Teaching culture is the product of a dynamic interplay among the embedded patterns, behaviours, values, beliefs and ideologies about teaching and learning within and across the many microcultures that make up a university. Educational researchers from across Canada developed a set of Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Surveys (ITCPS) to…

Learning in teams offers unique benefits to understand and address contemporary, global, and local challenges through effective and thoughtful learning journeys. However, learning in teams is not always thoroughly planned or effectively delivered. In trying to better understand what processes support or hinder effective and innovative learning in…

Course instructors often rely on student participation to increase interaction and learning in the classroom. However, while verbalizing thoughts can help students learn, students in this study felt that frequency of contributions was often rewarded over quality. They called this "verbal diarrhea" and explained how prominent it was in…

In recognition that student academic misconduct is a complex issue that requires a holistic and institutional approach, this case study explores the impact of an intervention strategy adopted by the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences (comprised of approximately 80 faculty and an average of 3,240 undergraduate students) at Brock University, St.…

In our service-learning courses, students work with real people and record and reflect on these experiences, to learn appropriate professional behavior, how to think creatively, and how to respond to changing circumstances. Many of our students are strategic learners, characterized by alertness to assessment and intention to achieve the highest…

During the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference 2014, a workshop was held three consecutive times as part of the Pedagogical Speed Dating sessions to introduce experienced college/university faculty and instructional designers to an approach to instructional design that is based on increasing motivation. The purpose of…

In this paper, we describe and investigate small group discussions of assigned readings in an online version of a "triple-entry activity" in a blended course used an annotation tool, "Marginalia". We wondered if students would interact in this structured, critical, reflective reading activity as effectively online as they had…

Oppression and marginalization of people who identify as LGBTQ+ persist on university campuses despite their right to be free of discrimination under the Ontario Human Rights Code. In an attempt to highlight the real and detrimental impacts of normative heterosexual and cisgender ideologies on Ontarian students the Ontario Undergraduate Student…

In light of the enormous changes unfolding in the higher education landscape, we don't have to look too far to recognize evidence of the transformation and redefinition of the construct of both teaching and learning in the information age. With a growing focus on teaching and learning at all levels of post-secondary institutions, innovation is…

To support students in an introductory organic chemistry course, scaffolding in the form of weekly Learning Task Inventories (LTIs) were introduced. LTIs are chapter-by-chapter lists of detailed learning tasks students are expected to master during the course. This paper describes efforts to effectively implement LTIs, the effect of differing…

Engaging students while providing them with the necessary linguistic and critical skills as a foundation for further exploration are the principle challenges for those of us who teach disciplinary introductory courses. My own response to this challenge has been to develop and implement what I refer to as the "pedagogy of play." Informed…

The increase in global migration to Canada has changed the demographic profile of students in Canadian higher education. Colleges and universities are becoming increasingly diverse by race, ethnicity, and culture. At the same time, the process of teaching and learning is on the cusp of transformation with technology providing the tools to alter…

Classroom response systems (clickers) are used in many courses at the University of Toronto (U of T), primarily to introduce interactive pedagogy and to engage students in lecture courses. We examined the use of clickers in various courses at U of T and interviewed over 30 instructors about their use of clickers in classes with a total enrolment…

Course syllabi play an important role in teaching, learning, and course design. They serve multiple functions and audiences and represent the end product of a scholarly process. In the following article, select findings from a mixed methods study examining how faculty and students conceptualize course syllabi are presented, specifically the design…

This study examined some of the factors that influence students' transition from Ontario high school chemistry to university introductory chemistry. The study was a mixed-methods, multi-phase research study carried out by an undergraduate honours thesis student who had experienced some of these transition issues. Students' transition into…