UBC Instructor Network

Please join us for a friendly and informal celebration of the end of year. Bring a story – perhaps a success or a teaching tip — to share as you (re)connect with our fellow Instructors and Senior Instructors.

Tuesday May 22 in the Buchanan Penthouse, 4:30-6pm

Appetizers will be sponsored by the Faculty of Arts. To help us with ordering, please RSVP using this website: http://www.doodle.com/kr3znm68xg5f2p3n

Hope to see you there!

I just finished the UBC Faculty Certificate Program in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. It’s a year-long workshop in which participants meet monthly and do a number of things, including:

• Create an extensive teaching dossier (next year this will be entirely online), including statements of teaching philosophy, reflections on teaching, evidence of teaching effectiveness, leadership in curriculum/pedagogy/scholarship of teaching and learning, and more

• Engage in peer review of teaching: visit two other classes and have two people visit your own

• Read and discuss articles in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and keep a monthly journal of reflections on these readings

• Develop your own research project in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, with help from the workshop’s facilitators and other workshop members; do a presentation on this project to the group and get feedback; write a proposal for the project. You don’t actually have to complete the project that year by collecting data–there is not enough time to do that! But you go through the work of developing it and then can collect data afterwards.

I found it a fantastic experience, and recommend it to anyone. It seems especially valuable for Instructors, as work in SoTL can be part of advancing towards Professor of Teaching.

It does mean a significant amount of work, though; in addition to once-monthly meetings of three hours, one must do all the above things from Sept. to April. There are scholarships available, and I got one of those to use to pay a grad student to help with anything from marking to my administrative work to helping with the SoTL research project itself, so that helped me handle the extra time the workshop took.

Here is an announcement of the application and deadline for 2012-2013. Note that internal Faculty deadlines may be earlier (e.g., the deadline for the Arts Faculty is May 1), since the Faculty may be selecting among candidates first–I think that’s how it works.

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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Leadership Program

We are now taking applications for the next cohort offering (September, 2012 – April 2013) – DEADLINE = MAY 4th. Please see the Certificate website for more details about the on-line application process and the Teaching Scholarship Scheme:
http://ctlt.ubc.ca/about-isotl/programs-events/faculty-sotl-program/administrative-and-application-details/

Special thanks to Dr. Eich and for everyone who came out to the last Instructor Network Lunch’n'Learn. Over 50 people attended — thanks to everyone for joining us for this stimulating session!

Here is a link to Dr. Eich’s summary paper on the cognitive science of learning enhancement. He also has generously agreed to share his slides from his talk. They can be found here: Eich CSLE Powerpoint (20111114).

Mark your calendars for the next Instructor Network Lunch and Learn… you won’t want to miss this!

Where: Dodson Room (room 302) in IKE Barber on November 15, at 12:30; anyone who is interested is welcome to attend.

Topic: The Cognitive Psychology of Learning – Ever wonder how to best promote long-term retention in our students? How to maximize the efficacy of testing situations? Join us as Dr. Eric Eich leads a fascinating tour of research from the fields of learning and memory that is immediately applicable to our classroom contexts.

By Dr. Eric Eich, FRSC, former Psychology Department Head, Current Editor-in-Chief of Psychological Science (psychology’s leading journal)

Greetings! 

Have you heard about gamers working with AIDS researchers to produce new medicines? How about students using solar energy models to fill First Nations reserve housing needs? Or anthropologists linking up with bankers to explain the finance sector on the blogosphere? Interdisciplinary projects like these offer exciting challenges and rewards. How can you motivate your students to think outside the box and engage in interdisciplinarity? Partner with us at UBC Mix!

UBC Mix helps partner instructors, students, and courses together to create an interdisciplinary atmosphere that enhances learning and broadens understanding. Find out more on our website, dig in and get involved on our wiki page, or send me an email at ubc-mix@interchange.ubc.ca! I am the UBC Mix coordinator, and I’m happy to answer your questions and plan your Mixes with you! 

How does it work?
We help to connect like-minded instructors across disciplines, providing them with guidance and resources to bring their students together for joint activities and projects.

Possible Mixes?
How about swapping lectures with another instructor to bring new material into both classrooms? Or joining labs and tutorials to explore a common interest? What about holding a data mash-up meeting, bringing students, skills, and fresh data together to create something new? Or applying university knowledge outside the classroom through Community Service Learning projects? Joint lecture series, symposia, and salons offer additional ways to Mixthings up! 

How can UBC Mix help? 
As the UBC Mix Student Coordinator, my role is to support you in a number of ways:

• Connecting: Are you looking for a UBC Mix partner?  If you are looking for a partner for an interdisciplinary learning experience for your students, I will help to locate relevant, interested individuals to join forces with you to provide innovative and exciting projects, events, joint readings, and more for your students.
• Brainstorming: Are you interested in interdisciplinary learning initiatives, but need some additional help transforming your ideas into reality? I am available for consultation meetings in person, on the phone, or by email. Got an idea? Share it with me and we’ll brainstorm ways to make it happen!
• Event Planning: Are you planning a Mix-supported event this year? I can help with room and audio-visual equipment bookings, as well as other preparations. I can also assist you on the day of your event. Plan, publicize, and present your Mix, providing personal support before, during, and after
• Resources: Mix partners can apply for up to $500 to reach Mix goals (e.g. equipment rentals, transportation, guest speaker honoraria, etc.). We also have online resources on our UBC Mix Community Portal, including articles about interdisciplinary learning, examples of current and past Mixes, and ideas for future Mixes.

How can I help you?

I look forward to working with you! 

Natalie J.K. Baloy
UBC Mix Student Coordinator
Email: ubc-mix@interchange.ubc.ca
Website: terry.ubc.ca/mix/
Wiki: wiki.ubc.ca/UBC_Mix_Community_Portal

 The UBC Instructor Network invites you to a “Bring Your Own Lunch and Learn” panel session and discussion on Promotion to Senior Instructor”!

The event will be held on Monday, September 26th from 12:00 – 12:50 in the Dodson Room in the Irving K. Barber learning Center. We have the room until 1:30, so those without other meeting or teaching obligations are welcome to stay for further discussion past 12:50.

Our panelists:

Susan Boyd: Chair, Senior Appointments Committee
Vanessa Auld: Chair, Faculty of Science Promotions and Tenure Committee
Deena Rubuliak: Executive Director, UBC Faculty Association
Paul Bartha: Head, Department of Philosophy
Christina Hendricks, Senior Instructor (Philosophy) and Chair of the Arts One Program

We expect the session to be of great interest to Instructor ranks across UBC. Discussion will include promotion and tenure procedures and process, assembling your materials, learning portfolios, referee letters, and much more!

Please distribute this notice to your colleagues who might be interested!

The Instructor Network

P.S. At our initial meeting of Instructors last Spring, a number of people indicated interest in a series of “Lunch and Learn’s,” lunchtime meetings where we would discuss issues of interest to Instructors. We sent out a survey recently to determine which topics are of greatest interest, and this one had significant interest. Others are on the way, including promotion to Professor of Teaching, scholarship of teaching practice, links between research and teaching, student health and learning, and more.

I just returned from the Society for Teaching & Learning in Higher Ed (http://www.stlhe.ca/) annual conference in Saskatoon. Made some very interesting connections with colleagues from various disciplines from across the country. Would be great to see a bigger contingent from UBC next year in Montreal!

There’s a group, led by Sue Vajoczki, from EOS/Geog, at McMaster, conducting research describing the ways the Instructor track manifests in Ontario. I asked for her report but there is a required delayed release from her funding agency, the HEQCO: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. (Do we have a similar body in BC?) Anyway, the report is due to be released here this fall. Weren’t any big surprises in her presentation, but great to see research about us happening!

We would like to invite you to the first social event of the Instructor Network–a University-wide initiative to introduce Instructor-Is and Senior Instructors to one another for the purpose of support and advocacy.  Our first event will be a “meet-and-greet” next week:

Date: Thursday, June 9th
Time: 3:30-4:30 PM
Location: Lillooet Room, room 301, Irving K Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall

If you are able to attend the event, please RSVP by e-mail to learnenh@psych.ubc.ca.  If you are unable to attend the event, please be assured that we hope to organize other Instructor-related events in the near future. If someone you know should have been invited and hasn’t, please feel free to spread the word and bring them along.

I didn’t know this happened! Very interesting! 

Explanation taken from the website:

In November and December 2008, UBC commissioned Angus Reid Strategies to conduct a confidential, anonymous survey to help us better understand faculty members’ views and opinions about teaching and learning. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a major research university has conducted a comprehensive survey of its faculty members on this important topic.

The link to the results is here: http://www.lead.ubc.ca/angusreidreport/index.html

What do you think of IN.UBC, stands for Instructor Network at UBC? Other ideas? Post a comment to share your thoughts!