2021-2022 Annual Report

2021-2022 Annual Report

Director’s Welcome

The preparation of our annual report is always a time to reflect on all CTSI has accomplished and an opportunity to look to the year ahead. As you will read, this has been another remarkable year in CTSI, notable for the creativity of our staff, rich partnerships, and deep and committed engagement from instructors. Reflecting on this past year, noting our accomplishments and collaborations, is also a means to see the opportunities we have in store for the year ahead.

Designing for the Future, the theme for our 2022 Teaching and Learning Symposium,  set the stage for a series of design thinking activities to help us imagine the future of teaching and learning. Led by Prof Olivier St Cyr from the Faculty of Information, TLS attendees participated in two online, interactive sessions (as well as the closing panel that addressed the responses from the first activities) that asked U of T faculty to consider the questions:

Alison Gibbs
  • What are you leaving behind?
  • What are you taking forward?
  • What do you want to explore further?

Instructors shared their experiences and reflections on teaching over these last few years and it was inspiring to hear about the many ways we can support and encourage each other as we move forward. These sessions were a huge undertaking with over a hundred attendees actively participating in the online discussions and I want to acknowledge the inventiveness and dedication of the Faculty of Information students who assisted with the facilitation and analysis of all the information.

We are grateful to the many members of our community who contributed their work and engaged in all the TLS sessions. With 24 concurrent sessions and over 350 attendees, it was a compelling  and enlightening three days as we celebrated teaching and learning at U of T.

We were  excited to launch our redesigned and revamped CTSI website this past year. It has  a new, more accessible design and more intuitive search and filtering system for easier navigation through the site. We have also better integrated our pedagogical resources and educational technology support resources and tools guides so you will have easier access to more information on one site.

This year’s annual report is the first to reflect CTSI’s new strategic priorities. These priorities were developed during 2021-22 as the result of many conversations among the CTSI staff, our many partners, and instructors and academic leaders across the University. In these conversations we heard about the appreciation of CTSI’s evidence-informed approach, strong and growing interest in educational technology, and the importance of the course evaluations work and the Teaching Assistant training program to the academic life of the University. Highlighted in every conversation was the foundational importance of equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and Indigenous perspectives, and the importance of providing multiple ways for instructors to engage in professional development of their teaching.

These conversations and consultations resulted in the following strategic priorities which are guiding our work and providing ways to capture our successes:

  1. Provide responsive professional development for instructors and teaching assistants
  2. Support and enhance digital learning and technology-enhanced teaching and learning
  3. Cultivate improved teaching and improved teaching support through evidence-informed practice
  4. Deepen the culture of teaching excellence across the University
  5. Support inclusive and accessible teaching and learning
Illustration listing strategic priority categories

This last priority is distinct from the others – it is central to all of our work, permeating all elements of our other priorities. As you read this report, you will see how these priorities are reflected in CTSI’s work and how they have re-prioritized the various ways CTSI as a whole and individual teams engage with the U of T community. 

I am grateful to everyone who provided their input, feedback, and advice in the development of these priorities and I am particularly appreciative of the CTSI staff who are embracing them in their work. You will see this reflected in new programming and resources, new commitments to existing programming, new working groups in areas identified of strategic importance, new projects such as the development of learning analytics, and new and ongoing collaborations.

We are proud of the work accomplished to date and CTSI’s central role in supporting teaching excellence at U of T and we look forward to continuing to engage with our partners across the University and our community of instructors and students. We are all learners as much as teachers and I am excited to see what this next year will bring.

Alison Gibbs
Director, CTSI
Professor, Teaching Stream, Statistical Sciences, FAS 

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