Workshops and Webinars

Presenting with Purpose

Date: Thursday, October 15, 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Facilitator: Kevin Johnson

The strategies covered in this workshop will provide a foundation applicable to many presentation contexts, including lessons and lectures, academic conferences, professional presentations, and workshops, both online and in-person.

Learning Outcomes

• Organize the basic structure of a presentation that will be effective in most contexts.
• Design clear and simple slides that will enhance and clarify your presentation.
• Utilize nonverbal and verbal public speaking strategies to enhance your presentations.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

Embracing Vulnerability in Teaching

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Kevin Johnson

In this session, we will explore how embracing vulnerability can humanize your classroom and build stronger connections with your learners. We will discuss practical ways to show authenticity and reduce anxiety while maintaining healthy professional boundaries. Join us to discover how small steps can create a more inclusive learning environment for everyone.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain how embracing vulnerability and authenticity can reduce learner anxiety and foster an inclusive classroom.
• Differentiate between productive vulnerability and oversharing to establish healthy professional boundaries.
• Develop a practical plan to integrate connection-building strategies into your current teaching context.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

♥ CUT-eligible: Inclusive Teaching

Think Global, Teach Local: Practical Strategies for Internationalizing Curriculum

Date: Friday, October 23, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Facilitator: Dr. Anna Rodrigues

In this workshop, participants will explore practical strategies for embedding global perspectives and intercultural competencies into their teaching practices. Participants will learn how intentional curriculum choices can better support multilingual students and foster a sense of belonging for everyone in the classroom.

Learning Outcomes

• Define internationalization of curriculum.
• Identify curriculum choices that can be used to internationalize teaching practices.
• Apply pedagogical strategies that support the academic success of multilingual students.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

♣ CUT-eligible: Special Topics in Higher Education

The Heart of Teaching: Turning Conflict into Connections

Date: Thursday, October 29, 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Lasandra Conliffe

Conflict in classrooms isn’t a failure of good teaching; it's where the real learning happens. This session invites instructors to step beyond the idea of the classroom as a "safe space" free of friction and instead explore how to intentionally build a "brave space," where disagreement, discomfort, and tension become part of the learning rather than something to avoid. Through open dialogue and peer sharing, instructors will reflect together on real moments of tension from their own classrooms, and leave with a strategy for inviting productive conflict into their teaching.

Learning Outcomes

• Analyze the tension between “brave space” and " safe space” frameworks by examining why civility, ownership, and choice work together when conflict shows up in class.
• Critique a real moment of tension from your own teaching, evaluating what worked, what didn’t, and how a “brave space” approach can change the outcome.
• Design a conflict resolution strategy with intentionality for an upcoming class session.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

♥ CUT-eligible: Inclusive Teaching

Leveraging Technology for Inclusive Education

Date: Monday, November 16, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Facilitators: Hannah Atkinson and Lasandra Conliffe

This workshop will explore how technology can drive inclusivity in education by integrating intersectional approaches and Universal Design for Learning( UDL) principles. Participants will explore tools and resources to apply in their instructional practices.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply intersectionality and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to create inclusive learning environments.
• Employ technology for inclusivity and accessibility in practice.
• Identify actionable strategies to address inclusive instructional challenges in your practice.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

♦ CUT-eligible: Educational Technologies

Thrown in the Deep End: Adopting Last-Minute Courses

Date: Friday, November 20, 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Facilitator: Kevin Johnson

In this session, we will explore how to adopt a triage mindset that prioritizes the quick creation of a functional and clear learning environment. We will discuss practical strategies, including streamlined Canvas navigation and leveraging existing resources. Join us to share survival strategies and build an action plan for your next unexpected teaching assignment.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply a triage mindset to prioritize essential course elements and reduce cognitive load.
• Implement rapid-deployment strategies to streamline course navigation and manage early scheduling.
• Develop an action plan to navigate the immediate hurdles of a last-minute course assignment.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants

♣ CUT-eligible: Special Topics in Higher Education

Interrupting Biases in the Classroom: Strategies for Equitable Learning Experiences

Date: Thursday, November 26, 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Facilitators: Lasandra Conliffe, Dr. Anna Rodrigues, and Dr. Rose Ann Torres

Bias often shows up quietly in higher education classrooms: who gets called on, whose perspectives are treated as the default, and how the same behaviour is read differently across student identities, eroding engagement and performance for underrepresented students. This workshop draws on current research to help participants reflect on their teaching patterns and build practical strategies for equitable participation, assessment, and curriculum design.

Learning Outcomes

• Differentiate between implicit bias and explicit discrimination.
• Identify three or more common forms of bias that occur in classroom settings.
• Explain how bias affects student outcomes, engagement, achievement and sense of belonging.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

♥ CUT-eligible: Inclusive Teaching

The Perfect Prompt: Unlocking the Potential of Generative AI

Date: Monday, November 30, 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Facilitators: Kevin Johnson and Miranda Varricchio

In this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore how to craft effective prompts for generative AI tools. You will be guided through how to create prompts that will result in clear, relevant, and actionable responses. Whether you're using generative AI for teaching, research, or creative work, this session will help you unlock its full potential.

Learning Outcomes

• Create prompts with a general understanding of how prompt structure can shape outputs in a text-based GAI tool.
• Refine prompts based on their initial outputs to help clarify and refine results.
• Apply prompt-crafting strategies to create a rubric that can be used to evaluate student assignments.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

♦ CUT-eligible: Educational Technologies

Open Pedagogy: Moving Beyond Open Textbooks

Date: Thursday, October 22, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Pranjal Saloni

Move beyond using open textbooks and explore how open pedagogy can transform student learning and participation. This session introduces practical approaches such as renewable assignments, student co-creation, knowledge sharing, and authentic assessment, with examples that can be adapted to different teaching contexts. Participants will consider how they can shift students from consumers of course content to active contributors to shared knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

• Differentiate between traditional and open pedagogical approaches by identifying how renewable assignments and authentic assessment can create opportunities for meaningful student contribution.
• Design an open pedagogical activity by transforming an existing course assignment into a renewable or student-created learning experience.
• Evaluate opportunities for student co-creation and knowledge sharing by developing an approach that supports meaningful student participation in their own teaching context.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

Integrating Research, Scholarship, and Evidence-informed Practice to Enhance Student Learning

Date: Thursday, November 5, 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Facilitators: Dr. Rose Ann Torres, Pranjal Saloni, and Lasandra Conliffe

How can educators transform their own research and scholarly work into engaging and meaningful learning experiences? Why is connecting research findings to teaching important, and what can students learn when they engage with research in the classroom? This webinar explores how scholarly research, evidence-informed practice, and Open Educational Resources (OER) can serve as powerful pedagogical tools to enhance teaching, foster critical inquiry, and create meaningful opportunities for students to engage with, apply, and contribute to knowledge. Participants will explore how research and OER can be integrated into teaching practices to support student learning, accessibility, and knowledge creation.

Learning Outcomes

• Explore the relationship between research, scholarship, evidence-informed teaching, and OER in supporting enhanced student learning.
• Examine how research findings and OER can be transformed into meaningful classroom learning experiences that encourage critical inquiry, engagement, and multiple perspectives.
• Identify evidence-informed teaching and open educational practices that use research findings and OER to support student participation, knowledge creation, and learning.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants

♣ CUT-eligible: Special Topics in Higher Education

Ontology of Forgetting: A Theoretical and Pedagogical Approach

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Dr. Rose Ann Torres, Pranjal Saloni

In the institutional and public spheres, silence or denial of historical truths creates an "ontology of forgetting." This webinar critically examines how collective amnesia overlooks histories of systemic oppression, allowing dominant power hierarchies to persist. Through theoretical analysis, interactive reflection, and consideration of open educational practices, educators and learners will explore how knowledge is selected, represented, shared, and remembered. Participants will examine how OER and open pedagogy can create opportunities to surface marginalized perspectives, question dominant narratives, and move beyond simply consuming knowledge toward contributing to and co-creating it. The session invites educators to reflect on their own pedagogical practices and consider how they can foster greater critical historical consciousness, participation, and responsibility in teaching and learning.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and articulate how historical erasures and "forgotten" colonial legacies actively sustain modern social and racial inequities, including how these histories and perspectives are represented or omitted in educational contexts.
• Analyze mechanisms of the "ontology of forgetting" and examine how knowledge structures, educational resources, and pedagogical practices can reinforce or challenge dominant narratives and structural injustice.
• Explore self-reflective and open pedagogical approaches that enable educators and learners to question whose knowledge is represented, engage with multiple perspectives, and participate in the creation, adaptation, and sharing of knowledge.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff

Cheat Sheets

Date: Thursday, November 19, 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Facilitators: Dr. Laura Banks and Miranda Varricchio

This workshop explores how thoughtfully designed, instructor-approved cheat sheets can support learning, encourage students to organize and prioritize key concepts, and reduce pressure that may contribute to departures from academic integrity. Participants will consider practical ways to incorporate cheat sheets into courses and assessments while maintaining appropriate academic challenge.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain how creating and using cheat sheets can support retrieval, organization, and deeper learning.
• Identify how authorized cheat sheets may help reduce pressures that contribute to departures from academic integrity.
• Design clear guidelines for student-created, instructor-approved cheat sheets.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants

Creative Commons, Copyright & Fair Dealing: What Can I Use?

Date: Wednesday, November 25, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Pranjal Saloni

Confused about what you can legally use, adapt, and share in your teaching materials? This practical session explores copyright, fair dealing, public domain, and Creative Commons licensing in the context of course development. Participants will work through real-world examples to determine what permissions are needed, how to apply proper attribution, and how to make informed decisions when incorporating third-party materials into their courses.

Learning Outcomes

• Differentiate between copyright, fair dealing, public domain, and Creative Commons licensing by classifying examples of teaching materials according to the permissions that apply.
• Interpret Creative Commons licence conditions and attribution requirements by determining whether specific materials can be reused, modified, or shared in a given teaching context.
• Apply copyright and licensing principles to course material development by evaluating real-world examples and selecting an appropriate approach for legally incorporating third-party content.

Who Is This For?

• Instructors, teaching assistants, staff