Dal Events

Resilient Classroom Series: Instructor Burnout – Rekindling Your Flame for Teaching

Thu, 15 May 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Thursday, May 15
1-2:30 p.m.
Marion McCain Building, Room 1116
Link to register for the event (opens in new tab)

“Burnout is what happens when you try to avoid being human for too long.” – Michael Gungor, American songwriter

Along with healthcare workers, social workers, and corporate executives, university instructors are in the top ten professions most likely to experience burnout (Schaffner, 2023). In this in-person session, you will learn how to:

Define burnout and describe how it manifests amongst instructors
Identify the signs and symptoms of burnout in yourself and others
Explain the factors that contribute to burnout in academia (e.g., career stage, systemic conditions)
Use the four pillars of burnout resilience – purpose, compassion, connection, and balance (Pope-Ruark, 2022) – to better manage burnout
Describe how an equity-minded lens can help address burnout in academia

We will collectively brainstorm actions that can be taken immediately to better prevent and mitigate the impacts of burnout, as well as first steps to chip away at systemic conditions that drive burnout in a university setting. You will use these ideas to begin developing a personalized care plan for addressing burnout.

Presenter

Daniella Sieukaran, MA (she/her)
Senior Educational Developer (Program Development)

Panel: The Teaching Dossier

Tue, 20 May 2025 13:00:00 GMT

This session is part of the annual Creating a Teaching Dossier Retreat. Link to learn more and to register (opens in new tab).

Location: Killam Library, B400 and Online
Session Type: Panel
In-person capacity: 20

In this panel session, Dr. James Brenan (Science) and Dr. Michelle Stone (School of Health & Human Performance) will offer their perspectives as previous members of tenure, re-appointment and promotion committees, on what a good dossier looks like, what committees look for, how dossiers are evaluated, etc. A question-and-answer period will follow their brief presentations.

Panelists

Dr. James Brenan, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Dr. Michelle Stone, Assistant Professor (Pediatric Physical Activity and Health), Division of Kinesiology, School of Health and Human Performance

Beadwork as Pedagogy: Active-Learning Workshop

Tue, 20 May 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Tuesday, May 20
1–3 p.m.
Killam Library, Ko’jua Okuom (in-person)
Link to register for the event (opens in new window)

Building on the CLT session offered in Winter 2024 “Storytelling as Transformative Pedagogy”, this active-learning workshop engages Indigenous beadwork as a pedagogical tool and culturally relevant way of expressing knowledge in academia.

As Anishinaabe scholar and beadwork artist Lana Ray (2016) explains, “beading was never understood by Indigenous peoples within the parameters of arts and crafts” (366), but rather as an integral form of knowledge. Beadwork embodies a worldview that challenges colonial and Western notions of knowledge production, while centering community and relationality within the learning process.

Drawing on post-secondary examples of beadwork learning from mathematics, the social sciences, and law, the first 45 minutes of this session will take the form of a presentation that conceptualizes beadwork as relational pedagogy, illustrating its capacity to challenge traditional power structures in education and to offer an embodied, culturally relevant approach to teaching and learning.

The remainder of the session will be devoted to hands-on learning, where attendees will participate in a beginner beading lesson led by Indigenous beadwork artist and ��tv student Ella Parsons. This experiential component aims to engage participants in the act of creating while deepening their understanding of beadwork’s potential to shape knowledge, relationships, and transformative educational practices.

All necessary supplies will be provided.

Facilitators

Ella Parsons (she/they) is an upper-year undergraduate student majoring in psychology with a double minor in Indigenous studies and gender and women's studies. She is mixed nīhithāw (Woodland Cree)/settler, and is an avid beadwork artist. 

Rachelle McKay (she/her) is the Centre’s Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges and Ways of Knowing and uses beadwork as a pedagogical tool when teaching INDG 3050: Indigenous Research Methods.

Info Session: The Components of the Teaching Dossier

Tue, 20 May 2025 16:00:00 GMT

This session is part of the annual Creating a Teaching Dossier Retreat. Link to learn more (opens in new tab).

Location: Online
Session Type: Presentation
Registration is not required.
Link to join the session (opens in new tab)

This session provides an overview of the possible components and sections to include in the teaching dossier. Discussion will also include how the sections should support, and provide evidence for, articulations made in the teaching philosophy statement.

Presenter

Kate Crane (she/her)
Coordinator for the Faculty Certificate in Teaching and Learning
(acting) Senior Educational Developer (Digital Learning)

Info session: Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement

Tue, 20 May 2025 17:10:00 GMT

This session is part of the annual Creating a Teaching Dossier Retreat. Link to learn more (opens in new tab).

Location: Online
Session Type: Presentation
Registration is not required
Link to join the session (opens in new tab)

This info session discusses how to construct a teaching philosophy statement, which is the grounding element for the entire teaching dossier. The session will guide participants through key considerations for writing this element of the dossier, to be able to present a unique picture of oneself as a teacher.

Presenter

Nasim Tavassoli, PhD (she/her)
Educational Developer (Student Development)

Info session: EDIA Statements in the Teaching Dossier

Wed, 21 May 2025 13:00:00 GMT

This session is part of the annual Creating a Teaching Dossier Retreat. Link to learn more (opens in new tab).

Location: Online
Session Type: Presentation
Registration is not required
Link to join the session (opens in new tab)

This session will explore what an EDIA statements is, and how one might articulate it within the dossier. Topics include: positionality statements, EDIA teaching evidence, diversity statements, etc. Participants will begin to articulate a statement for themselves through reflective activities within the session.

Presenter

Shazia Nawaz Awan, Ed.D. (she/her)
Educational Developer (Internationalization & Intercultural Competency)

Peer Review of Dossiers (session A)

Thu, 22 May 2025 17:30:00 GMT

This session is part of the annual Creating a Teaching Dossier Retreat. Link to learn more and to register (opens in new tab).

Location: Online
Capacity: 40
*The link to the online session will be provided upon registration.

The Peer Review of Dossiers workshop closes out the week of sessions on the teaching dossier. After participating in the various sessions about the dossier, participants will now have the opportunity to get feedback on their draft dossiers. The session includes a structured peer review activity, in which participants will swap their drafts with another participant. The session is a great starting place to receive a first round of feedback, especially for instructors readying their files for upcoming TRP processes.

Presenter

Kate Crane (she/her)
Coordinator for the Faculty Certificate in Teaching and Learning
(acting) Senior Educational Developer (Digital Learning)

Peer Review of Dossiers (session B)

Thu, 22 May 2025 20:30:00 GMT

This session is part of the annual Creating a Teaching Dossier Retreat. Link to learn more and to register (opens in new tab).

Location: Online
Capacity: 40
*The link to the online session will be provided upon registration.

*Faculty Certificate participants are only required to attend one session (either A or B).

Presenter

Kate Crane (she/her)
Coordinator for the Faculty Certificate in Teaching and Learning
(acting) Senior Educational Developer (Digital Learning)