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2020-2022 Annual Report

2021-2022 Annual Report

Director’s Welcome

This past year, CTSI moved from the scramble of pivoting our own resources, consultations and events and supporting instructors, students and staff as the University went online to a year of working in the ‘new normal’ of a remote and online community. CTSI has always been focused on the needs of U of T instructors and providing the tools to create an engaging and accessible teaching and learning environment. During this period of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve renewed and reinvigorated our commitment to listen, respond, learn and grow together.

While we may all share some common ground, there is no single or singular teaching and learning experience at U of T. CTSI’s first goal is to listen to the needs and concerns of instructors and graduate students through consultations, events, feedback and conversations to better understand how CTSI can support them in their work. This last year, in particular, brought the importance of open discussions to the forefront. We all needed to be flexible. CTSI needed to respond in a quick but measured fashion that was always centered on pedagogy, research and accessibility.

As our 2021 Teaching and Learning Symposium—Teacher-as-Learner/Learner-as-Teacher—demonstrated, we learn from each other and grow as a community when we do. For the first time, the TLS was a fully online event held over three days. The event included a mix of synchronous and asynchronous content—videos, posters and live webinars—bringing together over 400 attendees for lively online conversations and the sharing of research and experiences. The keynote address, Reimagining Impact Across Disciplines By Embracing a Beginner Mindset reminded us all that we have much to learn from each other and our students. The closing plenary, Pandemic Snapshots: Learning and Looking Forward let instructors’ and students’ stories take the spotlight as we all reflected on the past year.

CTSI has taken this reminder to learn and grow to heart and expanded our webinar offerings (35 in Spring/Summer 2020, 19 in Fall 2020 and 22 in the Winter 2021 term) and our online resource catalogue. We started the process of redesigning the CTSI website and educational technology online knowledge database, which will make it easier for our instructors to find up-to-date resources when they need them.

This report captures the highlights of the work of the various functional teams in CTSI. Collaborations among these teams are at the heart of CTSI’s work, as are collaborations with our partners across the University. Over this past year, this work and our connections were vital as we all leaned on and relied upon our colleagues to ensure instructors received the support they needed during this difficult period.

Having completed my first year as CTSI Director, a year that was repeatedly referred to as unprecedented, I am grateful for the unwavering support of the superb CTSI team and our partners and colleagues across the University. As we are able to gather in person, and our ‘new normal’ takes a new shape, I am excited by the opportunities ahead, and the possibilities this year has shown for new and flexible ways we can continue to support instructors. I am looking forward to setting the Centre’s next strategic priorities and working with our community to meet these goals.

Alison Gibbs
Director | Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation
Professor, Teaching Stream | Department of Statistical Sciences

Course Evaluations

operates the centralized online evaluation system. The team also supports interpretation and use of the data, provides technical support, and works with Divisions on implementing and modifying course evaluations. Team members support U of T instructors and administrators through consultations, resource development, and webinars. The team also provides leadership to the wider higher education community by collaborating with peers at other institutions.

Course Evaluation Team Highlights

The Course Evaluations Institute (CEI) (postponed from May 2020):

The CEI was held over three weeks in May/June 2021 as a series of six 90-minute online panel discussions on topics of collective interest to the course evaluation community. Working with colleagues from Simon Fraser University and the University of Waterloo to construct the discussion topics and panels, the CEI welcomed approximately 20 participants per panel discussion. In total there were 42 participants across 18 institutions from Canada, the United States, and Singapore. This community meeting has resulted in further discussions and the creation of working groups around course evaluation interpretation guidelines and statistical analysis.

Active implementation work and/or discussions are ongoing with the Rotman School of Management, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Work was completed on implementation with the Faculty of Pharmacy, and divisional items were revised in collaboration with the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering.

By streamlining processes such as communications and requests, the Course Evaluations team continued to support U of T’s faculty and students without delays or interruption of service. The team also worked with the Office of Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life to communicate messaging on the use and interpretation of course evaluations during this time of adapted delivery.

Programming and Communications 

CTSI’s Programming & Communications team is responsible for overseeing CTSI events (including workshops, webinars, roundtables and the Teaching & Learning Symposium), supporting the preparation of teaching award nomination files, coordinating dossier and pedagogy consultations, updating and maintaining websites and online resources, and supporting CTSI Directors and individual teams as they engage with colleagues across the University.

Programming & Communications Team Highlights

Course Design Institute (CDI) reimagined as Course Design for Online (CDO):

Replacing the 2-day in-person CDI, the CDO modeled institutionally supported tools and features available on Quercus and exposed instructors to live webinar tools through the complementary online workshops. The CDO ran in three distinct iterations: 1) a two-week course in July; 2) a two-week course in August; and 3) a seven-week course in the Fall. 214 instructors completed the CDO course in 2020 compared to 28 who completed the CDI in 2018 and 44 in 2017. In addition, CDO summer participants were invited back to a follow-up session, with 17 instructors returning to collectively debrief their experiences teaching online.

Building on the theme of the postponed 2020 TLS, the 2021 theme of Teacher-as-Learner/Learner-as-Teacher was expanded to include responses to the remote/online teaching pivot and graduate student Course Instructors were invited to participate. A new, more interactive website was built for the three-day event that included asynchronous content (videos, posters), the ability to stream embedded live sessions, and forums to continue discussions online. For the first time, the TLS now has a repository of artifacts and resources available beyond the event date.

Responding to the global shift to  online/remote learning, the second iteration of the Association of College and University Educators’ (ACUE) Certificate in Effective University Instruction was updated as a condensed Course in Effective Online Teaching Practices (EOTP). CTSI, in partnership with ACUE, launched this updated six-month online course in December 2020 with 32 continuing appointment U of T faculty participating. Designed as a completely online learning experience, the EOTP combined four optional synchronous online learning opportunities, 25 asynchronous online modules and a community of practice.

Teaching Assistants’ Training Program

The Teaching Assistants’ Training Program (TATP) is a peer-based network that offers training (workshops, microteaching, first-contract job training) and online resources (tip sheets, guides, videos, training modules) to support graduate students and teaching assistants at the University of Toronto. The TATP also provides professional development opportunities, such as special events and two certificate programs, and administers two teaching awards to acknowledge teaching excellence in teaching assistants and graduate student Course Instructors.

TATP Team Highlights

Student Life-TATP partnership:

The TATP partnered with two offices in Student Life (Centre for International Experience and Academic Success) to create a series of four conversations based on “Intercultural Teaching Circles.” These teaching circles, offered on a monthly basis, were guided by two International Graduate Educational Developers, who also facilitated the crowdsourcing of materials, tools, and resources. The TATP also ran two workshops for graduate students on intercultural competencies through its certificate programs that were also eligible for SGS’s MyGDP program.

The TATP reconceptualized two of its largest in-person and intensive offerings into responsive online training experiences. In a typical year, these events would train upwards of 700 TAs in total.

  • Tri-Campus TA Day relaunched as Online TA Week: Divided into two streams (Teaching Foundations for first-time TAs, and Teaching Expertise for returning TAs), the Online TA Week had an overall focus on teaching with technology. Many sessions explored teaching in the online environment, including two roundtables facilitated by our IT campus partners focusing on educational technology tools. More than 700 graduate students registered for the Online TA Week, with some sessions having more than 250 participants.
  • Transforming Job Training with synchronous and asynchronous resources and training offerings: Job Training sessions were directed at new TAs and returning TAs looking for specialized skills for online teaching. Training for new TAs also pivoted to include a combination of two 1-hour asynchronous modules and a 2-hour webinar. More than 2000 registrants completed one of the nine asynchronous training modules. By the end of September 2020, 4322 individual participants had attended one of TATP’s 60 webinars.

To enhance the practicum offerings to certificate participants in an online space, TATP designed two new experiential opportunities. The cohort-based teaching practicum, Emotional Intelligence in Teaching and Learning, was a four-part webinar series that supported graduate students in developing their unique teacher identities through reflective exercises using the lens of emotional intelligence. The TATP also expanded offerings focused on career readiness and transferable skills, including roundtable discussions on teaching in the college sector and how to highlight transferable skills when entering the academic and non-academic job markets.

Teaching, Learning and Technology

The Teaching, Learning & Technology team provides support for instructors using pedagogy-driven educational technology, including Quercus and integrated online tools, through consultations, webinars, and the development and redesign of resources to better serve the needs of our U of T community. The team was instrumental, working with other CTSI teams, in the development of the Course Design for Online modules and piloting the online teaching feedback services, both of which support and enable instructors teaching in an online/remote environment.

Teaching, Learning and Technology Team Highlights

Supporting improved online teaching and learning:

The Quercus Course Review (QCR) and Synchronous Online Teaching Observation (SOTO) services were piloted and launched this past year. These services provide formative feedback to faculty with a view to shaping future course design processes and enhancements while improving pedagogical practices for teaching in online and blended learning environments. Ten courses were reviewed in the QCR pilot.

The Teaching, Learning & Technology (ACT Support) team offered drop-in sessions and online consultations for much needed skills in online teaching. Captioning clinics were offered to ensure adherence to accessibility standards for delivery of course materials, and just-in-time consultations provided targeted guidance on how to develop an online course using Quercus and U of T’s Academic Toolbox.

The Knowledge Base Renewal initiative, is a tri-campus, multi-divisional initiative that kicked off in January 2021. Three advisory groups have been established and include campus-wide and Divisional education technology leads. The purpose of this initiative is to bring together colleagues to discuss and ensure programming and development is reflected in four core areas: 1) Faculty Development, 2) Education Technology Colleagues’ Professional Development, and 3) Documentation & Resource Development and 4) Communications.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) team, now part of the Evaluation & Assessment team in CTSI, works closely with instructors to support research on teaching and learning at the University of Toronto through workshops, regular consultations on a wide range of research process topics, and a new online resource repository (the SoTL Hub on Quercus). The team greatly contributes to a number of CTSI initiatives and programming, including the Course Design for Online modules, teaching feedback services, the Certificate in Effective University Instruction and the Teaching & Learning Symposium.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Team Highlights

SoTL Needs Assessment:

To ensure CTSI captured the interests of instructors interested in conducting inquiry on their teaching, the SoTL team developed a needs assessment survey in Fall 2020. The team collected feedback from 50 instructors on possible programming topics, their research interests, and potential gaps in support and resources. These findings directly informed the SoTL program planning for Winter 2021, and there was a marked increase in attendance for these SoTL sessions.

Drawing on resources developed and compiled for the 2018-2019 SoTL Cohort and expanded to better serve our community during remote/online teaching, the SoTL Resource Hub was designed to serve as a central community for webinar materials, SoTL resources, and asynchronous interactive discussions. Engaging the CTSI team and U of T instructors through the creation and use of this repository, as well as sharing ideas and resources, this hub has laid the groundwork for more intensive and responsive SoTL work for the coming year.

The team facilitated four SoTL webinars for U of T instructors (see appendix E) with significantly higher attendance than previous already popular in-person workshop offerings. The SoTL team also connected with other faculty developers in Ontario colleges and institutions through the Council of Ontario Educational Developers (COED) via a SoTL Action Learning Set (colleagues working together on specific issues). The CTSI team is continuing to serve as coordinators of the COED SoTL Action Learning Set.

Celebrating Teaching

CTSI provides support for faculty members and Divisions preparing nomination packages for institutional, provincial and national teaching awards, including consultations and guidance around the compilation of nomination files. CTSI also administers the Teaching Excellence Awards for Teaching Assistants and graduate student Course Instructors.

President’s Teaching Award
  • Aarthi Ashok, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Biological Sciences, UTSC
  • Jeremy Lopez, Professor, English, FAS
  • Micah Stickel, Professor, Teaching Stream, Electrical & Computer Engineering, FASE
  • Danielle Bentley, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery, TFM
  • Daniel Gregory, Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences, FAS
  • Jacqueline Smith, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Computer Science, FAS
  • Olivier St-Cyr, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, FI
  • Paola Salardi, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Director, Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict & Justice, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

TA Teaching Excellence Awards

  • Adam El-Masri, Computer Science, FAS
  • Ariana Ellis, History, FAS
  • Anna Cwikla, Study of Religion, FAS
  • Dustin Meyer, English, FAS
  • Chiyun (Myron) Zhong, Civil & Mineral Engineering, FASE

CI Teaching Excellence Award

  • Samantha Chang, Art History, FAS
  • Will Cluett, Professor, Chemical Engineering and Applied Engineering, FASE
  • Obidimma Ezezika, Assistant Professor, Health & Society, UTSC, and the DLSPH

Intersections

Beyond the work within our teams, this section highlights collaborations within CTSI and with offices, departments and individuals across U of T and beyond and how that work aligns with CTSI strategic priorities. This is the final year we will be reporting on the below five themes that have guided CTSI’s planning and outreach this past decade.

Instructional Practices and Course Design

The Course Design for Online (CDO) program was developed for Summer 2020 (two iterations) and was offered again in Fall 2020. Presented over six weeks and incorporating synchronous and asynchronous content, the CDO modeled the process for teaching online content to best engage students while developing a course that is both rigorous and accessible. The CDO was a collaborative effort by several CTSI teams—Programming & Communications, TLT/ACT, and TATP, as well as Online Learning Strategies (now Digital Learning Innovation) and the Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education—who developed and delivered the content. The Teaching, Learning and Technology (ACT Support) team and Digital Learning Innovation (DLI) teams redeveloped the CDO modules as an asynchronous offering for summer 2021.

CTSI has long been a leader at U of T in providing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) resources and programming and many looked to our staff and website for guidance and support. A collaboration between TATP and TLT/ACT teams saw the UDL + Quercus webinar series (providing strategies for accessible learning) updated and offered with new online resources (from CTSI and across the University), including a 30-minute asynchronous module on the foundations of UDL.

The Certificate in Effective University Instruction, a unique professional development opportunity for faculty, offered in partnership with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), saw 32 faculty members from all campuses and a range of Divisions complete the online modules. The offering of this course continues to evolve to meet the needs of participants. This offering was co-facilitated by a CTSI staff member and a faculty member from Computer Science, with input from the ACUE team. For more detailed information about this course and certificate, please see above section 2D.

The Teaching, Learning and Technology (ACT Support) team worked with educational technology professionals across the University using a collaborative support model to provide overviews and training to colleagues on new tools available in the Academic Toolbox, to participate in vendor workshops and training, and to contribute to sessions developed by colleagues.

Teaching, Learning and Technology and SoTL teams developed and delivered Assessing Student Work and Providing Feedback, a two-part webinar series, and Assessing Student Work and Providing Feedback using Office 365 Tools on assessment and evaluation in online learning environments.

CTSI asked some U of T faculty members to reflect on their experiences teaching online and share what has worked best for their students’ – and their own – academic success and mental health. Faculty members across the University provided their stories to help colleagues for the Rethinking Assessment series.

The Course Evaluations team worked with ITS to integrate course evaluation pop-up reminders on Quercus.

The Teaching, Learning & Technology (ACT Support) team developed the Quercus Course Review and Synchronous Online Teaching Observation services in collaboration with the SoTL team.

This past year, the TATP offered its first Introduction to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning webinar (in collaboration with the SoTL team) for graduate students. They also presented a series of roundtables on Critical Pedagogies.

CTSI focused some of its programming on integrated tools available to instructors through Quercus, some of which were developed at U of T. CTSI offered webinars on online assessment and evaluation tools, like peerScholar, Team Up! and Quizzical. Instructors and staff involved in the development of the tools led the sessions (e.g., Steve Joordens, Melody Neumann, Dan Riggs). CTSI also led a series of webinars on Office 365 tools available in Quercus and more general online assessment and engagement techniques.

CTSI and Online Learning Strategies (now Digital Learning Innovation) teamed up with the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Online Learning Academy to facilitate roundtables on topics of concern in online teaching and addressing issues like running a lab remotely and teaching language classes online.

The Knowledge Base Renewal project brought together the TLT/ACT team, educational technology professionals (including three advisory groups with membership from Divisional education technology leads, UTM and UTSC) and CTSI’s Programming and Communications team to reassess, redesign and develop resources to ensure faculty, students and staff have access to supports and tools that better serve the community. This Knowledge Base will be available through CTSI’s redesigned website, launching in Winter 2022.

The TATP developed a Teaching with Technology & Teaching Online section for their online Toolkit. This section includes topics such as Supporting Students Success in Online Learning, Active Learning in the Online Environment, Quercus: Essential Info for TAs on U of T’s Academic Toolbox, and Captions and Transcripts.

An evaluation team comprising CTSI senior staff and staff from Academic & Collaborative Technologies (ACT) in ITS worked with Procurement Services and the University’s administration to launch an RFP process for an online course evaluation system software. A vendor was selected in Spring 2021 with plans to finalize the process in Summer/Fall 2021.

In partnership with Universities across Ontario (Ryerson/X, Windsor, Western, and Waterloo), the TATP was awarded a $40,000 grant from eCampusOntario’s Virtual Learning Strategy (VLS). The project will is focused on creating an asynchronous open access resource (OER) on how to prepare a teaching dossier, a crucial component of a graduate student’s academic job application. The new series of modules will encourage reflective practice and emphasize transferrable skills-building as part of the process of assembling a dossier.

The new Teaching and Learning Symposium (TLS) site served as the online platform for the three-day Symposium in May 2021 and continues to exist as a hub for TLS and U of T developed resources (videos and posters) for the community. The TLS is co-presented by CTSI and Rotman School of Management with guidance from the Offices of the President, the Vice-President and Provost, and the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education.

The SoTL team participated in 25 consultations on SoTL-specific topics (including research ethics, initial research discussion, survey design, and focus groups) with instructors from across the University and all three campuses.

CTSI posted a number of stories about online teaching on our Re:Think site. We asked graduate student coordinators in the TATP to share stories about moving the TATP programming online and their experiences being Course Instructors and teaching online. Several participants in the Spring 2020 Certificate in Effective University Instruction described their experiences as both student and instructor as we all moved online.

The Programming & Communications team connected with University administration to ensure the most relevant and up-to-date information on U of T’s response during the COVID-19 pandemic was available on CTSI’s website and various channels of communication. CTSI’s Continuity Planning section was U of T’s hub during the early months of the crisis and continues to serve as a central teaching and learning resource for the University.

CTSI programmed a number of webinars with offices and partners across the University. The on-going Equity Roundtables are presented with Student Success (Student Life) and a faculty member from the Urban Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts & Science. The AODA and Accessibility Services offices and ITS contributed various sessions on accessible online content and closed captioning and transcriptions.

The TATP works with Divisions and departments across the University to support the training of TAs and Course Instructors, and offer professional development to graduate students. They regularly collaborate with offices and groups, including the AODA Office, the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office (ARCDO), and Accessibility Services, when designing programming and new resources. For example, the TATP worked with the SGS Academy to facilitate a three-webinar series on Best Practice in Graduate Supervision: Setting Your Students Up for Success. Members of the TATP team also sit on the panel for U of T’s 3-Minute Thesis competition.

CTSI Metrics

Course Evaluations Metrics

Programming and Communications Metrics

Teaching Assistants’ Training Program Metrics

Teaching, Learning and Technology Metrics

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Metrics

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