The Vice-Provost Academic, Dr. Chris Evans, will meet with interested faculty to discuss an internal grant for innovation in teaching, the Learning and Teaching Enhancement fund. At this breakfast the Dr. Evans will outline the guidelines to receive funding, and suggest strategies that may result in grant success. In addition, participants will hear about previous successful projects, and strategies that lead to success. Time for discussion and time to meet potential collaborators will be given. Breakfast is provided.

Most day-to-day interactions with students are fairly routine and positive, with few disruptions or situations that are difficult to manage. However, students occasionally exhibit unusually distressed, disruptive, or threatening behavior that can have a negative impact on the learning environment. This interactive session is intended to offer guidance, support and resources should you encounter or receive reports of such behaviors. In this session you'll learn: (1) how to recognize and refer students in distress; (2) how to manage disruptive, disturbing, or threatening behavior (including disruptive classroom behavior); and (3) what resources on campus can be of assistance to both you and your students.

In this workshop we will explore various strategies for teaching large classes and hear from Ryerson instructors sharing their experiences in teaching large classes, including some techniques for large class management and large class participation. Questions such as how to keep students actively learning during class time and how to help students develop a sense of community in a large class will be discussed. Technologies and tools to help us address some of the difficulties will be presented.

Student assessment must consider the objectives of the course, academic integrity, student diversity, information literacy, and the learning level of the students. While instructors regularly create assessments, they often find it difficult to create unique assessments that meet their course objectives. In this workshop participants will examine how to create assessments that meet course objectives and demonstrate student learning.

Many faculty members at the university are required to create a teaching dossier for tenure review, awards, and job applications (e.g. those applying for term and part-time appointments). In this workshop, we will describe and expand on the different parts of the teaching dossier and assist faculty in presenting their dossier in an effective manner. Faculty will also be given some concrete examples of teaching dossiers.

In this workshop we will explore various strategies for engaging adult learners and hear from Ryerson instructors sharing their experiences in active and experiential learning in the classroom. Several active learning techniques will be demonstrated and discussed. Technologies and tools to help that help increase active learning will be presented.

You are invited to share your teaching successes with the Vice-Provost Academic, Dr. Chris Evans. At this lunch, Dr. Evans will ask you to share a success you have had in teaching and will then lead a discussion around quality assurance in teaching. How do we know when our courses and programs are successful and when our teaching is maximally effective? Your opinions on these matters are valuable and can help in creating strategies that assist both faculty members and the university.

Assisting students in working on group projects can be one of the most challenging aspects of our work as instructors. When groups work, they are a wonderful experience for both students and instructors, and have great applications to the real world. However, sometimes group work goes wrong. There can be conflicts between students, problems with participation, and it is not always clear that the outcome is the combined effort of all group members. In this workshop, we will apply lessons from best practices in group facilitation, including methods that will ensure full group participation, and equip students with conflict management skills that they can use throughout their university and professional career.

We often talk about classroom management in terms of extreme cases of classroom difficulties. However, the more common classroom issues that concern faculty are dealing with less stressful classroom issues such as inattention (due to texting and emailing), laptop issues, talking, inappropriate comments made by students during class, and students arriving late and leaving early. These issues, while not major, can indeed disrupt the learning environment for other students. One way to minimize these types of disruptions is to develop strategies to deal with disruptions or to prevent disruptions altogether. Having prepared responses to classroom issues reduces both stress and pressure on the professor. In this workshop we will share tips, tools and teaching strategies to help faculty in managing their classroom efficiently.

One teaching technique that is known to be effective in engaging students, while also assisting them in applying knowledge, is case method teaching. However, case method teaching takes some planning, and requires some sound teaching practices and facilitation skills on the part of the professor. If done properly, case method increases student satisfaction with their course, allows them to understand the importance of theoretical issues and course content, and leads to stronger student/faculty and student/student engagement. In this workshop, we will share ideas and best practices on how to incorporate case methods and role-play (one type of case method) into your teaching and learning strategies. You will also participate in a case to gain first-hand knowledge on presenting cases to both large and small groups of students.

In this workshop we will examine various classroom engagement strategies that could promote student engagement inside and outside the classroom and thus enhance their success. Faculty members will demonstrate several individual engagement methods including content related demonstrations, class debates, and student participatory activities that are related to content. Time for discussion of these activities will be given for participants to consider how to use similar methods in their own classrooms.

Teaching a diverse student body requires faculty to use innovative and creative teaching methods to ensure the inclusion and engagements of all students. This requires a variety of strategies that are well supported by research and include in-class practices, assessment practices, and course website practices that better allow our materials to reach all of our students. In this workshop, we will explore best practices for creating an inclusive teaching and learning environment in class.

Students learn in many different ways and the focus of this workshop is on what we know about student learning and how to better reach students. Psychologists from the Department of Psychology will discuss, from a psychological perspective, student learning in terms of attention, memory, application, and success.