CTL Strategic Plan

Support and foster a community dedicated to advancing teaching and learning at UBC Okanagan through learner-centered and evidence-informed teaching approaches and curriculum development practices. This collaborative community increases the impact of our department by peer mentorship and connecting broadly within departments and faculties.

Goals:

• Continue to provide workshops and events, such as Celebrate Learning Week, to connect faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and other teaching assistants to discuss instructional topics.
• Develop a CTL teaching fellowship program recognizing faculty engaged in teaching and learning activities that can inspire and collaborate with colleagues.
• Recognize teaching excellence by promoting existing internal and external awards and assisting faculty on applying for these awards. Develop new awards recognizing instructional achievement within departments and faculties that will help identify members on the path for major awards.
• Strengthen and expand collaborations with the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology at UBC Vancouver.
• Continue to consult with faculty and administration to address current and future teaching needs including opportunities, learning spaces, planning, and resources.
• Advocate for institutional teaching initiatives including experiential learning, integrative teaching evaluations (particularly peer and student evaluations), open access, and educational technologies.
• Cultivate capacity for inclusive, equitable, anti-racist, and accessible teaching and learning practices and experiences.
• Advance decolonized and Indigenized curriculum and teaching practices
• Raise awareness of our CTL services and demonstrate our impact through reporting, surveys, and data collection and analysis.
• Facilitate meaning-making and informed decision-making in response to results from campus-wide surveys related to teaching and learning.
• Develop opportunities to facilitate community development for Educational Leadership faculty across campus to work with and learn from one another.
• Support curriculum development that is flexible, accessible, and learner-centered including curriculum review processes, new courses and programs, and online, blended, or multi access instruction. Support program development, renewal and evaluation processes and quality assurance in alignment with UBC strategic priorities.

Deliver programming and events that support the community in professional development to improve teaching practice. Specific focus on key university priorities including experiential learning, Indigenous content integration, inclusion, accessibility, and learning outcomes.

Goals:

• Continue and expand the delivery of programming on Indigenous knowledge, inclusion, and accessibility. Support community building in these areas.
• Continue to provide professional development consultations and workshops for key instructional needs. Increase the number and diversity of attendees.
• Expand the graduate student development programming beyond the TA Letter of Completion, to include further micro-credentials (up to and including a Certificate program). Partner with CTLT at UBCV to bring CIRTL programming to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at UBCO.
• Deliver workshops and programs (including micro-credentials) specifically targeted for early career faculty to improve their teaching practices.
• Continue the extensive number of workshops and support activities related to educational technology support systems, including Canvas.
• Foster scholarly, reflective and learner-centered teaching practices for faculty career progression.
• Create opportunities for students to develop, collaborate, and contribute as partners in teaching and learning practices and scholarship.

Support the development of educational leadership and scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) on campus.

Goals:

Expand and support the SoTL community at UBCO by hosting more workshops and engaging faculty members currently active in SoTL activities.

• Partner with the Institute for SoTL (ISOTL) at UBC Vancouver to bring ISOTL to UBC Okanagan, and develop SoTL seed grants other SoTL programs that mirror opportunities available to UBC Vancouver faculty and graduate students.
• Develop processes to measure SoTL activities at UBCO, including faculty, grants, and publications.
• Create an environment supporting interdisciplinary and cross-faculty SoTL collaborations enabling larger projects and grant funding.

Provide expertise and support for current and future educational technologies, curriculum design, and evaluation methods. Encourage instructors to adopt new technologies and techniques into their pedagogy that demonstrate improved learning outcomes.

Goals:

• Continue to support instructors through workshops, individual consultations, and communities of practice to effectively deploy, utilize, and optimize educational technologies including Canvas.
• Facilitate the creation of effective and engaging learning experiences across flexible teaching modalities (including blended, multi-access, and online learning), diverse audiences, and learning needs.
• Clarify the CTL role for supporting learning technology on campus in collaboration with other departments on campus and in Vancouver, such as UBC IT and LT Hub, to streamline and enhance information dissemination and support.
• Develop partnerships and collaborations with faculty, UBC IT, and LT Hub, to assist instructors in evaluating and developing new innovative technologies.