Reports
Teaching and Learning Portfolio Summary Report on I-EDIAA: July 2024
As a Teaching and Learning Portfolio, 2023 – 2024 was a year of engagement with the principles of I-EDIAA becoming more embedded into the daily practices and processes. The VPTL team carried out training for team members on Queen’s Truth and Reconciliation work since the Extending the Rafters report, and on the Scarborough Charter and discussed how to actively incorporate anti-racism and decolonization into our work. Guided by the Principal’s Strategic Objectives and the institutional commitments, the entire Portfolio also explored results of the SHIFT survey that revealed students from equity-seeking groups feeling less belonging at Queen’s, and staff were asked to consider ways that they could contribute to a more welcoming campus environment. The CTL provided over 1880 participants with 70+ events that engaged them on many varied aspects of teaching and learning.
Connecting with Queen’s community through numerous consultations, including departments and individual educators, has also been vital to the work of the CTL as we promote I-EDIAA strategies and principles into all areas of teaching and learning. This work allows us to positively impact student learning experience across all faculties.
Teaching and Learning Portfolio Summary Report on I-EDIAA: July 2024 (PDF, 224KB)
Each year, we take a moment as a team to pause and reflect on the work we have done with our many collaborators, partners, and co-conspirators. As a Centre, 2022-2023 was a rich year in community engagements, and this report highlights some of the work we have been engaging with to ground, guide, and mobilize Indigenization, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Anti-Racism (I-EDIAA) across the University. Guided by the Principal’s Strategic Objectives and honoring institutional commitments to the Yakwanastahentéha Aankenjigemi Extending the Rafters: Truth and Reconciliation Commission Task Force Final Report, the Scarborough Charter, and the Okanagan Charter the impactful practices, accessibility, and inclusive excellence are at the forefront of our mission.
It was a standout year for the CTL, so much so that the CTL team’s outstanding efforts and educational development support to Queen’s
instructors was acknowledged with a well-deserved Special Recognition for Staff Award.
Here’s a highlight of just a few accomplishments:
- Continuing to support instructors and TAs through an entire academic year of remote teaching and assessment, we interacted with more people than ever before – more than 1000 individual members of the Queen’s teaching community took part in CTL programming this year through attendance at webinars, brown bag sessions and drop-ins.
- New to the CTL team, our stellar Ed Tech Team, comprised entirely of dedicated and talented undergraduate students, supported instructors’ use of onQ and provided support for other central service units. We recently welcomed Cleon Aristo into an internship, serving as lead member of the team.
- Our superb undergraduate captioning team took responsibility for ensuring the accessibility of recorded course material.
- The Transforming Teaching Toolkit, an invaluable resource to Queen’s own instructors, became a go-to resource for post-secondary educators across the country.
- Blended and remote delivery of our programs enabled a far greater level of accessibility and inclusion that enabled greater participation across campus and stronger ties with colleagues at the BISC.
Centre for Teaching and Learning Annual Report: September 2020 - August 2021 (PDF, 3.3MB)
Well, it was quite a year. The CTL opened 2019-20 with our “Change One Thing” challenge – an initiative designed to illustrate to Queen’s instructors that making just a single change in a course could eventually lead to significant transformation…and we finished the year by building the Transforming Teaching Toolkit for those same instructors when they felt overwhelmed by feeling a need to change absolutely everything in the final weeks of the Winter Term.
Centre for Teaching and Learning Annual Report: June 2019 - August 2020 (PDF, 4.3MB)
Over the past three decades, TAs have not been sufficiently supported or prepared for their teaching responsibilities (Blouin & Moss, 2015; Hoessler et al., 2015; Kenny et al., 2014). This problem has been the central focus of this report which outlined the problem definition, historical context, TA programming practices at Queen’s University, and alignment with best practices at other Canadian teaching support centres.
Teaching Assistant Training and Support (PDF, 23.9 MB)
It was a busy year for Queen’s CTL and a time that presented us with some opportunities to connect more strongly with the ֱ community.
Centre for Teaching and Learning Annual Report: June 2018 - May 2019 (PDF, 9.1MB)
It was an eventful and busy year for Queen’s Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and a time that presented us with some unexpected opportunities for reflection,
consultation and growth.
Centre for Teaching and Learning Annual Report: June 2017 - May 2018 (PDF, 13.2MB)
Summary Centre for Teaching and Learning Annual Report: June 2017 - May 2018 (PDF, 1.9MB)
A month-long exhibit in October 2016 of teaching and learning artifacts that through a creative lens may be seen as art
Much of what we do to enhance teaching and learning at Queen’s focuses on teaching practices, learning outcomes, course design, etc. While these are incredibly important, we can sometimes miss the creative element of teaching and learning in higher education. This month-long exhibit, aimed to display and celebrate the creativity of teaching and learning that contributes greatly to student learning.
2016/17 was a year of growth, regeneration and celebration as we marked our 25th anniversary in January 2017. We helped educators across campus migrate courses to our new learning management system, oversaw the creation or renovation of teaching and learning spaces, experienced significant increases in resource use and program engagement, and forged new partnerships and collaborations. We also contributed to the celebration of Queen’s 175th anniversary with a campus-wide exhibit of Creative Expressions of Teaching and Learning.
Centre for Teaching and Learning: A Year in Review (PDF, 3.13MB)
2015-2016 has been a banner year for the Centre for Teaching and Learning. With a long history of The Evolution of Educational Development@Queen’s, we worked hard and long to re-define ourselves to build on existing supports and programs. We re-examined all the work we do and re-organized ourselves accordingly. We reflected on the work we have been doing and forged new directions and initiatives. A summary of the activities from the Centre from October 2014 - May 2015 with a focus on the updated mandate and priorities of the Centre.
This report was written to document the development and evaluation of three innovative Active Learning Classrooms at Queen’s University. The project was aimed to achieve Queen’s goal to enhance the student learning experience by providing instructors with the space and resources needed to engage students actively in their learning. With generous donations to Queen’s in 2012, a pilot project implementing three Active Learning Classrooms in Ellis Hall was developed to inform the University’s future teaching space projects. On the first day of the Winter term of 2014, the classrooms were opened and students’ and faculty’s impressions and experiences in the room were investigated through several studies.
Report for Active Learning Classrooms in Ellis Hall - Fall 2014 (PDF, 3.4MB)
A report of the Principal's Advisory Committee on Instructional Development that was tasked to review the various approaches to instructional development, the types of centres in place at other universities, judge whether they were effective and whether teaching and learning at ֱ would benefit by the establishment of a centre at ֱ. This report was critical to the establishment of the Centre for Teaching and Learning (previously called the Instructional Development Centre) at ֱ in 1992.
Report of the Principal's Advisory Committee on Instructional Development (PDF, 3393KB)
Grants
The Centre for Teaching and Learning offered grants for educational research projects that support undergraduate and graduate learning at ֱ. The purpose of these grants were to encourage and support rigorous, systematic, evidence-based studies of teaching and learning and to facilitate the dissemination of results of that work to benefit others.
Educational Research Grants (PDF, 124.1KB)
The Centre for Teaching and Learning offered the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Grants. These grants funded innovative research projects that focus on aspects of teaching in higher education. Projects could include, but are not limited to, course or program design, assessment techniques, teaching strategies, technology, or creating new active learning opportunities aimed at increasing student engagement.
The purpose of this exciting course redesign program was to enhance already-existing undergraduate courses in a way that encourages undergraduate research and inquiry as key approaches to learning. Funds were awarded for the development of sustainable, semester-long courses that directly supported both the overall academic mission of Queen’s University and the strategic goals related to enhancement of the learning experience of its students.
Our History
Dr. Christopher Knapper came to Queen’s in 1991 from the University of Waterloo, where he was Director of Teaching Resources and Continuing Education, to establish the new Instructional Development Centre (now Centre for Teaching and Learning). The Centre was created in response to a need outlined in a report from the Principal’s Task Force on Instructional Development, chaired by Dr. David Turpin.
As the founding director, Dr. Knapper began creating a small unit staffed initially by himself, one Associate Instructional Developer (Susan Wilcox), an Administrative Secretary (Sandra Murray), and later a seconded Faculty Associate (Mark Weisberg from the Faculty of Law). He worked closely with the Queen’s Alma Mater Society (AMS), who helped spearhead a donation of funds from students to support the enhancement of teaching and learning at the university. In November 1993, this resulted in students voting to support the university’s capital campaign through a voluntary student interest fee of $45 a year for five years, raising a $750,000 endowment for the IDC. This remarkable level of support from students is unparalleled in Canada, and probably worldwide.
Dr. Knapper led hundreds of workshops on all aspects of teaching and learning in higher education at Queen’s. He was also highly sought-after internationally, undertaking consulting, conducting program evaluation, and offering workshops in many parts of the world. He has written or edited countless publications and was a founding editor of the International Journal for Academic Development from 1994 to 2004. He was one of the originators of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) where he served as its first President from 1981 to 1988.
While leading the Centre, he also taught in the Department of Psychology where he was cross-appointed and where he currently holds the distinction of Professor Emeritus. His connection with students was a critical component of his teaching philosophy and is what drove his love for teaching and learning. His students still reach out to him to this day to thank him for the positive impact he had on them and in their lives well beyond the classroom.
In 1999 the Queen’s Alma Mater Society created the Christopher Knapper Award for Excellence in Teaching Assistance and in his final year at Queen’s before his retirement in 2002 he was elected Honorary President of the AMS. He was also honoured by STLHE as the inaugural recipient of the newly created Christopher Knapper Lifetime Achievement Award. He a 3M National Teaching Fellow (2002), the most prestigious Canadian university teaching award, and in 2004 was recipient of the Wilbert McKeachie Career Achievement Award of the American Educational Research Association. He was one of the founders of the International Consortium for Educational Development and was recipient of its Spirit of ICED award in 2014.
Christopher is now retired and living in Kingston with his wife, Laurel.
This report was prepared for a review of our Centre which took place in January 1999. It gives an overview of the services, programs, and activities of the IDC during our first six years and describes some of the evidence for our effectiveness and impact on teaching and learning at Queen’s, and ends with some concluding comments from the external consultants who played an important role in the review.
This report was prepared by Dr. Christopher Knapper who was the founding Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning (previously called the Instructional Development Centre). The report highlights the Centre's initial goals, funding, staffing and space. It also reports on workshops and individual consultations provided, ֱ teaching evaluations, teaching assistant training and support, use of the CTL resource library, collaborative initiatives, publicity and external relations. Finally, Knapper provides his ideas for future directions for the role and activities of the Centre at ֱ.
Instructional Development Centre: The First year (PDF,1041KB)