Our Centre
Our Centre currently provide professional development initiatives for all VIU employees by:
- enhancing teaching and learning processes,
- developing educational and workplace technologies and skills,
- contributing to the scholarship of teaching and learning, and
- promoting professional networks and communities of practice.
Our objective is to increase student retention and promote increased enrollment through enhanced teaching and learning environments.
Terms of Reference
Click here to download our Terms of Reference in PDF:
Mandate
The VIU Teaching and Learning Centre provides direction for institutional
professional development initiatives to enhance teaching and learning
processes, educational and workplace technologies and skills, the scholarship
of teaching and learning, as well as professional networks and communities of
practice. We believe that all members of the VIU community contribute to
enhancing our teaching and learning environments because we are all teachers
and learners. The VIU Teaching and Learning Centre is committed to excellence
in teaching and learning.
Professional Development Definition
Professional development is a continuous learning process across all levels
of the institution for the entire learning community. Quality professional
development expands the capacity of the learning community to realize its
vision and reach its goals. (http://dpi.wi.gov/cssch/cssprofdev1.html)
Guiding Principle One
The VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team believes that enhancing
teaching and learning processes will contribute to student retention,
facilitate capacity building within our educational community, promote
recruitment of quality professionals, provoke dynamic curriculum development,
and contribute toward infusing educational technologies in teaching and
learning activities.
Therefore, the VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team will seek to understand teaching and learning needs at VIU, develop and implement relevant professional development, as well as support institutional strategic plans related to teaching and learning environments, contribute to committees engaged in enhancing teaching and learning activity, and participate in collegial activity to further teaching and learning processes.
Initiatives:
• Faculty and staff professional development surveys
• Institutional Orientation for new employees (with Human Resources)
• Teaching Matters workshops sharing effective teaching practices
• Teaching Commons discussions
• Open Door Week
• Instructional Skills Workshops
• Internationalizing the Curriculum workshops, consultation and institute
• Employee Technology Resource Centre
• Departmental, disciplinary and one-to-one consultations
Guiding Principle Two
The VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team believes that enhancing
educational and workplace technologies and skills will assist faculty
and staff to incorporate technology in keeping with appropriate
contexts.Therefore, the VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team will provide
professional development opportunities to enable technology users to bridge the
gap between technology and its context. We will promote and model learning
practices that encourage faculty and staff to develop self-discovery learning
attitudes and build on existing skills and knowledge.
Initiatives:
• Consultations and just-in-time assistance
• Project-based workshops—complete assignments and tasks while
learning new
software
• Scheduled teaching and learning and technology workshops
• Online and printed instructional resources
• Teaching and Learning with technology 3-part series that showcases
faculty
use of technology, promotes community building and offers hands on experience
with current and new technologies
• Faculty and staff professional development plans and ePortfolios
• Inter-department and cross-discipline Communities of Practice
• Instructor binders for student orientations to Microsoft® Office
Excel, PowerPoint, Word and FrontPage
• VIU faculty and staff technology user groups and Communities of
Practice
Guiding Principle Three
The VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team believes that professional networks and communities of practice foster continual professional growth and lifelong learning, and promote scholarly activity within the institution, as well as professional connections with other institutions and organizations.Therefore, through the VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team will lead, contribute to and implement activities that foster peer collaboration and networking within and outside our institution. We will develop a teaching and learning centre that is a hub for scholarly activity and community building in an effective and dynamic teaching and learning environment.
Collaborations:
• Academic Computing Steering Committee
• Collaborative Cluster Committee (representing those providing
professional
development at VIU)
• Chairs and Coordinators Institute
• Liaison with the VIU Research and Scholarly Activity
Activity Office
• CUPE Training and Development Committee
• VIU Commons Committee
• VIU instructional and service departments
• UCIPD (University, College, Institute Professional Developers of British
Columbia)
• Society of Vocational Instructors
• BCcampus Educational Technology Users Group
• Documentation Committee (Library, Information Technology and VIU
Teaching and Learning Centre)
• MFA and BCGEU Professional Development Committees
Guiding Principle Four
The VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team believes that investing in
scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning will provide us
with substantive evidence of key elements supporting student learning in
disciplinary and cross-disciplinary contexts, build on our teaching and
learning
successes and communicate what we do well. This will enable us to make
evidence-based decisions to modify our teaching and learning processes where
needed. Incorporating on-going scholarly investigations, including research on
educational technologies, will enable us to ‘think beyond the
curve’, learn from
curricular innovation and integrate technology seamlessly.
Therefore, in providing professional development opportunities, scholarly
activities and mentorship, the VIU Teaching and Learning Centre team will
encourage faculty to produce scholarly work on teaching and learning based on
clear goals, adequate preparation, and appropriate methods, which will produce
significant results that can be communicated effectively and that will generate
reflective critique.
Initiatives:
• Teaching Scholars who share their expertise and encourage scholarly
teaching
• Reading Circles to share significant literature on teaching and
learning
• Peer Exchange (mentoring)
• International speakers who are catalysts for discussions in about campus
directions
• ‘Internationalizing the Curriculum’ Institute ( organized by
International
Programs)
• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Campus Program:
co-leader of ‘Supporting Scholarly Work in Learning-Centered
Universities’ theme
(2003 - 2006)
• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Campus Program:
coordinator of ten international Undergraduate Research theme leadership sites
(2006 - 2009)
• International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning VP
representing Canada (VIU)
• Encouragement for many VIU colleagues who present at teaching and
learning conferences
• Research on pedagogical uses of educational technologie