop guidelines, best practices, and policies for confronting the effects of generative artificial intelligence on learning and teaching in higher education. Sean Kheraj, Vice-Provost Academic (TMU) will host and moderate a conversation with other vice provosts from York University, University of Toronto, and McMaster University to explore how each campus has managed a range of issues including teaching development, academic integrity, assessment design, ethics, and more.
Panelists
Chloë Brushwood Rose (external link)
Vice-Provost, Teaching & Learning
York University
Susan McCahan (external link)
Vice-Provost, Academic Programs and Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education
University of Toronto
Kim Dej (external link)
Vice-Provost, Teaching & Learning
McMaster University
Moderator
Cultivating Inclusive Learning Environments
- Decolonization & Indigenous pedagogies
- Black-focused pedagogy and addressing ABR
- Inclusive design
- Student well-being
Expanding Learning Beyond the Classroom
- Global learning
- Experiential learning
- Supporting International students
- Learning in community
Empowering Student Voice and Agency
- Assessment strategies
- Student-centered learning activities
- Students as partners in learning and teaching
- Learning through lived experiences
Teaching with Technology and Navigating the New Normal
- Blended learning approaches
- Leveraging GenAI in teaching
- Digital tools for student engagement
- Incorporating digital content
Assessing Learning in an Age of GenAI
- Promoting academic rigour and integrity
- Encouraging inquiry, connection, and critical analysis
- Discipline-specific approaches to using GenAI
- Fostering GenAI literacy
| 8:30 AM: EVENT CHECK-IN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:30 - 10:50 AM: OPENING & KEYNOTE | ||||
| 10:50 AM: BREAK | ||||
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: CONCURRENT SESSIONS GROUP A | ||||
| A1. Cultivating Inclusive Learning Environments | A2. Empowering Student Voice and Agency | A3. Expanding Learning Beyond the Classroom | A4. Teaching with Technology and Navigating the New Normal | |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: ADVANCING BLACK-FOCUSED PEDAGOGY AND SCHOLARSHIPS AT TMU | ||||
| 12:00 - 1:00 PM: LUNCH | ||||
| 1:00 - 2:00 PM: INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN LEARNING & TEACHING | ||||
| 2:10 - 3:10 PM: CONCURRENT SESSIONS GROUP B | ||||
| B1. Cultivating Inclusive Learning Environments | B2. Empowering Student Voice and Agency | B3. Expanding Learning Beyond the Classroom | B4. Teaching with Technology and Navigating the New Normal | |
| 2:10 - 3:10 PM: LEARNING & TEACHING GRANTS SPOTLIGHT | ||||
| 3:20 - 4:20 PM: CONCURRENT SESSIONS GROUP C | ||||
| C1. Cultivating Inclusive Learning Environments | C2. Empowering Student Voice and Agency | C3. Teaching with Technology and Navigating the New Normal | ||
| 3:20 - 4:20 PM: INDIGENOUS SCIENCE THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING - INTERACTIVE HIDE TANNING EXPERIENCE | ||||
| 3:20 - 4:20 PM: FIRST STEPS TO ADDRESSING GENERATIVE AI IN ASSESSMENTS - AN INTERACTIVE EXPLORATION | ||||
| 4:30 PM: CHANG RECEPTION & POSTER SESSION | ||||
Faculty and Contract Lecturers are invited to submit proposals to present at the 2024 Learning & Teaching Conference: Technology and Teaching in an Age of Disruption.
Successful proposals will be chosen based on their applicability to the overall theme of the conference, as well as their relation to this year’s pathways:
- Expanding Learning Beyond the Classroom
- Empowering Student Voice and Agency
- Teaching with Technology and Navigating the New Normal
- Cultivating Inclusive Learning Environments
- Assessing Learning in an Age of GenAI
Submission categories include concurrent sessions, and poster presentations.
Submission Process
The Call for Proposals is now closed.
Review Process
All submissions will be reviewed and evaluated according to the criteria outlined in the call for proposals.
Please note that the programming committee may accept a submission with the stipulation that it move to a different format (for example, from a concurrent session to a poster session). In such cases, submitters will be offered the opportunity to either accept or reject this option.
Registration for this year’s TMU Learning & Teaching Conference is now open. Details about sessions (concurrent sessions and poster presentations) will soon be available.
Registration will remain open until Friday, May 10, 2024 at 5 p.m.
Please note: All presenters must register for the Conference.
If you experience issues with your registration, please contact CELT at teachingcentre@torontomu.ca.
Past conferences
Thank you
On behalf of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, we would like to express our gratitude to those who took part and made valuable contributions to the 2023 TMU Learning and Teaching Conference.
We truly appreciate the time and effort our presenters dedicated to sharing their knowledge with the TMU community, and we hope that all attendees, whether joining online or in-person, had a fulfilling experience. We would also like to extend our thanks to the dedicated volunteers who worked behind the scenes to make this event possible.
Thank you once again, and we look forward to seeing you at future events!
To stay informed about our latest news and events, we encourage you to join Teachnet or follow us on Twitter (external link)
Conference Highlights
Reimagining Teaching: May 17 - 18, 2023
The annual event brought together the teaching community at TMU to build on what we’ve learned over the past few years about creating accessible, inclusive, and engaging learning environments, and we’ll ask big questions about how we might reimagine our teaching practices moving forward: experimenting with bold new approaches to pedagogy; leveraging the wealth of digital learning tools at our disposal; and making the most of our campus learning spaces to provide high-quality experiences for every student.
The two-day event (held virtually and in-person) welcomed:
50 speakers
30+ volunteers, moderators, and tech checkers
250+ attendees (faculty, contract lecturers, staff, graduate students, and alumni)
Curated programming included:
Keynotes by Maria Crabtree & Dr. George Sefa Dei
Nine special sessions
Interactive social activities
A sensory-friendly quiet room
An in-person lunch and reception (sponsored by the Chang School)
The team working behind-the-scenes included:
The conference planning committee, composed of members from the six resource areas in the Teaching Centre
Volunteers, moderators, and tech support (staff, graduate students, and career boost students)
FMD, Media Services, the Chang School, TMU Eats, TorontoMet Today, and TMU Superstars
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Conference Portal
Our team created a custom portal to enhance the experience of participants attending the conference, whether they were joining virtually or in-person.
Registrants
Attendees were provided with the flexibility to participate in the conference either virtually on day 1, in-person on day 2, or attend both days. Of our registrants:
29% planned to attended virtually
11% planned to attended in-person
60% planned to attended both
Participant feedback:
"I had a great time at LTC2023! I attended a session in every available time-slot, and I enjoyed every presentation. The sessions were well-moderated, and the themes were thought out. I never felt rushed by the timing of the day. The poster session and reception to close was wonderful as well."
Attending the in-person day of the conference was a shock in the best way possible. I was blown away by the level of organization (I was greeted at the door when entering ENG!), the attention to detail (e.g., the signage in the lobby on upcoming sessions), and the support staff (e.g., the tech support in every session room). I was also shocked by the investment in the conference: the floral displays, the incredible lunch, and the drinks and hors d'oeuvres to end the day. I know conferences are about dissemination of knowledge and not food per se, but it always brightens the experience! My only suggestion would be to provide larger boards for poster presenters to attach their work. Otherwise, an absolutely fantastic conference!
It was such a fulfilling day to be able to get to know so many people from across campus that I never would have had the opportunity to interact with otherwise. Everyone on the volunteer team this year was so kind, supportive, and resourceful. I have experience working at other events like this and I have never been treated with the respect, care, and kindness that I was treated with on the day of this conference. This is such a wonderful team of organizers and everyone should be incredibly proud of themselves. I really have to say that the way we were prepared and treated is SO instrumental to the functioning of a successful conference. We had both the tools and the support necessary to get the job done not only successfully but exceptionally!
Emerging and Imagining: Futures for Learning and Teaching - May 19, 2022
The past two years were marked by disruption. The challenges we faced have also revealed myriad opportunities to move past the status quo and transform learning and teaching.
As we look forward to the next chapter for our institution, we invited our community to imagine the possible futures that can emerge for a student experience grounded in our values.
The one-day hybrid event welcomed:
1 keynote speaker
68 presentations
500+ attendees
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Vanessa Andreotti provided the keynote address with an overview of her work Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Art/Research Collective (GTDF) of which she is a founding member, based at UBC. She showcased educational tools that build our collective capacity and stamina to hold space for difficult conversations about wicked social and global challenges without feeling immobilized or demanding immediate quick fixes. Wicked challenges are characterized by hyper-complexity, uncertainty and interlocked problems with no possibility for easy solutions.
Watch a recording of Dr. Andreotti’s Keynote address (external link, opens in new window) , or download the slides (external link)
Participant feedback
This diversity in participation demonstrated that accessibility efforts put forth by the Teaching Centre were well-used by presenters and attendees alike.
Of our participants:
65% attended online
25% attended in-person
10% attended both
“The Keynote was outstanding. I really would love to be able to work with some of her ideas with students. It really is what they need right now.
“This was the first HyFlex conference I've attended and also the first in-person event I've attended in over 2 years. I really thought the day-of organization was fantastic. You had a great number of volunteers/moderators and it seemed you thought of everything. Truly impressive - well done!!”
“I know the effort put in to make this happen must have been great indeed, and it really made for a seamless experience of community in all our modes (whether virtual or in-person).”
“Thank you - the virtual option to attend was fantastic, and I hope can be retained at future meetings. The two formats really made it accessible for everyone to participate….Congratulations to the team!”