Connect, Engage, Inspire: Strategies and Tools for Today's Classroom
Faculty members at Ryerson create an engaging environment for their students both inside and outside the classroom through interesting teaching innovations. There are real opportunities at Ryerson to create a unique teaching environment through many teaching strategies and through technology.
The theme of this year’s conference, “Connect, Engage, Inspire: Strategies and Tools for Today's Classroom,” provided faculty with an opportunity to share and explore ideas in teaching development, teaching strategies that inspire and utilizing technology inside and outside the classroom to engage our diverse student population.
Download the full conference program [pdf]
- Watch the keynote address: “Teaching and learning in socio-technical networks”, George Siemens
- Watch the special session: "E-Learning at Ryerson: Challenges and Opportunities", Chris Evans, John Isbister, Paul Stenton
- Download notes and slides from concurrent sessions
- Find out who won the poster contest!
Keynote Address
The LTO is proud to have hosted George Siemens as the keynote speaker for the 2013 Faculty Conference. He gave a presentation on "Teaching and learning in socio-technical networks."
In spite of bold proclamations around transformation 
in higher education through MOOCs, competency-based learning, social media, badges and alternative forms of assessment, and online learning, the future remains unclear. Lost in the hype is the needs of learners. In particular, how will the university support the learning process when content and interactions exist in distributed networks? When networks augment, even replace, classrooms the role of the educator changes significantly. This presentation will review prominent socio-technical trends and explore their impact on teaching and learning.
George Siemens is an educator and researcher on learning, technology, networks, analytics, and openness in education. Dr. Siemens is the Associate Director of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University, leading the learning analytics research team, and a faculty member with the Centre for Distance Education. He has delivered keynote addresses in more than 30 countries on the influence of technology and media on education, organizations, and society. His work has been profiled in provincial, national, and international newspapers (including NY Times), radio, and television. His research has received numerous national and international awards, including an honorary doctorate from Universidad de San Martin de Porres for his pioneering work in learning, technology, and networks. He pioneered massive open online courses (sometimes referred to as MOOCs) in 2008 that have included almost 20,000 participants.
Watch the keynote address on Ryecast
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Special Session
For the special session of the Faculty Conference, Chris Evans, John Isbister, and Paul Stenton presented a panel discussion entitled "E-Learning at Ryerson: Challenges and Opportunities."
Recently the government of Ontario suggested that universities should expand e-learning opportunities for students. Ryerson is already a major provider of e-learning in the province. As such, we are well aware that e-learning offers educational opportunities yet also comes with challenges. This session presented some thoughts on possible directions for Ryerson in terms of e-learning, consider the strengths and weaknesses of e-learning identified in literature (see also http://ryerson.ca/lt/elearning/), and try to address some of the challenges we may face as faculty and as an institution (e.g., faculty training, pedagogic quality, technical support etc.). The panelists presented brief statements to provide context and an overview of Ryerson’s possible directions followed by an open Q&A session with audience members.
Watch the special session on Ryecast
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Notes and Slides from Concurrent Sessions
A9 Supervising Graduate Students: Perspectives from Award-Winning Faculty
- Session notes [pdf]
C7 Converting to the Online Teaching Environment
- Slides [pdf]
- Objectives Builder, Arizona State University
- Assessment and Instructional Alignment, University of Colorado
- Online Teaching Guide, Duke University
- Evaluation Rubric for Online Courses, Duke University [pdf]
- Blackboard Exemplary Course Program Rubric
P6 Virtual Office Hours for Real Students
- Slides [pdf]
P13 Digital Artifacts That Engage Students
Poster Contest
This year the best poster trophy goes to Elaine Frankel, School of Early Childhood Studies and Jasna Schwind, Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing for their poster entitled "Voices of Diversity: Digital Narratives in the Classroom."
To learn more about the Ryerson Faculty Conference, see our archived page for the 2012 conference.