Digital Pedagogy

Open Educational Resources Grant Program

The OER Grant program, supported by the Office of the Provost, McMaster Libraries, McMaster Students Union and the MacPherson Insititute, provides successful applicants with funding to create or adapt and customize OERs, enabling new pedagogical approaches and cost savings for students.  

• 21 faculty, instructional assistants and staff received grants to support 11 projects to foster the creation of free online textbooks and other openly licensed digital education materials in 2024-2025.  

• Continued funding for the Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant program has pushed the cumulative student savings beyond $1 million by replacing commercial textbooks and course materials with openly licensed materials authored, adapted, or adopted by McMaster instructors. 

Universal Design for Learning Workshop Series

Over the past year, 83 educators participated in two workshop series focused on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and accessibility practices for course design and delivery. One workshop series was offered during Teaching and Learning Month (May 2024) and the other series was offered in connection to celebrations of the International Day of Persons with Disability (December 2024).  

Accomplishments

Digital Learning Strategic Framework

The MacPherson Institute continues to collaborate on the Digital Learning Strategic Framework (DLSF), which is situated under the Office of the Vice Provost – Teaching and Learning (OVPTL).  

Dedicated DLSF Project Team

Several positions were appointed by the OVPTL in 2024–25 to coordinate, track and report on DLSF initiatives and to ensure alignment with McMaster’s broader institutional priorities, including the university’s Accessibility Roadmap and Generative AI Taskforce. Two members of the MacPherson Institute team were seconded to work on Digital Learning Strategic Framework initiatives.  

• Joanne Kehoe, Lead Educational Developer – Digital Pedagogies from the MacPherson Institute, was appointed as the Manager, Digital Learning Strategic 

• Lisa Dyce, Educational Developer at the MacPherson Institute, was appointed as an Educational Developer, Digital Learning Strategic Framework. 
  

Additionally, the MacPherson Institute has supported several key initiatives that connect with DLSF priorities and projects.  

Online Learning Course Development

The MacPherson Institute continues to support the Online Learning Fellows Program that is designed to assist educators with the creation of flexible and accessible online course development. In 2024-2025 a call for applications was circulated and the MacPherson Institute offered support for proposal reviews and delivered relevant programming to help fellows enhance their skills and expertise with online course considerations and design. Additionally, a new Online Course Design stream was added to the MacPherson Institute’s Students as Partners Program Call to pair faculty with students for co-creation and testing innovative digital course components. 

 Video Platform Review

The MacPherson Institute, in collaboration with University Technology Services and Campus Classroom Technologies, contributed to the Video Capture and Content Management System RFI/RFP process, supporting the development of a business case and vendor evaluation. The team assessed multiple platforms and outlined several options to meet McMaster’s video capture and content management needs. While we are waiting for a final decision to be communicated, this collaborative process advanced institutional conversations and clarified cost and feature comparisons. The MacPherson Institute continues to support the RFP process, ensuring alignment with accessibility requirements, feature integration, and ongoing support for teaching and learning needs. 

Accessibility Fellowship Program

As part of the Accessible Teaching and Learning Roadmap STEER/R, the Accessibility Fellowship Program was designed to support and connect McMaster educators in contributing to accessibility work at the institution. 

• Two Educational Developers from the MacPherson Institute were part of a cohort of McMaster faculty, instructors and staff that were awarded the Fellowship. As part of their Fellowship project, a number of impactful UDL narratives from McMaster student perspectives were collected. Interviews were completed with undergraduate and graduate students that identify as a student with a D/disability or a D/disabled student and some who do not identify as such but benefited from a UDL practice. At the request of the interviewees the stories were not published publicly or broadly. 

• The MacPherson Institute delivered several workshops on UDL to provide training and support to fellowship participants.  

STEER/R Project Support

The MacPherson Institute supported and co-facilitated the final few Journey Mapping Sessions in early Summer 2024. In response to the STEER/R final report and future recommendations, the MacPherson Institute has been working collaboratively with Kate Brown and Student Accessibility Services to develop a Faculty Support Model for an Accessible Course (Re)-Design pilot project. The first phase, focused on time-based accommodations in primarily large enrollment undergrad courses, is scheduled to launch in Summer 2025.