Georgian’s faculty professional development (PD) opportunities include a range of workshops, series, webinars and drop-in sessions to help faculty build key strengths and to continue to expand and grow as teachers in their practice. The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) invites you to sign up for a workshop or drop in to a session. We’re here to help and we always love to hear from you!
Are you a new faculty member at Georgian College? As a new faculty member, we know you likely have many questions. Here is a quick guide with answers to frequently asked questions and important information for your first day teaching at Georgian.
We’ve created this second guide to help you have a successful and rewarding first semester. The Strive Guide provides foundational information that should help you pave the path to striving on this early part of your journey.
Looking for a way to grow your teaching skills on your own schedule? Don’t have time to attend a workshop? CTL’s online, self-paced professional development courses are just the thing. They’re designed to fit into your busy life while giving you the tools and ideas to improve your teaching and learning practice.
As part of the wide range of professional learning opportunities offered through Georgian College’s Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), these micro certificates offer you options for your growth and professional development. It’s all about helping you build your skills and create amazing learning experiences for your students.
Georgian recognizes the essential role you play in student success and has invested in supporting you on your new faculty journey.
This summer, we are pleased to offer new faculty development opportunities in their first semester at Georgian. We have a flexible mix of synchronous (in real-time online or in-person) and asynchronous (accessible at your convenience) training that we hope will support you in making important connections in your first semester
These connections include peers, Georgian policies and procedures, our Centre for Teaching and Learning, and inspiring teaching practices. Through this journey together, we will help you navigate your first semester.
Teaching @ Georgian
This three-hour orientation session is part of the NFT Journey pilot for non-full-time faculty.
The CTL workshops are meticulously designed to empower faculty members with innovative teaching strategies, effective educational technologies, and pedagogical insights that enhance student learning outcomes.
Click the button below to explore our upcoming workshops and discover opportunities that will enrich your teaching journey and inspire your classroom practices.
If you have difficulty registering for a workshop, or have any questions please email CTL@georgiancollege.ca.
Online Self-Paced Asynchronous PD Courses
Designed with busy faculty in mind, our online, self-paced courses allow you to gain valuable skills at your convenience. All modules are part of a broader suite of professional development opportunities offered through the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Why is Online, Self-Paced Learning Perfect for Busy Faculty?
Ultimate Flexibility: Learn on your schedule—whether it’s during a free hour, over the weekend, or at night, without the pressure of deadlines or fixed class times.
Control Your Learning: Focus on the topics that matter most to you and revisit others as needed. Each module is standalone, so you can explore at your own pace.
Work from Anywhere: Whether you’re on campus, at home, or on the go, access course materials whenever you’re ready.
No Pressure: Study without the constraints of timelines or cohort-based pacing, giving you the freedom to progress at your own speed.
Part of a Larger Professional Development Journey
These courses are not just standalone experiences—they fit within a larger suite of professional development opportunities available through the Center for Teaching and Learning.
As you complete any or all of the self-paced courses, you might find other workshops, live sessions, and advanced programs that will compliment your professional development as an educator.
Whether you’re looking to refine your teaching techniques, explore innovative instructional methods, or stay current on educational trends, we have something for you.
Accessibility and Copyright Guide for Faculty
This module helps faculty understand and implement essential accessibility, copyright, and OER (open educational resources) features in their course materials and delivery.
In partnership with Mental Health and Well-Being and The Centre for Teaching and Learning, this 7 to 10-hour, self-paced micro-certificate has 5 sections and equips educators with practical strategies to create inclusive, culturally responsive classrooms.
Designed for busy faculty, this flexible program helps you foster belonging, adapt teaching to diverse learners, and support student well-being. Enhance your teaching and empower every student to succeed—earn your micro-certificate today!
Debwewin Miinwaa Naaskodaadiwin Miikaans (Truth and Reconciliation trail)
Through this guide, faculty can embark on a journey through the Debwewin Miinwaa Naaskodaadiwin Miikaans (Truth and Reconciliation trail). This module shares knowledge on topics that advance Indigenous ways of knowing and being, and promotes dialogue on Truth and Reconciliation in and beyond the classroom.
Effective assessment is more than just grading—it’s about measuring learning in meaningful ways. This module explores key aspects of assessment design, including aligning assessments with learning outcomes, developing authentic assessment strategies, crafting clear instructions and rubrics, and planning for grading with efficiency and fairness.
You’ll also discover tools to streamline assessment and feedback. This module is organized into standalone units, allowing you to explore topics in any order. Complete one or more units at your own pace, and don’t forget to submit the module completion submission to track your progress.
Designing for Success – Maximizing Efficiency and Well-being for Faculty
This self-paced, asynchronous module is designed to help faculty streamline their workflows, save time, and enhance their well-being through the use of instructional design tools and techniques. Faculty will explore strategies for efficient course development, master time management, prevent burnout, and leverage AI for productivity. Each module offers practical insights, hands-on activities, and tangible takeaways, empowering faculty to create engaging courses while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Image source: And breathe by Muha Ajjan used under the Unsplash license
Generative AI Foundations for Faculty
Discover the transformative potential of generative AI in higher education. The units in this module explore foundational concepts, practical applications, and ethical considerations, empowering faculty to integrate AI tools into teaching, research, and administration. Gain insights to enhance student engagement, streamline workflows, and prepare for the future of education.
In this course, you will find resources for your new non-full time faculty journey at Georgian. From before the semester begins, to during the first week, teaching and learning activities, assessment and wrapping up the semester.
This module serves to help faculty understand and implement universal design for learning (UDL) into their course design and delivery. This guide is not all-inclusive and aims only to highlight key suggestions.
GenAI in Education Challenge (Now included in the Generative AI for Faculty module)
This engaging program is designed to enhance your understanding and application of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) within educational settings.
This series comprises 10 interactive challenges that delve into the transformative potential of GenAI in higher education. Each challenge is crafted to build your critical literacy and practical skills, enabling you to integrate GenAI tools effectively and ethically into your teaching practices.
The calendar below is designed for faculty. It combines key dates for the college, the academic year and faculty planning. Should you notice any errors, please email facultydevelopment@georgiancollege.ca.
NOTE: The calendar may take a few seconds to load. If it does not load, please refresh the page once.
Faculty Learning Community (FLC)
Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are structured learning communities of faculty and staff at Georgian intended to build connections, engage is scholarly conversations and develop a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).
FLCs are considered high-impact practices that foster culture change among faculty. At the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), FLCs have focused their discussions and projects on learning about and experimenting with evidence-based teaching practices.
The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) would like to invite you to participate in a Faculty Learning Community based on the book, Distracted, by James Lang.
Getting students to pay attention has always been a challenge and remote teaching has really highlighted this issue for postsecondary teachers. In a 2020 survey by Georgian College, the top student issue was focusing or paying attention to remote teaching. Previously, we might have suggested access to technology has ruined students’ ability to focus yet, as we enter into our new reality of post pandemic teaching, we can realize technology is not the issue. We need to consider good pedagogical design and practices to support student learning.
In his new book, James Lang argues the solution to an inability of students to focus is actually a deeper problem: how we teach is often at odds with how students learn. How we organize our learning spaces is more designed to force students into long periods of intense focus, but emerging science reveals that the brain is wired for distraction. Students learn best when able to actively seek and synthesize new information.
Through the FLC, we will explore how we can structure our learning spaces more as a place to cultivate students’ attention. The book offers lots of ideas grounded in research and helps us think more about how to support student learning.
Facilitator: Kelly Fox
Anyone is welcome to join. The FLC is free. However, you must either acquire the book for yourself or get online access via the Georgian library.
How will this book club work?
We will meet virtually, over the course of five weeks.
Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2 to 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2 to 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2 to 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2 to 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2 to 3 p.m.
We encourage faculty to be available and committed to all five weeks. We will only read select chapters over the course of five weeks. We want this FLC to be as easy and stress-free as possible for you. We recognize the ongoing requests on faculty time and workload and that we are all likely running with a less-than-a-full tank. We encourage those who are interested to enrol and take part in a way that makes sense for you and as your schedule allows. So, if you didn’t get to the reading, you can still show up. If life gets in the way of some of participating or reading, please attend those you can! If what you need is to have your camera and mic off and just listen in – no worries, and no apologies needed!
Are there potentially better ways to engage and motivate the learner?
Join us as we explore the new book, Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead) by Susan Blum. The book is authored by fifteen educators from different areas of education like humanities, social sciences and STEM and they share their diverse experiences of going gradeless. The book explores how ungrading can actually help student focus more on learning. We will unpack how grades intersect with motivation and learning and explore a variety of assessment and evaluation approaches.
Facilitators: Iain Robertson, Kelly Fox
Anyone is welcome to join. The FLC is free. However, you must either acquire the book for yourself or get online access via the Georgian library.
How will this book club work?
We will meet virtually, every two weeks for four weeks starting Wednesday, Sept. 14.
Wednesday, Sept. 14, noon to 1 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 28, noon to 1 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 12, noon to 1 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 26, noon to 1 p.m.
We encourage faculty to be available and committed to all four weeks. We will only read select chapters over the course of four weeks. We want this FLC to be as easy and stress-free as possible for you. We recognize the ongoing requests on faculty time and workload and that we are all likely running with a less-than-a-full tank. We encourage those who are interested to enrol and take part as in a way that makes sense for you and as your schedule allows. So, if you didn’t get to the reading, you can still show up. If life gets in the way of some of participating or reading, please attend those you can! If what you need is to have your camera and mic off and just listen in – no worries, and no apologies needed!
Have you thought about ways to be more inclusive in your teaching practice? Would you be interested in sharing some time with other Faculty to explore strategies for promoting equity in your learning spaces? Please join us for a new FLC where we will discuss and share ideas. Our group will read the new book Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for promoting equity in the college classroom by Hogan and Sathy (2022). This book was written by educators, for educators. The authors provide practical suggestions to enhance your practice.
FLC objectives
Discuss the role of structure in inclusive teaching
Explore strategies to enhance inclusion in your teaching practice
Reflect on your journey as a reflective practitioner
If you are curious, but still not sure, you may like to listen to this podcast from Teaching in Higher Ed with the authors Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy.
Please come to the FLC as you are. We encourage those who are interested to take part in a way that makes sense for you and as your schedule allows. So, if you did not get to the readings, you can still show up. If life gets in the way of some of the synchronous sessions, please attend those you can! If what you need is to have your camera and mic off and just listen in, no worries, and no apologies needed!
Join CTL’s team of faculty developers on a journey that unlocks the doors of teaching and learning. Through this six-part series, faculty will venture into the exciting worlds of lesson planning, active learning, assessment and evaluation, and personal development.
Each session is independent and can be taken as a standalone course or as part of the series. We secretly hope you join us for the series 😊.
Key 1: Unlocking the door to meaningful teaching and learning
Postsecondary learners are increasingly diverse and come from a variety of generations, cultural backgrounds and learning experiences. Also, they are at various social, emotional, and developmental stages. With larger and more diverse classes and with multiple types of delivery, it’s becoming more important to connect meaningfully with our students and establish a climate of belonging. Additionally, we need to purposely integrate and apply foundational learning principles in our classes. In this session, participants will explore the impact of these considerations on teaching and learning.
As a participant in this workshop, you will:
interact with teaching peers and begin to develop a learning community;
discuss various characteristics of our students and how this impacts our practice;
explore foundational principles of postsecondary teaching; and
Key 2: Unlocking the door to planning for learning
There are many nuances to course design. Planning your course takes thoughtful reflection and meaningful organization. In this session, we will discuss key principles for designing for engagement, learning and belonging.
As a participant in this workshop, you will:
explore the relationship between programs, courses and planning;
consider foundational concepts of universal design for learning (UDL);
Active learning improves student engagement. Student engagement improves learning. It can be energizing and fun! In this session, we will explore and experience active learning strategies.
As a participant in this workshop, you will:
explore active learning as a teaching and learning strategy;
consider the when, how, and why of integrating active learning; and
Key 4: Unlocking the door to assessment for learning
Assessment is not just a way to determine if learning has occurred. More importantly, assessment strategies can help students learn and provide direction for your lesson planning. In this session, we will look at how diagnostic, formative and summative assessment weave together to contribute to student success.
As a participant in this workshop, you will:
consider the purpose of assessment and draw connections between learning and assessment;
explore methods of diagnostic, formative and summative assessment; and
highlight the importance of assessment in the process of integrated course design.
Key 5: Unlocking the door to designing meaningful assignments and tests
Meaningful assignments provide students with authentic connections to their programs and careers. As experts in your fields, your assessments strategies can help learners build knowledge, skills and achieve course outcomes. In this session, we will explore all things assignment-related.
As a participant in this workshop, you will:
reflect on key elements of assignment and test design;
explore the difference between novices and experts; and
discuss ways to improve assignment design and incorporate universal design.
Key 6: Unlocking the door to continuous growth in faculty competence
We improve our teaching by looking back as much as looking forward. Gaining expertise in our teaching takes focus and reflection. In order to improve our practice, we need to consider our own teaching competencies.
As a participant in this workshop, you will:
explore teaching competencies;
reflect on your teaching goals; and
discuss means of collecting feedback on your teaching.
Academic integrity professional development *HIDDEN SECTION*
Want to learn more about Academic Integrity? Want to learn in an international community of learners?
The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at the University of Manitoba is excited to host the 2022-23 Manitoba Academic Integrity Network (MAIN) Speaker Series, a collection of six professional development opportunities related to academic integrity.
A certificate of completion will be awarded to individuals who register and attend all six sessions in this series. It’s FREE to all Georgian staff and faculty.
Session 1: A restorative justice approach to addressing academic misconduct
Dr. Cath Ellis’ previous roles as Associate Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture and Associate Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences have also informed how she approaches serious cases of academic misconduct, such as contract cheating. In a recent Integrity Matters article, Dr. Ellis makes a strong case for the value of perceiving academic misconduct as a mistake, “Of course it’s a serious mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. And educational institutions are in the very business of helping students learn from their mistakes.” In this presentation, she will describe the need for having courageous conversations with students as part of a restorative justice approach to addressing academic misconduct and promoting the values of academic integrity.
Presenter
Dr. Cath Ellis, Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, Australia
Date
Oct. 3, 2022
Time
8:30 to 9 a.m. (CST)
Location
Virtual via Zoom (please register to receive link)
Session 2: Academic misconduct – ways to detect it, and the statistical averages of its occurrence
Estimating how many students engage in academic misconduct and how frequently they do it, is influenced by numerous aspects of the research methodology. This session will outline what we know about the prevalence and incidence rates of student plagiarism and cheating, factors that are known to affect these rates, and limitations of the research that leaves questions unanswered. Best practices and alternatives to typical methodologies will be outlined. The implications of what we know about rates of academic misconduct for how we detect academic misconduct will be discussed.
Learning outcomes
Understand the types of misconduct students engage in more or less frequently
Identify factors that influence rates of academic misconduct
Explain good practice and limitations in research on academic misconduct prevalence and incidence
Session 3: Positive interventions in the age of contract cheating
Join Dr. Thomas Lancaster as he considers what can be done about contract cheating, the behaviour where a student pays or uses a third party to complete their assessed work for them. Find out more about why contract cheating is a problem, why students are at risk, how educators are reconsidering their choice of assessments and how students can themselves help provide solutions. Time will be available for discussion and for attendees to share the positive interventions they have themselves used to address contract cheating.
Learning outcomes
Describe what contract cheating is and how this can pose a problem across a range of academic disciplines
Compare a range of approaches to assessment design that can be used to engage students and make contract cheating less valuable to them
Identify ways to work alongside student as academic integrity partners and address contract cheating as a wider community
Presenter
Dr. Thomas Lancaster, Senior Teaching Fellow, Computing, Imperial College London, UK
Date
Oct. 20, 2022
Time
10 to 10:55 a.m. (CST)
Location
Virtual via Zoom (please register to receive link)
Contract cheating is a form of violation behaviour that is on the rise in postsecondary institutions. Join us as we share results from a self-report survey at a Canadian college that explored the prevalence and nature of student engagement in contract cheating and stress learners experienced while completing their programs. We discuss how investigating stress and contract cheating may be used to inform academic integrity policy, procedure, and the supports we provide to students.
Learning outcomes
Discuss the prevalence of commercial contract cheating and sharing behaviour
Identify the types of behaviours learners most often engage in
Describe how learners who engage in contract cheating experience stress
Explain how research on stress and contract cheating can inform academic integrity policy, procedure and supports
Presenters
Corrine Ferguson, Instructor, Social Sciences and Humanities, Bow Valley College, Alberta, Canada
Dr. Margaret Toye, Associate Dean, School of Community Studies, Human Services and Social Sciences, Bow Valley College, Alberta, Canada
Date
Nov. 25, 2022
Time
Noon to 12:55 p.m. (CST)
Location
Virtual via Zoom (please register to receive link)
Session 5: Experiential learning and academic integrity
Integrity through experience: Fostering a culture of academic integrity through an experiential learning approach.
Experiential learning is a pedagogical approach used to bridge discipline-specific learning with the world at large. A common goal when adopting experiential learning is to support a culture of integrity within the current course of study. This goal often stretches to include the aim of transferring integrity-based actions into future academic study, workplaces and community organizations. This session looks at the connections and possibilities in intentionally designing integrity into experiential learning activities and courses.
Learning outcomes
Examine connections between the values underlying academic integrity and experiential learning
Consider common assumptions about academic integrity and its place in course learning outcomes and assessments
Explore strategies to intentionally develop academic integrity through an experiential learning approach
Presenter
Rebecca Brooks, MEd, Faculty Specialist: Experiential Learning, The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, University of Manitoba
Date
Feb. 22
Time
10 to 10:55 a.m. (CST)
Location
Virtual via Zoom (please register to receive link)
Session 6: Academic integrity as congruence: A panel session on the potential in shared values
Most postsecondary institutions in Canada have an academic integrity policy of some type. An increasing number of these institutions list the fundamental values of academic Integrity (i.e. courage, honesty, trust, respect, fairness, and responsibility) as defined by the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI, 2021) in their policies. In this moderated and interactive session, panelists will share their perspectives of these values and how academic integrity can be viewed as an opportunity for building inclusion in positive and proactive ways.
Panelists
Marcos Cunha Cordeiro, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Manitoba
Robin Attas, Educational Developer: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, University of Manitoba
Claudius Soodeen, Faculty Development Consultant, Centre for Learning & Program Excellence, RRC Polytechnic
Michael Cameron, Dean, Community Development, Assiniboine Community College
Date
March 8
Time
10 to10:55 a.m. (CST)
Location
Virtual via Zoom (please register to receive link)
CTL offers an opportunity for faculty to participate in a four-day day workshop within a small group setting designed to enhance your teaching and learning practice. The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) was developed by a group of passionate educators over 30 years ago. It is an intensive 30-hour event that uses a “laboratory approach” to focus on the development of instructional skills and has been described as a “transformational experience” whether you’ve been teaching for one year or 20 years.
The ISW is a collaboration between facilitators and participants, which is grounded in active, experiential learning and based on principles of learning-centred instruction. While facilitators have had training in the ISW facilitation process, they are faculty, just like participants.
The ISW requires a significant investment of time, energy and resources from the college and all participants. A commitment to all four days is required. ISW is a fully onsite, face-to-face workshop that follows current college COVID-19 protocols.
Next class will begin in fall 2023. Stay tuned for registration!
Testimonials
[ISW] was a wonderful experience! Loved making new friends from across the college that I plan to stay in contact with.
– Andrea Lovering, Program Coordinator, Denturism
So grateful for this opportunity! I thoroughly enjoyed the [ISW] workshop and would highly recommend it to all!
– Fatimah Datoo, Professor, Dental Hygiene
Connecting with peers from across the Georgian community, in-person learning, many opportunities to practise BOPPS, a safe space to creatively explore and push our boundaries, lots of constructive feedback and opportunities to practise giving feedback… Oh, and life-long friendships! 🙂
– Jennifer Hickey, Learning and Development
One-off workshops *HIDDEN SECTION*
Introduction to Perusall
About the Introduction to Perusall workshop
Perusall is a free social annotation tool that can be integrated directly into your Blackboard course. You choose a resource, and students add comments and questions throughout, from wherever they are. Students can see their peers’ annotations, and even respond! Early research shows that the use of social annotation tools, like Perusall, can have a positive impact on student attainment of learning outcomes.
In this one-hour session, we’ll take you through the basics of Perusall, including what it is, how to use it, and how to integrate it into Blackboard.
How do I make THAT in H5P?
About the H5P workshop
So, you’ve heard about H5P and maybe seen some examples, but aren’t sure where to start. In this 30-minute session, we’ll walk you through how to create different H5P objects. A different object will be covered each week!
