Facilitated by Christina Halliday and John Hannah, Student Learning Support, Ryerson University

One of the most important tasks for a postsecondary student is to develop mastery of writing within their discipline. For some students, this learning process unfolds quite smoothly. For others, the task of writing at the university level can present an enormous stumbling block that puts the student at risk of failure and diminished self-confidence. In this workshop, we will explore some of the common challenges to student writers, aspects of the writing process, and the relationship of writing to disciplinary content learning and critical thinking skills.

Facilitated by Ling Li and Jenny Liu, M.A Candidates in Psychological Science, Department of Psychology

For new TA/GAs, marking a research paper could be daunting. In this workshop we will address the unique challenges of grading research papers in social sciences, particularly in Psychology. In addition, attendees will be guided through the creation of an effective grading scheme, and be provided with an opportunity to apply it in the grading of mock research papers.

A light lunch will be provided.

Dr. John Paul Foxe, Educational Developer, Learning and Teaching Office, Ryerson University and Aslam Hanief, PhD candidate, Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University

Laboratory exercises represent a common component of many science and psychology undergraduate courses. These laboratories provide students with an opportunity to engage in concepts and experiments in a practical environment. Students are often required to summarize their methods, findings and what is already known in the literature in the form of a laboratory report. It can be the TA/GA’s role to grade these laboratory reports, which they must do fairly and consistently, while providing useful feedback to the students. This workshop will focus on efficient grading of laboratory reports. Attendees will learn strategies for providing effective and useful feedback to students. Through the use of examples and group exercises, attendees will learn to efficiently grade laboratory reports, while providing effective feedback to their students.

Facilitated by Christina Halliday and John Hannah, Student Learning Support, Ryerson University

In Part 1, we discussed a variety of typical undergraduate student writing challenges and the complexities involved in helping students to overcome these challenges. TA/GA’s are often in a very important position in relation to the development of student writers in their classrooms and, in this workshop, we will focus on some practical ways in which they can better integrate writing instruction and support into their teaching and thus better facilitate this development. Topics for discussion will include how to create opportunities for low-stake writing practice, the importance of linking critical reading to effective writing, ways to embed writing assignments into course design, the importance of scaffolding the writing process, and how to help students understand the rhetorical context of their writing.

Facilitated by the Dr. John Paul Foxe, Educational Developer, Learning and Teaching Office, Ryerson University

Marking is one of the biggest challenges in TA/GA work. Not only is it difficult to learn the criteria for assessing student work, but it is also emotionally fraught. Participants in this workshop will reflect on some of the emotional aspects of marking while learning important criteria to be used in grading essay-style assignments. The workshop will include a hands-on experience in marking and giving feedback, as well as some discussion of general principles of the essay form.

Facilitated by Nora Farrell, the Ryerson University Ombudsperson

At this workshop you will learn what your usual conflict resolution style is and the skills you need to develop to be able to resolve conflict more effectively in a wide variety of situations. You will also have the opportunity to try out different styles for handling conflict by participating in simulations developed from common work and study situations. This workshop will include the use of the Thomas-Kilman Conflict Mode questionnaire. This workshop will be led by Nora Farrell, the Ryerson University Ombudsperson. Nora Farrell has extensive background in the study and practice of conflict resolution. She has an LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Osgoode Hall Law School and a Master of Education degree in Adult Education from the University of British Columbia. She is currently completing a Ph.D. at Osgoode Hall Law School. Prior to becoming the Ombudsperson for Ryerson University she worked for Ombudsman Ontario as well as in the private and not-for-profit sectors as an Ombudsman/person.

Facilitated by Christina Halliday and John Hannah, Student Learning Support

Parts 1 and 2 of this series focus on the challenges of student writers (Part 1) and ways to integrate effective writing support into classrooms (Part 2). Building on what was explored in Parts 1 and 2, this workshop will focus on ways to effectively respond to student written work. Emphasizing that the purpose of teacher-response is to improve student writing development, workshop facilitators will lead a discussion about the ways in which various kinds of response differ in terms of their effect on students. Participants will learn ways to provide effective and meaningful response while balancing issues of timeliness and workload.

Facilitated by Nora Farrell, the Ryerson University Ombudsperson

At this workshop you will learn how to resolve conflicts and negotiate more effectively by learning about the skills that are most commonly used by individuals who are widely recognized as excellent negotiators. You will also have the opportunity to learn new skills or improve on your existing negotiating skills by participating in simulations developed from common TA/GA situations. Prior to attending this workshop, participants are encouraged to submit potential scenarios involving conflict for discussion. This can be done when registering for this workshop. This workshop will be led by Nora Farrell, the Ryerson University Ombudsperson. Nora Farrell has extensive background in the study and practice of conflict resolution. She has an LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Osgoode Hall Law School and a Master of Education degree in Adult Education from the University of British Columbia. She is currently completing a Ph.D. at Osgoode Hall Law School. Prior to becoming the Ombudsperson for Ryerson University she worked for Ombudsman Ontario as well as in the private and not-for-profit sectors as an Ombudsman/person.

Facilitated by Chris Brierley and John Hannah, Student Learning Support

In this workshop, members of the Student Learning Support team will introduce approaches to teaching and evaluating writing that encourage the writing development of students for whom English is an additional language. Through discussion and group activities, participants will get a chance to apply what they learn about "L2 writers" to their own program and disciplinary contexts.

Facilitated by the Dr. John Paul Foxe, Educational Developer, Learning and Teaching Office, Ryerson University

Toronto is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world and this diversity is reflected in Ryerson's community. International TA/GAs and students face a number of challenges, many of which do not affect domestic TA/GAs or domestic students. English may be an alternate language for some and this in itself can cause a number of issues for both the TA/GA and his or her students. In addition, many internationals come from diverse cultural and academic backgrounds, which can be substantially different from those found at Ryerson. In this workshop we will explore some of the opportunities and challenges facing international TA/GAs and students.

Facilitated by Dalia Hanna, Project Management Professional (PMP®), Program Coordinator, Learning and Teaching Office, Ryerson University

Group work can be used as an effective tool to help students learn from each other, build community and engage in the course content. The key to the success of a group is in the planning and understanding of the purpose of the work needed.
In this session you will learn about project management concepts and how they can be applied to facilitating your students’ group work. We will explore project management processes through the use of examples and exercises. Attendees will learn useful strategies that will help students to understand and define their roles in a group. We will explore ways of planning, collaborating and communicating that you can use to help your students work effectively within a group.