Winter 2025 Instructor Programming
Schedule at a Glance
January
February
Generative AI Lunch and Learn Series
Facilitated by: Rob Huang, Educational Developer, Instructional Practices and Student Engagement, RGASC.
This lunch and learn series will explore various Generative AI tools in higher education through the lens of the STRIVE (Student-centeredness, Transparency, Responsibility, Integrity, Validity, and Equity) model.
Designed for instructors at varying levels of comfort and experience, each of the six 30-minute sessions will demonstrate potential ways of incorporating a Generative AI tool into our teaching and learning practice, as well as build our collective pedagogical literacy in AI.
Each session will consist of the following format:
- Introduction to the featured AI tool (5 minutes)
- Demonstration of the tool's application in education (10 minutes)
- Discussion of the tool through the STRIVE framework lens (10 minutes)
- Q&A and wrap-up (5 minutes)
Six sessions will be offered in the Fall and Winter terms. There will be both online and on campus sessions. The Fall sessions are linked below under Past Events, including links to recordings and slides.
Session 4: “Revisiting Microsoft Copilot”
Monday January 20th from 12:00pm-12:45pm (Online via Zoom).
- Revisiting Microsoft Copilot with a focus on data analysis and visualization.
Session 5: “Revisiting Claude: Data Analysis”
Wednesday, February 19th from 12:00pm-12:45pm (Online via Zoom).
- Revisiting Claude with a focus on data analysis and visualization.
Assessment of Learning Series
Facilitated by Amanda Brijmohan, Educational Developer, Assessment and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, RGASC.
Assessment of Learning Series 3: Educational Assessment Practices and Student Identity Formation
Wednesday, January 22nd from 12:00pm-1:00pm (Online via Zoom).
Assessment practices in higher education can have a significant impact on student identities, namely in how they perceive themselves, their academic abilities, and their sense of belonging. The third session of the Assessment of Learning Series will explore Dr. Juuso Henrik Nieminen’s work on the impact of educational assessment on student identity formation. Participants will be introduced to Nieminen’s (2024) framework of student identity formation through assessment practices. In anticipation of February’s “Ungrading” workshop led by Laura McKinley, participants will be invited to use Nieminen’s (2024) framework to reflect on assessment practices in their classrooms and rethink ways in which aspects of student identity formation can be better supported.
Workshop: Creative and Critical Thinking with Generative AI
Thursday, January 30th from 1:00pm to 2:30pm (Online)
Facilitated by: Rob Huang, Educational Developer, Instructional Practices and Student Engagement, RGASC and Victoria Sheldon, Faculty Liaison Coordinator, Generative AI Pedagogies, CTSI
Generative AI tools have the potential to be used as metacognitive partners, promoting deeper levels of divergent thinking, reflection, and analysis. In this online workshop, we will explore the implications of generative artificial intelligence on creative and critical thinking. The aim is to provide an overview of creative and critical thinking models that could be applied in your teaching and learning practice while exploring and critically evaluating how generative AI could enhance, extend, empower or hinder student creative and critical thinking.
Session objectives:
- Examine models of creativity and critical thinking
- Explore the pedagogical implications of integrating generative AI-assisted creative and critical thinking in curriculum design
- Discuss strategies for incorporating generative AI into course design, learning activities, and assessments that focus on creative and critical thinking
- Evaluate potential challenges to creative and critical thinking posed by generative AI, and develop strategies to mitigate these risks when integrating AI tools into teaching contexts
Workshop: Developing Surveys in SoTL: Guidelines and Considerations
Tuesday, February 11th from 12:00pm to 2:00pm (Online)
Details to come.
Workshop: Designing Inclusive Classrooms: How to create meaningful learning experiences
Wednesday, February 25th from 12:00pm to 1:00pm (Online)
Facilitated by: Laura McKinley, UDL and Accessible Pedagogy Coordinator
Abstract: The most recent update to the Universal Design for Learning guidelines, UDL 3.0, responds to the call for the framework to embed greater attention to a more inclusive equity lens into its suggestions for enhancing and fostering meaningful learning experiences for all learners. This workshop will describe the updates to the guidelines and how the differ from previous iterations, offer participants the opportunity to practice its application to a learning activity, assignment or assessment strategy and reflect on how the framework might change how we teach.
Past Events
Generative AI Lunch and Learn Series
Facilitated by: Rob Huang, Educational Developer, Instructional Practices and Student Engagement, RGASC
This lunch and learn series will explore various Generative AI tools in higher education through the lens of the STRIVE (Student-centeredness, Transparency, Responsibility, Integrity, Validity, and Equity) model.
Designed for instructors at varying levels of comfort and experience, each of the six 30-minute sessions will demonstrate potential ways of incorporating a Generative AI tool into our teaching and learning practice, as well as build our collective pedagogical literacy in AI.
Each session will consist of the following format:
- Introduction to the featured AI tool (5 minutes)
- Demonstration of the tool's application in education (10 minutes)
- Discussion of the tool through the STRIVE framework lens (10 minutes)
- Q&A and wrap-up (5 minutes)
Six sessions will be offered, with the first three taking place in the Fall term. There will be both online and on campus sessions. Please see full list of Fall sessions below, including registration information.
Session 1: “Microsoft Copilot”
Wednesday September 18th from 12:00pm-12:30pm (Online via Zoom).
- Microsoft Copilot is now available through the University of Toronto to all instructors, staff, and students.
Session 2: “Claude”
Thursday October 24th from 12:00pm-12:30pm (Online via Zoom).
- Claude by Anthropic is a generative AI tool similar to Microsoft Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but with better performance in terms of creativity, proofreading and coding assistant.
Session 3: “Perplexity”
Wednesday November 20th from 1:00pm-2:00pm (On campus in MN3230 – CDRS Large Collaboration Space).
- Perplexity is a generative AI powered search engine designed to provide accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information with citations.
Assessment of Learning Series: “A Brief History of Educational Assessment” (Online)
Wednesday October 16th, 2024 from 12:00pm-1:00pm (Online via Zoom)
Facilitated by: Amanda Brijmohan, Educational Developer, Assessment and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, RGASC
The first session of the Assessment of Learning Series will trace the historical origins of our present-day assessment practices. As this history is expansive, the session will focus on key moments in educational assessment history which will shine a light on how and why we assess student learning in the ways that we do. The goal of this session is to provide a space to connect these histories with our current assessment practices, such that participants can begin to reflect, re-imagine, and reconstruct their understandings around assessment and student learning.
Assessment of Learning Series: “What do we mean when we say: ‘Inclusive Assessments’?”
Wednesday December 4th , from 11am-12:00pm in MN3230 – CDRS Large Collaboration Space
Facilitated by: Amanda Brijmohan, Educational Developer, Assessment and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, RGASC and Adriana Grimaldi, Acting Senior Educational Developer, RGASC
The second session of the Assessment of Learning Series will discuss pedagogical considerations for implementing inclusive assessment design in your classroom. This session's content will appeal both to instructors new to the paradigm of inclusive assessment as well as those interested in re-imagining their course with inclusive assessment in mind. The principles of inclusive assessment design and practical examples of it will be discussed including the latest Universal Design for Learning Guidelines 3.0.
Workshop: Re-Thinking Rubrics in the Age of Generative AI (Online)
Thursday November 28, 2024 from 12:00pm-1:30pm (Online via Zoom)
Facilitated by: Amanda Brijmohan, Educational Developer, Assessment and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, RGASC
Rubrics are useful for specifying criteria used to assess student work. They can be helpful for instructors in maintaining consistent grading practices and are helpful in communicating academic expectations for student learning. However, as generative AI tools become more integrated in how students complete course work, rubric development practices will need to be updated to reflect this change. This online workshop will discuss current models of how generative AI use can be integrated into assessment expectations in your course, and how these expectations can be communicated through different kinds of rubrics. Participants are encouraged to bring a draft of an assignment rubric they want to revise and will work in breakout rooms to rethink their rubric criteria when considering generative AI.
Session Objectives:
- Explore emerging assessment frameworks which consider generative AI integration in how learning is assessed
- Discuss strategies for generative AI integration in rubric criteria