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Centre for Learning and Teaching

Events

The Virtual Maple League Teaching and Learning Centre

Connecting people from different disciplines and backgrounds — to create new communities and strengthen existing ones — is one of the foundational strengths of the Maple League.

2025

July 9: CLT Virtual Drop-in: Course Refresh

Wednesday, July 9
1–3 p.m.
Online via Microsoft Teams

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Meeting ID: 265 127 631 787 3
Passcode: Up9YH3ur

Come to our Course Refresh virtual drop-in session to create a personalized support experience and ask questions about how to improve your courses for the upcoming school year. Ask a CLT Senior Educational Developer how to increase student engagement, design better lecture slides, improve student assessments, and anything else you may be interested in! Drop in anytime during the two-hour window. Registration is NOT required.  

Facilitator

Daniella Sieukaran (she/her)
Senior Educational Developer (Program Development)

July 10: Truro Campus Mini Retreat of Teaching and Learning 2025


Reimagining Student Engagement in a Changing Educational Landscape

Thursday, July 10
Truro Campus
McRae Library Student Learning Commons Program Room

In times marked by rapid technological shifts, evolving learner expectations, and increasingly diverse classrooms, how do we meaningfully reflect on student engagement? Join us for a day of exploration, discussion, and engagement at CLT’s Teaching and Learning Retreat 2025.

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Time Session
10–10:15 a.m.

Opening/Welcome to the Retreat

Facilitator

Shazia Nawaz Awan (Ed.D.), Educational Developer, Internationalization & Intercultural Competency
10:15–11 a.m.

New SLEQ Questions and Dashboard Overview 

Facilitator

Bruno Roy, Student Feedback and Evaluation Coordinator

Note: This is a 45 min in-person session with reflection and consultation time available after the session for anybody who has any questions about SLEQs.

Intended audience

Faculty member, instructors, department chairs, SLEQ liaisons.

Join us for an information session on the updated SLEQ dashboard and homepage. We’ll walk through how to access and interpret your SLEQ data for individual terms, as well as how to identify trends over time. You'll also learn different ways to display this data and how to incorporate it into your dossier. In addition, we’ll introduce the new SLEQ questions and policy changes set to take effect in the Fall 2025–2026 term. We’ll also outline future plans for ongoing monitoring and validation of the SLEQ instrument over the coming years. 
11–11:15 a.m.

Reflection/Discussion Time [15 minutes]
11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Building Students’ Critical Engagement with A.I. (Interactive workshop)

Facilitator

Kate Crane, MA, (Acting) Senior Educational Developer (Digital Learning), Coordinator for the Faculty Certificate in Teaching and Learning

Intended audience

Faculty members and graduate students who support students engaging in group work as part of their learning

In order to preserve the integrity of the classroom (which includes, but goes beyond, assessment/academic integrity), students should be supported in assessing, for themselves, the impact of A.I. on their learning, and the impact of A.I. on their disciplines, disciplinary communities, and their future work as disciplinary practitioners. This workshop will explore both areas, with the aim to build up a repertoire of ideas participants may draw on for course design/assessment redesigns or adjustments.
12:30–1:30 p.m.

Reflection, Games /Refreshments Break, Light Lunch
1:30–2:30 p.m.

Meaningful gamification for student learning and engagement (Interactive workshop)

Facilitator

Kate Thompson, PhD, Educational Developer (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)

Intended audience

Faculty members and Graduate and Post.Doc Students

This workshop will introduce the concept of gamification, discuss the theories that underlie it, and guide you in implementing it in a higher education context. We will explore how play can enhance student learning, and how to meaningfully incorporate game mechanics into your course design to enhance student motivation and learning. You will have the opportunity to begin conceptualizing how to gamify the design of your own course. If you do not have an existing course, you can get some experience in gamification by working with others to help design their gamified courses. Please bring your existing course outlines if you’d like to discuss specific examples with the facilitator.

No prior gaming experience is required to participate in this webinar, but participation will certainly involve play! 
2:30–3 p.m.

Reflection/Discussion Time

 

 

July 15: Constructing Effective Rubrics with Rubric Swap (in-person)

Tuesday, July 15
10–11:30 a.m.
Killam Library, Room B400*
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Want to spend LESS time grading and providing feedback? Grading using rubrics has many benefits such as reducing grading time for instructors, and providing clear and consistent expectations to students. In this in-person workshop, you will:

  • Learn the purpose and principles underlying grading using rubrics.
  • Be introduced to different types of rubrics, the components that make up a rubric, appropriate language to use for rubrics, and the step-by-step process for constructing effective rubrics.
  • Participate in a rubric swap! Exchange rubric feedback with a peer. 

Workshop participants are kindly asked to bring one paper copy of a rubric that you are looking to gather feedback on. If you do not have one, a sample rubric will be provided by the workshop facilitator.

Facilitator

Daniella Sieukaran, Senior Educational Developer (Program Development), CLT

Intended Audience

  • Instructors
  • Graduate Students
  • Teaching Assistants

*Please note that the B400 classroom is in the basement of the Killam Library. We are aware of, and apologize for, the accessibility barriers associated with this room. If you require the use of an elevator to reach this room, one of the CLT staff will have to access the elevator with you, using their key card. Please let us know in advance so that we can facilitate a smooth and timely transition to the basement.

We also ask that participants be respectful of those with significant allergies and avoid wearing perfume, aftershave, cologne, and highly scented hairspray, soaps, lotions, and shampoos.

July 16: Serviceberry Teachings: Nurturing Gratitude and Reciprocity in Teaching and Learning

Wednesday, July 16
11 a.m.–12 p.m.
In-Person, Department of Biology Outdoor Learning Space
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Join us for an enriching outdoor discussion that delves into the practices of gratitude, reciprocity, and the generosity of nature as we explore how the gift economy thinking can offer meaningful insights into fostering more inclusive and relational approaches to teaching and learning. 

Drawing from the inspiring work of Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi Nation), we will reflect on her vision of abundance and interconnectedness both in the natural world and human relationships. We highly recommend attendees read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (2024)  or listen to (link opens in new window) in preparation for this session.

Through this session, we aim to explore how principles of reciprocity and gratitude can be meaningfully translated into teaching and learning contexts. How can we nurture environments that encourage generosity, mindfulness, and interconnection, both in educational spaces and beyond? What lessons can we learn from nature’s abundance, and how might we apply those lessons to our own practices of teaching and learning?

We invite all participants to join in an open and reflective discussion, sharing ideas, experiences, and insights that may help us collectively imagine more generous and sustainable ways of living and learning.

Facilitators

Suzanne Le-May Sheffield, Director Centre for Learning and Teaching
Rachelle McKay, Educational Developer – Indigenous Knowledges & Ways of Knowing

July 22: Adapting Learning Outcomes to a GenA.I. World

Tuesday, July 22
10–11:20 a.m.
Online via Microsoft Teams
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Learning outcomes set the parameters of course design, guide assessment creation, and communicate expectations and goals to students. Outcomes that are specific and higher-order encourage students to meet course expectations and assessment tasks with integrity. Outcomes that are responsive to authentic futures develop students’ critical and ethical engagement within and beyond course contexts. Learning outcomes can be crafted to guide students in appropriate course and academic behaviour, and help them build capacities and competencies to participate in a GenA.I.-infused world. This workshop will lead participants in crafting such outcomes, with tips on how to communicate them to students and testing the alignment of assessments and activities with outcomes.  

Prepare

Participants should come prepared with one or two learning outcomes they would like to workshop.

August 14: Constructing Effective Rubrics with Rubric Swap (online)

Thursday August 14
1–2:30 p.m.
Online via Microsoft Teams
(opens in new tab)

Want to spend LESS time grading and providing feedback? Grading using rubrics has many benefits such as reducing grading time for instructors, and providing clear and consistent expectations to students. In this online workshop, you will:

  • Learn the purpose and principles underlying grading using rubrics.
  • Be introduced to different types of rubrics, the components that make up a rubric, appropriate language to use for rubrics, and the step-by-step process for constructing effective rubrics.
  • Participate in a rubric swap! Exchange rubric feedback with a peer. 

Workshop participants are kindly asked to bring one paper copy of a rubric that you are looking to gather feedback on. If you do not have one, a sample rubric will be provided by the workshop facilitator.

Facilitator

Daniella Sieukaran, Senior Educational Developer (Program Development), CLT

Intended Audience

  • Instructors
  • Graduate Students
  • Teaching Assistants

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Past CLT Events