This is a beautiful time of year in the Okanagan: I love the changing leaves, the end of the harvest season, and the hint (and anticipation!) of the snow to come. It is, of course, also an incredibly busy time for teaching on our campus: we are managing the delivery of our courses, administering exams, planning for end-of-course assessments, and hopefully building some time into our mid-term Break schedules to restore a bit of balance in our work and non-work lives… or at least to catch up on sleep!
With all of this in mind, and perhaps because of the recent Thanksgiving weekend, I’m focusing on well-being and gratitude in this update. November is Thrive month, and I encourage you to take some time to explore the resources, groups, and departments available at UBC to support mental health and well-being, for yourselves, your colleagues, and your students. I am grateful to the many teaching colleagues who consistently remind me that a learner-centred classroom should be one in which we recognize the “whole person” of the learner: I do my best to practice this by structuring time to reflect after each class and to plan for the next one, trying to think through the student experience in all of its opportunities and challenges. I am also grateful to the many colleagues who take the time to check in with me and each other, and I hope you are part of similar networks on campus. If not, I hope you will reach out to the CTL so that we can help you build one!
One of CTL’s Strategic Plan priorities is that of “community”: supporting and fostering a collaborative community dedicated to learner-centred and evidence-informed teaching practices. We work toward this priority in several ways, including through structured development opportunities, hosting communities of practice, and making connections within and across academic units. I am incredibly grateful to the members of CTL’s Learning Technologies and Educational Consulting teams for their accessibility and readiness to help in working toward this priority. I am also grateful to all of you who regularly engage in break-room and hallway conversations about successes (and failures!) in your classrooms, all with a consistent focus on ensuring the best possible student experience. The healthiest communities are those with well-articulated values and members who act intentionally and deliberately to express those values, and I am proud of how we, as a community, continue to develop and deliver transformational learning opportunities for our students.
Jannik Eikenaar
CTL Academic Director
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