2020 Teaching & Learning Forum

The Teaching & Learning Forum is an annual event hosted by the Paul R. MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation, and Excellence in Teaching. It offers new and returning teaching assistants (TAs), graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and sessional instructors information sessions and workshops on various teaching and learning topics. This year the event will take place fully online with a series of asynchronous workshops (pre-recorded workshops you can complete at any time) available starting as early as August 20, 2020.

The online asynchronous workshops will be able to be found on the Teaching & Learning Forum Avenue to Learn site. After you register, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the Teaching & Learning Forum Avenue site which will go live on August 20.

As a registrant, there is no limit to the number of online asynchronous workshops that you may complete.

If you are being asked to engage in the Teaching & Learning Forum as part of training for a TA position, please be sure to connect with your employment supervisor prior to the event so you can discuss expectations (i.e. which sessions you should attend, number of hours that will be accounted for in your Hours of Work Form). Any mandatory training that you are asked to complete by your employment supervisor should be accounted for in your hours of work. Please note that training deemed to be not mandatory (i.e., optional training) will not be accounted for in your hours of work (i.e., it will not be paid training).

If you are a sessional instructor, please consult with your employment supervisor to inquire whether training (and if so, which training) will be mandatory for your teaching assignment.

Asynchronous Workshops available as early as August 20 (registration for these sessions will be open indefinitely): 

BEING A TA AT MCMASTER

• Knowing Your Rights, Benefits and Obligations as a CUPE 3906 Member
• TA Professionalism and Good Practices
• Undergraduates as TAs

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES

• An Introduction to Avenue to Learn
• An Overview of McMaster Supported Teaching Technologies
• Teaching Effectively with Zoom
• Echo360 How-Tos
• WebEx Essentials Training
• PowerPoint Design for Learning

 TEACHING ONLINE

• Finding, Creating and Using Open Educational Resources in Teaching
• Creating and Using Videos for Teaching Online
• Teaching Effectively Online
• Motivating and Engaging Students Online
• Building and Maintaining Community in Online Learning Contexts
• Facilitating Online Discussions
• Technical Quality Assurance: Tips and Tricks for Professional Content

TEACHING PRACTICES

• Lesson Planning in Face-to-Face and Online Contexts
• Copyright and Course Materials
• Academic Integrity
• Teaching Contentious Topics
• Marking Efficiently and Effectively
• Active Learning

FOSTERING SUPPORTIVE AND INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS

• Accessibility and Accommodation
• Accessible Document Creation for Online Environments
• Mental Health in the Classroom